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December, 2017 Newsletter
Metfab Metals----2017: Another Up Year Here
MERRY CHRISTMAS & A VERY HAPPY
HOLIDAY SEASON
Month: |
Our 2017 Newsletters/Subject |
January |
Retro-Fit? Retro-Clad?----We Supply AESS, Anchors etc….. |
February |
YES, We Are BIG Suppliers of AESS,…”Miscellaneous Metals” Too! |
March |
More Technology to Our Shop Too! |
April |
NO Defects Whatsoever: THE Central Goal of Production….. |
May |
NEW Plasma Cutting Department |
June |
Retro-Clad/Retro-Fit Update!......All the Related SERVICES Too! |
July |
“Delays!” Metfab Metals Has a Program to Avoid These Too! |
August |
Certified Welders are ALL we Have! |
September |
Our Only Message: Quality in All Our Fabrications! |
October |
What’s Next ?--More New Buildings; More Retros! |
November |
Metfab Metals ----2017: Another Up Year |
At this time LAST year, we reviewed what we reported in the 12 months of 2016! The same review for 2017 gives us another glimpse of what has been another “great” year for this 100% American company. These monthly squibs show that Metfab Metals, LLC is continuing to grow---and address the real needs of our industry.
The recurring theme is that a growing segment of our business is “retro” re- builds. We won’t list all those we’ve done, but we are particularly well-suited for this work, as we so nimbly work with your project managers to adjust to found “field” conditions, as they are encountered. This is one of the SERVICES we addressed last year also. Along with “excellence”, “quality”, no “delays”, “plasma cutting”, “all certified welders”----and so much more.
As we said last year with regard to 3-D printing, we always want to be “ahead of the wave” technologically. [While 3-D printing is not yet commonplace, we continue to follow this trend in our industry. As always, we will implement this technology when your specs demand it.] As we said before, we “will not be automated out of business”----or fail to keep up in any substantial part of our industry. We have always stressed our nimble service to all our customers, in small or large jobs. Our ongoing technology updates let us do this in the ways most compatible with your needs, your projects and all job specs.
Before we close, we want to once again publicly thank all our own staff that keeps us so current, so in tune with all your project managers and so able to produce any job need. In a real sense, we are only “our staff”. They have throughout 2107 made us able to meet all your needs-----and we intend to adjust again in 2018 to whatever your unique job needs are, often as they arise.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies needed for both YOUR retro jobs and new construction. We can make them go smoothly from the getgo----------and end successfully! Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
UPDATE: Hudson Yards, NYC: ------ Throughout 2017, we commented on all we have done for various customers at this mammoth West Side development. This project has given us challenges for over three years now! Metfab Metals is proud to have successfully made so many essential AESS parts & assemblies on an ongoing basis. We have worked here, almost daily, throughout 2015, 2016. 2017 and will do so well into 2018.
Metfab Metals is your single best fabrication answer, not only for quality custom and production Heavy-Gauge AND Light-Gauge metal parts, but also when your job requires AESS in all its MANY categories, finishes and applications!
Happy Holidays!
November, 2017 Newsletter
Metfab Metals, LLC
What’s Next in Metal Fabrications?--More New Buildings; More Retros!
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As we come face to face with the end of the calendar year 2017, we all tend to look back-----then ahead. New Year’s resolutions have been based on this idea for centuries now. Lots of people make these, but rarely keep them. We here at Metfab Metals work really hard to keep all our business resolutions----and can show that we have.
So we looked back at our Newsletters for this year to see what we said-----and then we plan for what we might very well be doing----for our customers, including you----in the fast-approaching 2018. Of course, as in any soundly-run business, we have some future jobs “booked” already here at Metfab Metals that we now know will keep us busy for part of the coming year.
We also have lots of other work “quoted”, most of which will become real PO’s in the 12 months of 2018. Our history also informs us that “rush” work, last-minute orders, emergency needs and all the regular “SERVICES” business we offer all our customers will come to us too. We pride ourselves that this proven capacity sets us apart from many of our competitors!
In the past year, we published two monthly Newsletters focused largely on projects dedicated to “retro-fitting” and/or “retro-cladding” existing, even much older, buildings. These processes are often a sort of “two-edged sword”----projected savings but the risk of hidden conditions with consequential additional costs, risking the owner’s budget itself. We can help here too, as we have so much experience now with addressing innovative solutions that your architect and engineer can then consider and approve.
But there are the beneficial “edges” or standard benefits in “retro” jobs for the owner too, usually in the form of substantial cost savings (as little site preparation is required); no new superstructure needs to be erected and; much of at least the exterior of the building can be preserved, then updated as designed. These “edges” come with a great deal less demolition required (the building is most often gutted, not completely razed or torn down, foundation and all); an often-cherished building is preserved (often with an historical “look”) and; the time of job completion is far less than with totally new construction. Just last month in this same space (our October, 2017 Newsletter), we reported on the completion of our phase of the work on a prime example for such a preservation-to-restoration-to-upgrade of older buildings at 388-390 Greenwich Street in New York City.
[Courtesy of Tribeca Citizen, March 30, 2015. Tired old look of both buildings before “retro-cladding” and other updates ]
Rendering as to how the restored buildings will look on completion: Courtesy of YIMBY Today, March 31, 2015.
……………………Citigroup is relocating its headquarters to 388 and 390 Greenwich Street, and …………..(reporting) how the financial giant plans to revamp the 1990s structures. …….. Citigroup employees say that renovations have begun, and they will continue for the next five years. After the makeover, the buildings "will be closely integrated into one unified building" with "a town square connecting the buildings." The facade of 390 (the shorter, fatter building) will be wrapped with glass, and the base of 388 will get the same glassy skin. Designs for the interior are still being finalized, but there will be a new lobby and single main entrance, plus a cafeteria, fitness center, and roof terrace. (1) |
Now here at Metfab Metals with our almost three decades of fabricating the specialty metals needed for older buildings (and new also), we want you to know that we look forward to 2018 so we can help you build the buildings of the future, whether they are brand-new or the restoration of those already standing such as 388-390 Greenwich pictured above. Especially during the last 20 years or so, we have made all the parts you have needed; no matter how unique your architect has drawn them or the building’s own “retro” re-design has required, even for originally “hidden” conditions.
Though we have grown significantly over that period, we here at Metfab Metals have adjusted to both your bigger and more modest projects alike. We are truly “customer-compatible” in the best sense of the term. We have learned to use the best available technology and trained our staff to work “hand in glove” with yours. And, as we said last month, we’ve added skilled, certified welders, additional facilities, but, most importantly, we added wide-ranging experience that helps you in so many ways to finish a top-flight job as planned, specified and contracted.
In short, whether your next job is new or retro, give us a chance to quote your specialty metal needs. We’ll never disappoint you----with the quote or as we work with you during construction to address your metals needs often as they arise.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in our first-class SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR jobs to progress without delay. We can make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-------and end successfully!
1. Excerpted from March 31,2015, Curbed, New York
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
October, 2017 Newsletter
Metfab Metals, LLC
Our Only Message: Quality in All Our Fabrications!
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Recently, in looking back on all the Newsletters we sent many of you for now over a dozen years (and all archived on our website since 2006), we realized the simple, consistent message we have put out, in one form or another. We here at Metfab Metals have really been selling only ONE thing for now over a quarter of a century QUALITY And this is our plan going forward.
Now for all these years, this “QUALITY” has shipped out the door here in small quantities and large ones; made up of small items and huge ones; in everyday common anchors and in truly unique fabrications; and on a rush basis or in increments stretching over years for a huge project (such as we are still doing now for over three years at the mammoth private development, Hudson Yards, Upper West Side, NYC). Below are just a few of the parts pictures we have stored from jobs over 10 years ago, as we initiated our Newsletters, but they do well illustrate the way we have been making specialty fabricated metals for so long now.
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Misc. Cable Clevis |
Elevator Overrun at 51 Louisiana,
Washington, DC |
Cable Tension Anchor |
During the last 20 years or so, as we made these parts, we have grown significantly. We have added bigger projects to our long resume’; customer-compatible & best available technology; skilled, certified welders; two additional, larger shops; and perhaps most importantly, wide-ranging experience.
Somehow, the words of one wit, written now over a hundred years ago, can make our point far better with his words:
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising. (1)
This short Newsletter is intended as that “right kind” of message of a BIG “small thing” (our QUALITY ) to you. But that would-be “small thing” is everything to us and this QUALITY will always be present in every item you buy from us. Try us, my friends.
Project Updates:
Hudson Yards, NYC: ------ Construction just reached the summit of the high-rise 50 Hudson Yards at 68 floors. We supplied anchors for all of them (about 9,000 pieces), all packaged by floor & elevation before being shipped to this busy jobsite. We are still supplying other miscellaneous steel parts and look forward to other AESS work on this and other coming buildings there.
388-390Greenwich Street, NYC: ------ Finishing our current work here in November, 2017. For this “retro-clad” job, we provided over 300,000 pounds of miscellaneous fabricated and delivered curtainwall support steel. “Retro” work is becoming more of a challenging part of what we have been doing in recent years.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in our first-class SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR jobs to progress without delay. In this way, we can make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-----------------and end successfully!
1. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, TheWit & Wisdom of Mark Twain, Barnes & Noble Books, New York (1996). At page20.
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
September, 2017 Newsletter
Metfab Metals, LLC
Certified Welders are ALL We Have!
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Below are just two of our veteran, AWS-certified welders crafting two of the complex frames we regularly create for long-term, and new, customers alike. Let them work for you too.
Over a hundred years ago, the famous American storyteller Mark twain warned: “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
As we get very direct “orders” from our customers, we are legally contract-bound to “do right”. And we neither expect them to be grateful nor surprised; we are obligated to do the right thing in making the products you’ve specified, ordered and rightly expect. But, beyond that, we “always do right” with your orders as a matter of our own pride in all we make; we want our products to always be as ordered and more---better than ordered. That is our Owner’s “Jim’s way”, the Metfab Metals way!
Now------Look at our newest capability. This is now “HOW we do things” in yet another aspect of our services to you.
“I need your Welding Certs ASAP!” We have grown accustomed to hearing this righteous plea whether by phone or email. Often there is a note of real urgency in it. Why?
All of you experienced Project Managers are laughing right now at the silliness of writing about such a basic issue. But there is “method in our madness”! We want you ALL to know how true two things are: (1) all our welders and protocols are “certified” and (2) perhaps even more importantly, we keep a current log of these certifications stored on our proprietary computer program (“KenWerks”) so that we can immediately, electronically send you the needed documents.
This speed of fulfillment is just another way Metfab Metals wants to be a good “service provider” for you, besides being simply a top skilled fabricator. This is just another one of our package of services that can save you time and money (often delayed for lack of a document requires in your customer’s jobs specs).
We too have an interest here also. We KNOW we are a first-class “fab shop” now capable of small, medium, large---and now even super-sized---projects. But we need you to know this too, so we always get a chance to show you what we can do.
Don’t forget: To invite us in at your job-planning stage so we can take an early look at what metals are needed; when, how & why they’re needed; so we can give your Owner & Design Team a chance to take advantage of our hands-on, current experience as to what works best in our aspect of the plans.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in the SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR retro jobs. In this way, we can serve to make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-----------------and end successfully.
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
August, 2017 Newsletter
At Metfab Metals Excellence Is Not a Sometime Thing!
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Most of you know the name, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and quite apparently a genius at marketing, as well as design and technology. The late Mr. Jobs has been rightly called “a long game player”. He once said of his goal to always supply great products that:
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, so every one (of them)
should be really excellent”. (1)
A similar credo could easily be assigned to our founder and CEO, Jim Murray, who every day insists on excellence from his staff---and himself. With what result, you ask? As a result, Metfab Metals, LLC helps you to avoid mistakes, delays, erroneous PO’s, mis-made parts, missed deliveries and all the glitches that can plague your jobs. Like Mr. Jobs, Jim and all of us here at Metfab Metals are not satisfied with making “me too” products (2), delivered almost as ordered. “Let some other companies do that.” (3) We always rather deliver only those made exactly as ordered!
Our approach is not just to read the job specs and crank out fabricated metals, but rather to make excellent products every time.
“Excellence” is not just an essential in producing futuristic electronics as Apple has done, time & again. It is the mark of a great contractor, manufacturer or supplier too. We treat “excellence” as an essential part of every job we do. Part and parcel of getting an excellent result is communication with our customers before, during and after the fabrications are being done. That includes delivering exactly what the P.O. stipulates and when, how and in what quantities the customer specifies, even going so far as complying with changing conditions at the jobsite. Just keep us posted----and we’ll comply as fully as possible.
We here at Metfab Metals, LLC again learned this, day after day, in the smooth and timely completion of our recent contract for the exterior trusses of the NMAAHC Museum. (4) The specifications, schedule and logistics of delivery were all demanding in the highest degree, but we complied and were rewarded for it. Look at what our customer wrote to Jim, after the job was successfully turned over to the owner, on time, as designed:
Thank you for all your help and support on the NMAAHC (National Museum of African American History and Culture) project! They are never easy, but we find ways to succeed together. Congratulations on being a part of history with us.”…2/13/16 |
[First of our exterior fabricated 73' Trusses, after installation]
[NMAAHC after full installation of our exterior trusses]
[This unique Museum as it stands today]
The above few photos illustrate well our work from fabrication to erection to completion, all done with our standard brand of “excellence”. We didn’t have a single rejected truss, assembly or part in producing and delivering this exterior framework for a truly signature building---a monument to many things, including Metfab Metals’ proven ability to produce and deliver challenging and excellent fabrications.
Don’t forget: We always ask our customers to involve us more in the planning stage so we can take an early look at what metals are needed, as well as “when, how, in what timed deliveries & why” they’re needed that way, so we can give the Owner & Design Team a chance to take advantage of our hands-on, current experience as to what works best in our aspect of their plans.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in the SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR retro jobs. In this way, we can serve to make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-----------------and end successfully!
1. How to Think Like Steve Jobs, Daniel Smith, Michael O’Mara Books Ltd. (2013), pgs 193-194.
2. Ibid. but at pg. 42.
3. Ibid. but at pg. 42.
4. National Museum of African American History & Culture, the new Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC which opened last year.
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
July, 2017 Newsletter
“Delays!”
Metfab Metals Has a Program to Avoid These Too!
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None of you needs to be reminded how often “delays” play hell with your building schedule----and often your revenue & profit. Metfab Metals, LLC works hard to NOT contribute to this curse that plagues some jobs. Our answer is not just reading the job specs and taking calls from your Project Manager. We addressed this issue in-house several years ago, leading to the development of our proprietary Project Management program, KenWerks.
This Excel-based program tracks your jobs from initial contact to completion, including the receipt of initial plans & specs, quotation, Purchase Order (PO), issuance of sub-PO’s, actual purchase of steel & related products, retain sub-contractors/suppliers, receipt of products purchased, production scheduling, coordination with the customer’s project manager (PM), work with inspectors, coordination with subs/experts, QA/QC, co-ordination of shipments, packing, wrapping, palletizing & storage, securing shipments, delivery options, documentation, invoicing, final project close-out documents, even payment. All of this is designed to avoid even inadvertent delays and innocent errors.
But take a look at how one journal describes how the plague of delays strikes at the heart of what you are trying to get done. (1)
Delay and cost overruns are inherent part(s) of most projects despite… project management. …[We should] look at some reasons of delays and cost overrun in projects and their mitigation process, so as to increase….. project success....
The author then identifies a list of causes for project delays that most often lead to unanticipated added costs and often ultimately to a late turnover of the job itself:
1. One major factor that has been identified as a reason for cost overrun in most projects is design errors
2. [Another cause is] scope change. Scope…..defines the entire deliverables expected at the end of a project….. Thus, any change in the project scope during execution will mean that the entire initial project plan will have to be reviewed such that a reviewed [he means INCREASED]budget, schedule and quality will have to be developed.
3. Another major reason for cost overrun and delay…. is inappropriate and inadequate procurement and faulty contractual management system. Contracts read out virtually every aspect of a business correlation, including payment terms, pricing, and service levels…[A]contract that has not highlighted the entire project scenario may lead to dispute in the contract system.
4. The complexity of a project could also be a contributing factor to delay and cost overrun. …… most mega projects tend to have relatively long implementation period when compared to small projects (leading to)…… inflation, change in material price and changes in exchange rates such that the initial budget may need to be supplemented for the project to be completed.
5. Finally, the post execution phase (closure) of a project…. can lead to delays and cost overrun. Being the very last part of the project life-cycle it is often… ignored……Slow closeout could be [due to]contracts and procurement, change order issues not resolved, final change orders not issued, poor close out documentation.
In conclusion, although delay and cost overrun may seem very inherent in most projects, the good news is that it can be reduced or totally eliminated using a proper project performance monitoring and control system that will integrate all the key activities of each phase of the project……………(emphasis added)
Even before our April, 2017 Newsletter (2) where we introduced you to KenWerks as one of the tools we use daily to comply promptly with your entire job specs, we used this program in all our departments. All our employees now input information as your job flows through our office, leading to the right fabrications arriving, on time, at your jobsite. All projects logically require allied “services” from your metals supplier, not just their accurately made parts. Our KenWerks program, with select sections open to critical employees for input and status, makes this process easier, more error-free and more expedited. This sophisticated computer tracking system can help you deal with the day-to-day problems of all your jobs, often as much as our decades of experience making the fabricated steel! We here at Metfab Metals always want to better handle your job’s needs. This means our services are as important as are ALL our metal products for your projects. Don’t forget: we always ask our customers to involve us more in the planning stage so we can take an early look at what metals are needed, when, how & why they’re needed.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in our first-class SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR jobs. In this way, we can make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-----------and end successfully!
1. Francois Buys, “Cost Overruns, and Their Mitigation Measures", https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-causes-project-delay-cost-overrun-mitigation-measures-buys
2. See our website for this archived earlier article in our Newsletters section at www.metfabmetals.com.
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
June, 2017 Newsletter
Retro-Clad/Retro-Fit Update!
Metfab Metals Provides All the Related SERVICES too!
MEMBER: |
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WE MAKE ALL THE NEEDED PARTS TOO!!!
In our September, 2016 Newsletter (1) we wrote that:
“Many new projects are actually re-builds of sound older buildings that need to be brought up to current standards for one or more of (many) reasons.”
These Retro-Clad/Retro-Fit projects require allied “services” from your metals supplier, not just their accurately made parts, usually for at least a new exterior building cladding.
Coincidentally, we are now in the midst of a classic example of such a “re-build”, across the river in lower Manhattan. This brick façade building is morphing into a glass curtainwall one, with all the ultimate savings and environmental benefits of new systems. But it’s in the middle of Tribeca, a bustling mixed-use area with a shortage of parking, only a few blocks from West St, highway and the mouth of the Holland Tunnel outlet to New Jersey.
We want you to know how we can help you deal with the day-to-day problems of such re-building (often with occupants and shoppers in and around the building, as the contractors work often in limited random areas at any one time), as well as our experience making the fabricated steel for this job! Let me illustrate:
[388-390 Greenwich St., New York city, NY]
“The renovation, which includes a curtain-walled makeover, will integrate 388 and 390 into one building with a single lobby, show a “town square,” a rooftop terrace, and a fitness center……… The building will also be LEED-certified. …..The transformation will be complete by 2019. ……..388 Greenwich Street……is a skyscraper which forms a complex with the neighboring 10-story 390 Greenwich near the Hudson River.” (2)
No metal fabricator has more focused experience than Metfab Metals, LLC on the real-time needs of such jobs. Let me list a few such concerns at all such jobsites:
• Pre-construction metals plans/specs review (prior to actual production);
• Jobsite parking for deliveries (as you know, there is most often only limited street parking on such “jobsites”;
• Access to work areas;
• Storage of delivered/fabricated parts onsite/related costs;
• Partial deliveries (planned early, essential to a smooth work-flow);
• Area-“targeted”/limited deliveries (often floor by floor, as needed);
• Logistics (where, when, time-of-day to deliver???);
• Constantly adjusted specs/drawings to comply with building conditions, as found daily, as the building is field-measured;
• Flexible production schedules to meet found needs;
• 24/7 service availability for production and/or delivery;
• And so much more
As we have also said,”……..a “retro-fit” or “retro-clad” job can take many forms, all defined by the specs issued for the project…… it can be a more full-blown tear-out where the building is stripped down to its super-structure and every system, covering, cladding and finish is replaced, often to adapt it to a new use or purpose. Regularly….. the owners want to make the building far more energy efficient with power & maintenance savings offsetting much of the retro-fit costs…….” (3)
[“Alexander Court”, in Alexandria, VA: Another Metfab Metals retro job, where we created job-specific
metal parts/assemblies for a
new skin on a restored building to gain a more modern appearance and energy efficiency]
We here at Metfab Metals always focus on how we can better handle your job’s needs. Retro-cladding and/or retro-fitting mean we also tune into all the services you will need as we supply ALL these metal products for such a ”retro” project, but often only as you need them howsoever your project actually progresses.
This unified process requires planning, coordination, on-the-go adjustments and anticipating many of the real-life problems BEFORE the job starts and even after we start (partial) deliveries for the fabricated metal anticipated at the jobsite. (4)
We always ask our customers to involve us more in the planning stage so we can take an early look at what metals are needed, when how & why they’re needed so we can give the Owner & Design Team a chance to take advantage of our hands-on, current experience as to what works best in our aspect of the plans. This can be an ultimately cost-effective way to qualitatively review your specs; identify potential problems before committing to building out all the fabricated steel your design calls for; and suggest services & ways to further job-efficiencies, and much more.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in the SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR retro jobs. In this way, we can serve to make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-----------------and end successfully!
1. See our website for this archived earlier article in our Newsletters section at www.metfabmetals.com.
2. As reported online in Real Estate Weekly, on June 17, 2017.
3. See our website for this September, 2016 article in our Newsletters section at www.metfabmetals.com. We reprised this in our January, 2017 Newsletter, stressing that we started such major retro-clad jobs more than 20 years ago citing our “51 Louisiana” roof enclosure or “ladder” in Washington, D.C, creating an enclosed courtyard with consequent energy efficiencies and other esthetics.
4. Building Design & Construction (online magazine) at www.bcdnetwork.com (September 16, 2009) by Mark Baker, Pres., IBA Consultants
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
May, 2017 Newsletter
Metfab Metals. LLC
NEW Plasma Cutting Department (Large Feeder Table
Type Plasma Cutter)
Gives Us Another In-House Capacity Too!
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Now your fabricator here at Metfab Metals, LLC has a further capacity beyond all our long-standing AESS and other production skills. We have established a whole new Plasma Cutting Department to service the expanding----and more demanding----cutting needs in our industry.
But this is not just “adding a machine”. This is a part of an overall “customer service” strategy that our owner, Jim Murray, has envisioned for a long while, planned and put into effect. He has now implemented another phase for Metfab Metals, LLC to show our constant service commitment to fulfill all the needs of our current---and future--customers.
But progress pictures might give you a better “feel” for this Piranha Model # C5-10 enhancement. Take a brief look at how we have preliminarily begun to lay out this new Department:
But what does this mean for you? Again, just look briefly at what the machine’s manufacturer reports in its literature and on its website:
STANDARD FEATURES
1. Rugged Construction - All-Welded Steel Frame (not bolt-together) with high accuracy linear guides and bearings. Machine is assembled complete at the factory
2. Dual Side Drive – gantry driven on both sides for maximum stability
3. CNC Control with 10.4” High resolution color LCD monitor, shape library with 20 configurable shapes, 8MB memory & USB interface
4. Panasonic servo motors and drives – Powerful 400 watt servo motors (not stepper motors) on both X-axis and Y-axis with a maximum traverse speed of 8000mm/min.
5. Down draft exhaust system – Pre-vented duct work with exhaust fan for plasma dust extraction – no messy sludge to clean out and dispose of.
6. MicroStep Programmable Torch Height Control – controls torch height automatically
7. Breakaway Torch Mounting – protects the torch from inadvertent part tip-ups
8. FASTCAM Programming System – DXF importing, editing and NC code generator.
9. 5’ x 10’ Cutting Area
We always invite current customers to come in and look at what we are doing---and can do. This invitation extends as well to those of you that are not yet our customers. Come in and look for yourself!!!!
Look at this state-of-the-art Plasma Cutter as well as our other capacities. Remember that we can now transmit your precise shop drawings directly to this Plasma Cutter’s computer, so mistakes are a thing of the past. “Last minute” orders can be serviced better and more quickly than ever.
As we like to say, no other fabricator has more focused experience, more resources or a deeper commitment to your fabrication needs than Metfab Metals, LLC. That’s why we often call ourselves not primarily a fabricator, but rather a service company that fabricates your needs to “service you better.”
As we said last month, our service not only means “we speed what you need” to your jobsite; it means we can improvise and implement, as you need it, whatever will make your job go smoother, faster and on-time. NO metal fabricator can promise you more than this.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing, to exacting specifications, all the various metal parts/assemblies needed for YOUR multi-faceted jobs. This precision always serves to make your jobs go smoothly from its earliest stages------------and end successfully! No order is too small; none too large; none too difficult; none too challenging. Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Our All-American service is as good as our metals!
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676 [email protected]
April, 2017 Newsletter
Metfab Metals. LLC
NO Defects Whatsoever: THE Central Goal of Production
at “Metfab Metals” Too!
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You most likely know Metfab Metals, LLC as the company that does small or large AESS jobs without peer (1), with almost NO errors and delivers on time, every time, even at huge jobs like Hudson Yards (2) But this is not a coincidence, happenstance or just plain luck for our owner, Jim Murray. He directs us all here at Metfab Metals, LLC on our constant need to follow a program roughly akin to Six Sigma (3) in scale to our size. Goal: NO production defects!
Let me tell you how we organize our staff and hold all managers, foremen and even welders to standards that far larger companies would be proud of. This is a very demanding standard for all, but very productive of our fine metal work. We operate under the proprietary program (in-house created largely by Ken Barthman, and constantly refined as we use it) we have dubbed:
This unique program uses the Excel format and inputs that info into Google spreadsheets stored in the cloud. All employees have access to their relevant sheets and enter data directly as processes are completed/revised/reviewed. This has allowed us to reduce and eliminate errors, delays, even costs dramatically. Come in and see what we can do with this for you. Or just come in and discuss how we have achieved these economies over recent years.
Simply common sense should drive a C.O.O. to require such steps! Our customers’ jobs that lack the lead time to order overseas, or the budget to do so or just discover essential last-minute “fill in” needs, made ACCURATELY & timely, drive us to implement these demanding steps & records. So we can service your REAL needs!
Or more simply, our customers drive us to get done quickly and spec-compliant the parts/assemblies needed (often even pleaded for by a faithful, but desperate, customer) NOW! We can always help any customer. Again, come in and look for yourself!!!! Look at the state-of-the-art Plasma Cutter we just acquired to service (in-house and immediately) an even broader scope of what you might need at the “last minute” ----or earlier. No mistakes with this computer driven beauty. We can truly “optimize” here too which saves $$$$$ for all of us.
[Look at this site/Newsletter next month for a full exposition on this new capability we now have and what else we can now do for you, even FASTER than before, with guaranteed certainty. ] As we have said before, NO metal fabricator has more expertise and more focused experience than Metfab Metals, LLC for all your needs. So much so that we at times even call ourselves not primarily a fabricator, but rather a service company that fabricates your needs to “service you better.” Our service not only means “we speed what you need” to your jobsite; it means we can improvise and implement whatever will make your job go smoother, faster and on-time.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing, to exacting specifications, all the various metal parts/assemblies needed for YOUR multi-faceted jobs which precision serves to make your jobs go smoothly from its earliest stages------------and end successfully! No order is too small; none too large; none too difficult; none too challenging. Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
1. Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel. See our website for a full exposition of this art’s meaning and so many applications. www.metfabmetals.com.
2. This current West Side development in NYC is the largest such privately-financed development in the world to date. There are literally more than a dozen multi-use buildings rising on this former railroad yard site.
3. Six Sigma is the accepted name for a program seeking zero tolerance quality in manufacturing. It seeks to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, mainly empirical, statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in these methods. (It…..) follows a defined sequence of steps and has specific value targets, for example: reduce process cycle time, reduce pollution, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and increase profits. It seeks to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects…….
Our All-American service is as good as our metals!
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676
[email protected]
March, 2017 Newsletter
We Metfab Metlas, LLC
We
Are Adding More Technology to Our Shop Too!
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“Piranha” is a well-known name in the metal fabrication business. We have a number of their machines/computers in our shop. Take a look at the newest one just installed.
[Our Brand-New Piranha C-510 Plasma Cutting System]
Now we can do even more for you---right here in our own shop. And do it more efficiently and quickly! This “beast” can easily cut through 1” plate, with exacting precision. It’s “cutter” is driven by “FastCAM” software. Metfab Metals is now even more embedded in 21st century technology. Remember: “We sell Technology Too”! (1)
You might only recognize us as the company that did all that AESS (2) work at “NMAAHC” (3), or WTC4 (4) or even at Hudson Yards (5). But we also concurrently do the smaller jobs; some are emergent fabrications that are essential to your ongoing projects ----and make your installations so much easier so that they go so much more smoothly, efficiently & cost-effectively.
Look at what this machine can do automatically, with instructions directly from your electronic instructions/specifications, through “FastCAM” and our technology:
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[Just some of the cuts our new Piranha can make for you.] |
You’ve all ordered one or more of these special or last-minute configurations, perhaps even many times, often as you were in the middle of an ongoing site installation---and realized their need, even essentiality! Innovative new projects often require the above, as they create esthetics designed into the building. Sometimes just the facts on the ground require it, as your job doesn’t have the lead time to order overseas, or perhaps the budget to do so or you just have last-minute “fill in” needs to finish a job. Or you forgot a series of parts/assemblies needed NOW! We can always help
No metal fabricator has more expertise and more focused experience than Metfab Metals, LLC on such needs. Sometimes we even call ourselves not primarily a fabricator, but rather a service company that fabricates your needs to “service you better.” Our service not only means “we speed what you need” to your jobsite; it means we can improvise and implement as you need it whatever device will make your job go smoother, faster and on-time.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies needed for YOUR multi-faceted jobs that can serve to make them go smoothly from its earliest stages------------and end successfully! No order is too small; none too large; none too difficult; none too challenging. Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
1. For more on our technology advances, look back at our earliuer Newsletters in our online archives, e.g., February, 2015; May, 2012; January, 2012; November, 2011; August, 2011. And more. So browse---and learn about technology at Metfab Metals .
2. Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel. See our website for a full exposition of this art’s meaning and so many applications. www.metfabmetals.com.
3. National Museum of African American History & Culture that opened just last year. We did all the exterior trusses that remain visible and beautifully finished to enhance the edifice’s aesthetics.
4. The new World Trade Center4 where we did the entrance podium’s exposed solid steel mullions, some running 50 feet in length.
5. The current West Side development in NYC is here and is the largest such privately-financed development in the world to date.
Our All-American service is as good as our metals!
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676
[email protected]
February, 2017 Newsletter
YES, We Are BIG Suppliers of AESS, But We Give
New Meaning to “Miscellaneous Metals” Too!
MEMBER: |
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✓ Trip Carts,
✓ Picking Booms,
✓ Shop Tables & Cribs,
✓ Gantries,
✓ Lifting Bridles,
✓ Extrusion Racks,
✓ Working Platforms,
✓ Tool Bins,
✓ Tool & Die Work
✓ VMU Steel Fabrication,
✓ Miscellaneous Steel Parts, etc.
You might recognize us as the company that did all that AESS (1) at “NMAAHC” (2) , or WTC4 (3) and now at Hudson Yards (4). But we also do the nitty-gritty, in-house fabrications that make your jobs work ---- and installations so much easier.
You’ve all ordered one or more of these (or similar devices) many times, often as you were in the middle of an ongoing site installation --- and realized their need, even essentiality! Innovative new projects often require the above (or other incarnations of helpful equipment), as they help expedite your whole process and work schedule.
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[One of our Trip Carts] [Our Bridle for Picking Boom from Our Shop] |
Sometimes, simply just common sense requires it, as your job doesn’t have the lead time to order overseas, or the budget to do so or you just have last-minute “fill in” needs to finish a job. Or you forgot a series of parts/assemblies needed NOW! We can always help.
No metal fabricator has more expertise and more focused experience than Metfab Metals, LLC on such needs. Sometimes we don’t even call ourselves primarily a fabricator, but rather a service company that fabricates your needs to “service you better.” Our service not only means “we speed what you need” to your jobsite; it means we can improvise and implement, as you need it, whatever device will make your job go smoother, faster and on-time.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies---as well as your needed delivery/installation equipment----essential for YOUR multi-faceted jobs that help to make them go smoothly from its earliest stages------------and end successfully!
1. Architecturally Exposed Structural Steel. See our website for a full exposition of this art’s meaning and so many applications. www.metfabmetals.com.
2. National Museum of African American History & Culture that opened just last year. We did all the exterior trusses that remain visible and beautifully finished to enhance the edifice’s aesthetics.
3. The new World Trade Center4 where we did the entrance podium’s exposed solid steel mullions, some running 50 feet in length.
4. The current West Side development in NYC is here and is the largest such privately-financed development in the world to date.
No order is too small; none too large; none too difficult; none too challenging.
Our All-American service is as good as our metals!
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676
[email protected]
January, 2017 Newsletter
Retro-Fit? Retro-Clad?----We Supply AESS, Anchors & Misc Metals for These Too!
MEMBER: |
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Many new projects are actually re-builds of sound older buildings that need to be brought up to current standards for one or more reasons. No metal fabricator has more expertise and more focused experience than Metfab Metals, LLC on such jobs.
[Left: “51 Louisiana”: Another Metfab Metals retro job ("roof ladder" covering) we did years ago in Washington, DC
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[Right: Another load of "Retro" anchors shipped]
A “retro-fit” or “retro-clad” job can take many forms, all defined by the specs issued for the project. It can be a full-blown tear-out where the building is stripped down to its super-structure and every system, covering, cladding and finish is replaced, often to adapt it to a new use or purpose. Regularly today, the purpose can be expressed in one word: GREEN, that is, the owners want to make the building more energy efficient, with power & maintenance savings offsetting much of the retro-fit costs. We are currently doing a major such job at Alexander Court in Alexandria, Virginia. This is a common project today, especially to gain better energy efficiency, more internal (expanded) space, adapt to a new use, re-purpose the entire building---or all of the above.
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[The partially done current retro job in Alexandria, VA; Our “Trip Cart” to set new windows] |
As this process of planning and spec’ing each unique retro job regularly starts BEFORE we are offered a PO for the final fabricated metal needed at the jobsite (1), we ask all our customers (new as well as established) to involve us more in this planning stage. This is a NO-cost offer in which we take a look at what metals are needed and give the Owner & Design Team a chance to take advantage of our hands-on, current experience as to what works best in our aspect of the plans (then-yet to be finalized).
1.
Building Design & Construction (online magazine) at
www.bcdnetwork.com (September 16, 2009) by Mark Baker, Pres.,
IBA Consultants
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies needed for YOUR retro jobs that can serve to make them go smoothly from its earliest stages------------and end successfully!
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676
[email protected]