Selecting the right metal fabricator is critical to successful product development and managing your bottom line cost-efficiently. Like most manufacturers, you are looking for a long-term partner who understands your business and delivers consistent quality you can trust.
Here are 5 important aspects you must consider before you hire:
- Experience: Look specifically for experience in your industry such as a manufacturer well-versed with kiln cars for forged steel wheels or one who has worked with power transmission operations for transformer tanks and electrical enclosures, etc. An experienced fabricator will be familiar with a variety of materials, a wide range of capabilities, and shop knowledge in order to offer the best value-add proposition for the customer. This helps to avoid quality issues and possible liabilities.
- Capabilities: Determine what type of metals the company works with. In addition to material, you also want to be sure they can meet your size and thickness requirements and any other unique needs. Also understand how they work. Can they do design work if you require? Do they work from printed or digital drawings? Are they able to convert customer drawings into shop drawings for fabrication?
- Production Facility: Tour the metal fabrication facility if possible. Cutting, forming, welding, assembly, finishing etc. are key capabilities that should be managed in-house. Determine the scale of the production runs, and how they will fit with the fabricator’s current workload. You want to be sure they can meet your needs and are doing the most important work in-house. Managing a single source is easier, saves time and also provides better control over quality. Ask them about the type of machines being used and safety measures they employ. Mississippi metal fabricators with the latest equipment and techniques demonstrate their commitment to quality.
- Service Solutions: Examine their value-add service offerings. A metal fabricator with powder coating and other finishing capabilities is a valuable asset. It is also good to know if they work with you to suggest cost effective methods that both fulfill the project requirements, and also work well with the fabricators production processes. Trouble-shooting capabilities, and any design and advice they can provide may help avoid production problems and perhaps even lower your manufacturing cost.
- Competitive Pricing: Service rates may vary and it is good to familiarize yourself with the price range. However don’t let price influence your choice completely. Experience, work and service quality all factor adds up into the cost. Standard pricing is likely to be lower than what may be charged for custom services. Full-service metal fabricators can better control quality than shops that sub-contract work.
Open and honest communication, project turnaround time and output quality are important considerations when selecting your metal fabricators in Mississippi.
At Rockett Inc., our mission is to provide quality and value for our customers in the electric energy, power transmission and distribution, generation and motors, material handling, brick and ceramics, furnaces and kilns, and steel making industries. Our vast and varied metal fabricating experience has contributed to better design and performance of cars and many other niche products. A state-of-the-art facility in Mississippi ensures we can meet your time, budget and design specifications perfectly.
Call 601-939-2471 or request a quote online for competitively priced, custom solutions from a trusted metal fabricator in Mississippi.
