Page 38 - MetalForming-Jan-2018-issue

FABRICATION
Rapid Fab-Shop
Growth
...occurs on the broad shoulders of new sheetmetal-fabrication CAD-CAM software, driving productivity gains when it comes to sheetmetal nesting and programming of laser-cutting machines, press brakes and turret-press punching operations.
At Quality Fabricated Solutions (QFS), Indianapolis, IN, a fabricated-metal and custom-parts manufac- turer, the overarching mission is to deliver on com- pany promises, from producing parts on time to responding quickly when changes arise.
“We must find ways to be different from everyone else,” says Charley Powers, QFS president and co-owner. “My goal is to make our customers look better to their customers than our competitors can.”
That goal pays off for Powers and his team, which includes two CNC programmers and six shop-floor staff that produce parts primarily for the military sector, as well as for conveyor and tractor-trailer accessory businesses. On its resume of fabrication and metalforming competencies: prototyping and design, laser cutting (on an automated 4-kW CO2 Mazak machine), stamping (110-ton press capacity, on sheetmetal to 12 in. wide, 10-gauge), turret-press punching, press-brake bending (it notes deep-box bending as a specialty), silk screening, welding and assembly.
“When my customers have a problem, if they need some- thing or have an emergency, they have my cell-phone num- ber,” Powers says. “We’ve been able to take a lot of work from shops much larger than ours just because we can respond more quickly.”
Intuitive Software Paves the Way to a Smooth Growth Curve
After Powers and his team opened QFS in 2014, he quickly found ways to increase efficiency by retooling the company’s
36 MetalForming/January 2018
www.metalformingmagazine.com
Jobs begin at QFS when operators enter purchase orders into the company’s ERP system, which in turn generates a router with vital job information. QFS sometimes receives customer designs in the form of solid models, which easily import into Radan with geometry intact. Other customers supply designs on paper, which QFS programmers redraw in Radan using the soft- ware’s CAD capabilities.
processes for material and data management. Among the improvements made: integration of an ERP system, and the addition of new CAD-CAM software, Radan, from Vero Soft- ware, for driving its sheetmetal-fabrication operations— cutting, punching and bending. Powers calls the software “an ideal fit for QFS, because we sought one solution to handle all of our programming needs. I needed software that was very user-friendly and that would allow us to grow without having to be a genius to run it. Ninety-five percent of our parts go across the turret or the laser, and we can’t run either of them without Radan.”
The company recently added new punching capabilities, and will soon add a new press brake to its lineup—an Accur- press model selected in part because of its seamless inte- gration with Radan.