Maintaining inventory of what a customer needs for production, and nothing more, is a delicate and complicated balance. As inventory ages, it can depreciate to a level that no longer adds value for the producer. This is especially true in metal forming processes.
While it's certainly niche, roll forming is still like any other metal manufacturing process. A little collaborative engineering and a lot of lean manufacturing practices equal mutual success.
We’ve talked about roll forming costs in our prior articles, Factors That Affect Roll Forming Costs and How to Reduce Roll Forming Costs. Today, we’re looking at the total cost of ownership, not just the price of your parts.
Many manufacturers requesting roll forming services ask first and foremost: Can you prove your competence?
Normally this space is all about you -- the engineer, the architect, the purchasing agent. Allow us to humbly brag about Dahlstrom Roll Form just this once.
It seemed like everyone’s grandfather or great-grandfather worked at Dahlstrom back in the day. “Back in the day” has turned into 115 years[...]
The idea behind a
supply agreement
-- whether with a roll forming company or another manufacturer -- is pretty simple. The supplier provides everything a customer needs for a particular service, and the customer can count on a specified price and single-source service. Everybody wins.[...]
Quick: Which charges higher prices for metal fabrication -- a company that has in-house roll forming tooling capabilities or one that outsources it?
In metal forming, the specifying engineer or purchasing agent can select from several approaches to come up with completed commercial products. But roll forming is almost always the most flexible and durable of these processes. Many product profiles that are challenging to make through press[...]
There are four main metal forming services used in the manufacturing industry today: press braking, stamping, extrusion, and roll forming. All have advantages and disadvantages, so the one you choose will depend on a few important factors:
A continuous improvement mindset encourages both initiation and implementation of changes to manufacturing processes to improve “customer delight” (our quality policy statement) and other measures of company performance. In Dahlstrom's case, manufacturing process improvement helps us offer both[...]
