processingdetails

Fabrication

Fabrication as an industrial term refers to building metal structures by cutting, bending, and assembling. Fabrication services include a wide variety of manufacturing processes. In general, fabrication refers to the manufacture of parts, components or products from metal, ceramic, fiberglass, glass, composites, plastic or wood. Fabrication includes cutting, bending, drawing, forming, roll forming, punching, bonding, and welding. Sheet metal fabrication refers to the manufacture of parts or components out of steel or aluminum sheets.

Structural steel and sheet metal are the usual starting materials for fabrication, along with the welding wire, flux, and fasteners that will join the cut pieces. As with other manufacturing processes, both human labor and automation are commonly used. The product resulting from (the process of) fabrication may be called a fabrication. Shops that specialize in this type of metal work are called fab shops. The end products of other common types of metalworking, such as machining, metal stamping, forging, and casting, may be similar in shape and function, but those processes are not classified as fabrication.