There is one common phrase from those who’ve had success updating their shop floor layout: proper planning and flexibility. Here are some tips to get you started.

VacuFil high-vacuum extraction system from KEMPER in use at Aebi Schmidt Nederland B.V.

Now more than ever, your sheet metal shop operations need to be lean in order for you to get the most out of your socially distanced workforce. 

With all the changes that are happening in the sheet metal trade, here’s our chance to see the light.

IPS Metal Inc., a sheet metal shop located in Hamilton, Ontario, is finding success after switching gears to make personal protective equipment.

Over 40 years, Gentlemen Sheet Metal Ltd. in Brooklyn, New York, has built a reputation as a small but mighty sheet metal shop that values great work first. The shop’s focus on renovations has mostly kept it from having to swim in the big, new construction pool and protected it from labor shortages and rising material costs. But the tide is already turning.

One of the most common misconceptions about lean manufacturing techniques is that they only apply to large-scale operations. Lean is the continuous improvement of operations to cut down wastes. “What lean tends to do is look at the system and try to identify what adds value,” explains Robert Van Til, Ph.D., professor of lean studies at the Oakland University School of Engineering and Computer Science and chair of the Industrial Systems and Engineering Department. 

A lot of business owners may throw around the phrase “friendly competition,” but few would probably take the concept as far as Kevin Gill Sr.