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Checklist for Successful Aluminium Fabrication

Blog | January 15th, 2019

Checklists are an invaluable processing asset. They’re a tool, just like a hammer or a screwdriver. More to the point, checklists help managers break down complex systems. In aluminium fabrication, a notoriously complex process, the task coordinating tool serves as a quality control device, one that significantly improves the various operational envelopes that flow either linearly or simultaneously within the manufacturing environment.

Enhancing Shop Workflow Rates

If the many stages of the aluminium fabrication process were thrown into a cup, rattled around like dice and released, then the splash of disorganized process stages would bewilder a casual observer. Haphazardly arranged, design and engineering work would compete with the brake press machining and shearing stage. Complex machining operations would clash with the assembly and welding phase, and the whole mess would leave little time for the surface finishing and inspection stage, which should occur in a timely manner as the project concludes. Checklists partner with scheduling timetables to systematically coordinate complex aluminium fabricating projects. Run properly, they ensure each stage receives its allocated time so that the next process is cued up and ready to run the instant the workpiece moves forward.

Building a Fabrication Recipe

Among alloys, aluminium is considered an engineer’s dream material. It’s light yet structurally tough, so it’s become the go-to aeronautics metal. In prefabricated sheds and other fabrication-oriented services, the scene is much the same; Aluminium rules as the tried and trusted alloy, except in cases where structural steel delivers more load-bearing strength. But, even while the metal is taking over in applications that were once solely reserved for ferrous alloys, its long list of beneficial features also translates into scores of fabrication-based issues. Aluminium welding practices can add time-consuming challenges to a project due to the metal’s thermal conductivity. It’s also an easier material to “burn through,” so shop welders really need to know what they’re doing when they’re fusing aluminium sheeting.

So, what’s listed on the checklist? The grade and characteristics earn a whole group of boxes for themselves. They tell the shop how malleable and bendable the alloy is as it enters a machine. Is there a weldability checkbox next to the workability box? Just as an example of things gone wrong, a welder won’t get far if a 2xxx alloy is sourced. He should read the checklist first and take note of the metal’s lack of weldability. Having done so, we know the checklist has saved the fabrication process from wasting time. Productivity margins, as a result of a single check mark, increase. Buffed or anodized, coated in aluminium oxide or heat treated, the ticks and empty boxes tell the process engineers their story as a binary-configured list.

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