by Erin Long | Apr 30, 2019 | Uncategorized
An industrial fabrication shop like Imperial Systems needs its skilled tradespeople. When you see pictures of our facility, you see lots of welders and other metalworkers. These people are certainly the backbone of any fabrication company. But pictures don’t always do justice to the many other skilled trades needed to keep our business moving.
Skilled Trades: Metalworking in Our Fabrication Shop
Our company would not exist without our metalworkers and other skilled tradespeople on the shop floor. In other words, our dust and fume collection equipment would just linger as a pile of sheet metal. Some of the skilled trades at work in our fab shop are:
- Welders
- Grinders
- Machine operators
- Plasma cutting operators
- Powder coating
- Maintenance and repair
- Assembly
Repair and maintenance also include our constantly traveling ServiceMAXX teams. These teams perform everything from filter changes to electrical work.
Things also wouldn’t get far on the shop floor without the managers. These include the plant manager, production manager, supply chain manager, and shipping manager. They are very experienced and skilled people. Above all, they keep fabrication going smoothly and orders going out on time.
Before a job makes it out for fabrication, it goes through the engineering team. These professionals transform the system that the customer wants into instructions for the fabrication shop to build it. Then our skilled tradespeople turn a drawing into a CMAXX or a BRF.
Other Skills: Keeping Things Running Behind the Scenes
A fab shop needs more than skilled metalworkers and shop managers to function as a business. For example, our accounting team handles money going in, money coming out, and any issues in between. They make sure we all get paid, obviously an essential task. They also do double duty handling many human resources functions like benefits and new employee paperwork.
You might not think that a fabrication shop would need a software engineer. But a person with this skill is essential to keeping things running. Everything from sales to shipping relies on a working computer system. In addition to his programming work, our software engineer is always willing to help keep computers and servers running.
You’re probably not surprised that a metal fab shop needs a team of salespeople. Without their work, the shop might not have dust collectors to build. While salespeople don’t go to school to learn sales, there’s a lot of training that goes into being good at this trade.
Our equipment salespeople and aftermarket salespeople must be experts in our products. Equipment salespeople travel frequently to meet potential customers. Aftermarket salespeople maintain our good relationships with customers and help them solve problems.
All those product brochures and blog posts and logos don’t appear from nowhere, either. Graphics design experts are skilled tradespeople who create our brand’s image. Even an industrial fabrication company needs to look professional.
Our graphic design team works with the company content writer. She writes features like our company newsletter and articles published in magazines. Content writing is a mix of skills, including writing, researching, and optimizing website traffic.
Our Fabrication Shop: Many Skills, One Working Company
Our company needs a mix of skilled tradespeople and many other jobs. Industrial metal fabrication relies on its skilled trades metalworkers. Behind the scenes, though, there’s a team of other people working to keep the company running.
Get a professional degree, learn a skilled trade, or make your own career path. A company like ours has a place for you. Without our skilled tradespeople, products wouldn’t get built and our fabrication company wouldn’t exist.
Many industries, not just metal fabrication, owe much of their success to people in the skilled trades. From medical to construction to electronics, skilled trades drive industry. Remember: many supervisors, managers, and even company owners got their start in skilled trades!
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by Erin Long | Apr 24, 2019 | Weld Fume
Problem: Welding Ventilation
This company manufactures many types of metal parts for the power grid industry. They have several robotic weld cells and also a number of human welders. Between these two sources, the company produced a large amount of weld fumes. High production demand meant that the weld fume levels were a constant problem.
The company had a small fan moving air through the shop. Without proper welding ventilation, the fumes created a hazardous atmosphere in the workplace. Concerned about the safety of their workers, the company sought a solution to their weld fume problem.
Solution:
The company’s welding equipment dealer had worked with a company called Glacier Technology, Inc. The company contacted Glacier to design a welding ventilation system for their shop. The weld fume collector was an Imperial Systems CMAXX CM008. They laid out ductwork to provide direct ventilation to each area of the workplace.
The robotic weld cells had their own fume extraction hoods. In addition, an ambient system design provided clean air to the area where the human welders worked. Calibrating airflow to handle hoods and an ambient system together requires strong system knowledge.
The CMAXX arrived on time and as specified. Because the CMAXX is designed to be easy to install, the company was able to do the entire installation themselves. This took only one eight-hour work day and went smoothly.
Feedback:
Tom from Glacier Technology returned to the facility soon after install to adjust the electrical systems. Upon arrival, workers expressed how pleased they were with the new welding ventilation system.
“It took about five minutes to start clearing the shop out,” one worker told him.
In fact, when Tom had to shut down the collector for a few minutes to make some adjustments, the shop immediately filled with fumes. The workers demanded that he turn it back on as soon as possible. As soon as he restarted the system, the fumes began to clear again.
The customer reports that they had a very positive experience working with Glacier Technology and Imperial Systems. They appreciated the design of the system, the prompt delivery and easy install, and the customer service they received.
Imperial Systems and Glacier Technology partner to provide customers with the best equipment, efficiency, and expert service.
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by Erin Long | Apr 17, 2019 | Weld Fume
Any of our competitors will sell you a weld fume collector, but how many of our competitors are welders themselves? We are proud to be a welding fume collection company. If you go out into our shop, you’ll see our CMAXX dust and fume collector right in the middle. It’s protecting a shop full of welders who are working on new dust and fume collectors.
Fume Collectors Welded, Not Bolted
While most of our competitors bolt the pieces of their dust and fume collectors together, Imperial Systems’ collectors are welded solid with no external bolt holes. Because our collectors are welded and not bolted, we understand welders’ fume collection needs. We know our weld fume collector works in the field because it works in our shop.
Our own welders test our fume collection system every day. The safety of our own employees drives us. As a welding fume collection company, our systems can’t just be good enough to sell to you. They must be good enough to put in our own shop.
Because our competitors do so much bolting and not so much welding, their systems don’t get put through the same test that ours do. If our fume collection system didn’t work for welders, our welders wouldn’t be happy with it.
By Welders, For Welders
The person who cares most about how a machine works is the person who uses it every day. For welders doing their jobs every day, a fume collection system needs to work. They care about their work environment and whether it’s clean and pleasant to work in. They care about their health and what they’re breathing.
As a welding fume collection company, it’s our responsibility to make products that welders like and trust. We always encourage and value feedback from our welders about ways our weld fume collectors could be improved. We know that if our own welders in our shop aren’t satisfied with the way our CMAXX works, people who purchase it for their own shops won’t be satisfied either.
Our welders are proud of the quality of their work. As a weld fume collection company we take pride in giving our welders the safest, most pleasant environment to work in. Our goal must always be the highest air quality possible.
What’s Wrong with Bolts
Why do we weld our fume collectors instead of bolting them together like the competitors? Bolting the panels together probably saves some time over the work of a skilled welder. When you’re choosing a weld fume collection company, however, quality beats cutting corners. Bolts can come loose, and bolt holes rust and allow water inside the collector.
As a solid welded piece with no external bolt holes, the CMAXX has no bolt holes to rust. The quality work of our welders produces the most durable, weather-resistant fume collector on the market. It allows us to offer the longest warranty in the industry.
Our competitors choose bolts over welding, probably because that’s how they’ve always done it. Some competitors, though, have started to copy our design, including the solid welding instead of bolts. Don’t fall for these CMAXX wanna-be products. The copycats will never be as good as the original. Many of these copycats aren’t even made in the USA and they don’t go through our most important test: the satisfaction and happiness of our own welders.
With NFPA standards on combustible dust, more and more dust and fume collectors are being located outside. This makes it easier and safer to vent an explosion, but it exposes the collector to the elements. After many years of rain and snow, bolt holes will show corrosion and rust. Unlike bolt holes, our welds don’t leave the metal weak to rusting.
Why We Do What We Do
We are a welding fume collection company because welders deserve to be safe and healthy at work. All welders, including those in our own shop, deserve the basic right to clean air in the workplace. Our welders test our weld fume collectors while they’re making them. Our shop relies on our systems to do a good job. If our own welders trust the product they build, that means you can trust it in your shop too. The CMAXX is a product built by welders, for welders, from our weld shop to yours.
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by Erin Long | Apr 15, 2019 | Uncategorized
Some Interesting Welding Facts As We Recognize National Welding Month
- Welding started in the Bronze Age when people first began using different types of metals. Blacksmiths mastered the art of forge welding, or heating pieces of metal to red heat and then hammering them together.
- Welding using electricity started in the 1800s, but the welds were often brittle because the metal oxidized. Welded seams at this time were prone to failure.
- The 1920’s saw research into shielding the welding arc with various gases to prevent welds from becoming brittle from exposure to oxygen. Eventually, this research would lead to early versions of all shielded welding processes.
- The first industrial robot ever put into use was a spot welder used by General Motors. It weighed two tons.
- In space, there’s no oxygen. Because metals can’t form their usual layer of oxidation, two different types of metal that touch each other in space will instantly weld themselves together.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average pay for welders across the United States is $19.35 per hour. Most welders have a high school education.
- There are an estimated 410,000 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers working today. The average age of these welders is 54 years old, suggesting that not as many young people are choosing it as a career.
- Welding jobs are expected to grow at a rate of 6% to 10% over the next twenty years, not including the need to replace retiring workers.
- 50% of all manufactured products, from bridges to computers, go through some type of welding during their manufacturing.
- Welders with special skills, like underwater welding, can make up to $100,000 per year. These jobs require extensive training in the special challenges of the work.
- Welding as an art form has led to some amazing metal sculptures that are on display all over the world. Welded art has become a growing industry.
- Besides standard welding methods, some applications use ultrasonic vibrations to cause metal molecules to bond together. Others use explosions to create enough pressure to force metals to bond.
- Many industries, including the automotive industry, use robot welders in their manufacturing process. While the robot welders can repeat the same welding tasks over and over, they are no substitute for an adaptable human welder.
Share your count!
So how many of these welding facts did you know? Share your answer in the comments of our Facebook post now.
Got a welding fume extraction problem in your shop? Contact us here at Imperial Systems!
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![The Dangers of Phosgene Exposure [Infographic]](https://www.isystemsweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/featuredimage_phosgene-1080x675.jpg)
by Erin Long | Apr 10, 2019 | Uncategorized
This brief infographic describes the dangers of phosgene exposure. Phosgene is a potentially deadly gas that should be avoided at all costs. Phosgene gas is created when heat is applied to brake cleaner, making it a potential hazard to welders. While a dust and fume collector will not eliminate phosgene, you can take proper precautions to avoid it.
Over 100,000 tons of various chemical weapons were used during World War I. One of these was responsible for 85% of chemical warfare-related deaths. Mustard gas is typically the first World War I chemical weapon that comes to people’s minds. However, it was another gas that was responsible for 76,000 Axis and Allied deaths.
Phosgene exposure was the deadliest chemical weapon used during World War I
The Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibited the use of chemical warfare but did not totally eliminate the risk of phosgene exposure. The risk is now present in the welding community. When heat is applied to brake cleaner, it has the potential to produce phosgene. Cleaning metal with brake cleaner before welding can be potentially deadly.
Oftentimes, symptoms of phosgene exposure are not seen for 24 hours. These include burning of the eyes and throat, blurred vision, coughing, difficulty breathing, pulmonary edema, nausea, vomiting, low blood pressure, and heart failure. It is often assumed that chemicals sold over the counter must be safe, but phosgene exposure can be deadly. Make sure you read the safety data sheet for any chemical you use in your shop.
Imperial Systems cares about the health of our welders, as well as welders all around the world. That’s why we make equipment to help welders breathe better and work safer. Unfortunately, some hazards cannot be eliminated by the presence of a dust and fume collector.
Learn more about phosgene gas in this related blog post.
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