The following are some advice that structural steel fabrication shops have to consider:
- If you want to have an edge over other structural steel shops, Custom Metal Fabrication Toronto hire a very good foreman. Get a foreman who is not only good at what he does but is also able to communicate well with his peers, has the confidence of the CEO of the company and one who exudes leadership potential. One of the major jobs of the foreman is to lead fabrication jobs and educate less experienced personnel with production tricks and tips. A knowledgeable foreman can be easily respected by those who hire him and those who work for him. Oftentimes there are companies that equate knowledge in steel fabrication with a degree in engineering. Surely, college graduates can have a fresh perspective to bring in the fabrication shop but if that individual does not have ample experience in fabricating, there would be a credibility gap. People will be expecting the new foreman to provide experience and will be disappointed. The best candidates for the position are old guys equipped with the knowledge and experience who can run the job smoothly. Today, this is not the norm. Most fabricating shops have more engineers who can read technical information and more detailers who are skilled in translating those into the paper. This leaves a space for someone who can communicate with the workers to carry out the fabrication job smoothly.
- More often than not, having a helper around is not really much of a help to beat deadlines. A typical scenario in a fabrication shop with a rush deadline is to hire a helper in hopes that the job will be done on time. However, the end result may not be favorable for the lead fabricator. Instead of spending the time on the rush job, he has to waste precious time to watch and assist the helper. If you are faced with a job with tight deadline, you need to hire the best experienced hands there is. The helper who is less inexperienced is not someone that you want to be on the floor shop with the deadline the following day.
- In moving plates, a bent plate can save lives. The safety of the workers has to put first in every company. However, this may not be always the case. The scariest moment in a structural steel shop happen when large plates are handled haphazardly. One scenario would be shop personnel trying to move a very heavy metal plate using a beam clamp. However, the beam clamp was packed with paint residue making it difficult to lock in the grip. The beam clamp suddenly dropped the heavy metal plate almost smashing a person under. This led to the realization that when picking a plate, you have to lay the plate down and make use of a spreader chain with bent plates.