Connecting Workflows from the Sheet Metal Fabrication Shop to the Field

Your company has put a lot of work and money into upgrading your sheet metal fabrication shop and equipment. Technology for sheet metal fabrication has come a long way in the past 10 years, and you’re proud of how your company has modernized and become more efficient. 

Now it’s time to put your field crews to catch up.

Your field workers have to be in the loop to implement projects correctly, but they often rely on hand drawings and cumbersome communication.

Learn More by Watching this Webinar! Use Mobile Tech to Connect Your Fab Shop To The Field

Out-dated Communication Is Still Slowing Down Fabrication

The many communication gaps between the shop and the field slows down work and lead to mistakes and delays. 

For example, when field crews create sheet metal fittings on scraps of paper, cardboard or sheetrock, it’s easy for the information to get lost in translation. In the shop, valuable production time is wasted trying to decipher field notes, which delays getting fittings back to the field. 

Once the fittings are fabricated, keeping tabs on the materials as they head to the field is another hurdle. Your shop managers are already responding to dozens of requests to locate manufactured parts and fittings; accounting for hundreds or even thousands of fittings from design to installation can be overwhelming. 

Where is the replacement shipment of barbed brass hose-to-hose fittings? Heck, who has time to find out?

 Catch the Whole Series! How to Improve MEP Project Delivery with Connected Project Data

Mobile Technology Closes the Gap

Mobile technology is closing the gap between the fabrication shop and the field. Mobile apps, such as Trimble FabShop Mobile and FabShop Tracking, are taking the guesswork out of requests and information from the field by empowering sheet metal contractors to capture data on the job site. 

With FabShop Mobile, crews can access a comprehensive fitting library and capture sheet metal fitting information in the field, creating a request that syncs directly to the shop and cutting software. Dimensions, the type of metal, gauge, insulation, liner thickness, and seam data is easily captured and accessible by the shop. And, with mobile technology, contractors can perform field verification, previewing fittings in 3D and reducing the re-work associated with deciphering handwritten notes. 

Mobile technology also streamlines status and location-tracking workflows. With the FabShop Tracking app, shop managers can see when fittings leave the shop and arrive at the job site. Barcodes are generated and attached to fittings, accessories and components and scanned with a Bluetooth scanner. This allows shop managers to track their status as they are staged, finished, loaded, shipped, and received. 

Advances in fabrication management technology have come a long way. 

With mobile apps such as Trimble FabShop and FabShop Tracking, extending the same efficiencies from the shop to the field and back is possible. Closing the data gap with mobile apps can reduce rework, streamline workflows, lower risk and waste and ensure accuracy.  

To learn more about how Trimble FabShop’s mobile solutions can provide visibility into MEP fabrication from the shop to the field, catch the webinar!