If you run a fabrication shop, more than likely, you have a few welders on the premises. This combination of services increases the fabrication capabilities of a machine shop considerably. While it may not be the preferred method of some metal working companies, others prefer to run a welding and metal fabrication operation. They find it a means of opening up their customer base instead of restricting it.
Contract Manufacturers are Comprehensive Fabricators
A contract manufacturer (CM) is a company that helps to stream the manufacturing process. Fabricators that operate in this capacity need to fulfill certain obligations and meet certain criteria. In this relationship, a manufacturer contracts the specialized work out to a fabricator. It uses its ability to obtain the desired material more cheaply and easily than could the manufacturer. The CM is able to provide the required services based on its ability to provide:
- A work force that is highly trained, experienced and specialized
- Technological expertise and proficiency
- The required equipment and services including welding and metal fabrication
- All requirements from the initial design to the prototype to the completed component or product
The CM works with the manufacturer to ensure the work performed is done to exact and exacting specifications within the designated timeframe.
Welding and Metal Fabrication
Modern manufacturing industries are not capable of producing every component of their product. They require the help of specialized services – sometimes from the very conceptualization of the component or other part. When the requirement is to fabricate the item from metal, the most feasible and cost-effective means is to outsource the design and specialized production to a CM.
CMs act as jobbers for these larger concerns. If a shop offers both welding and metal fabrication, it increases its capabilities. This can go a long way to improving the CM’s bottom line.
