The Reality Is We Are a MICRO Sheet Metal Shop/Business

I stumbled on this video today and it reinforced the fact that we are a MICRO shop. The amount of duct that some companies can produce in such a short time is mind boggling. A straight section of trunk duct form beginning to end takes me roughly 8 to 10 minutes. I have heard that companies, like the one in the video, can produce that same section in under 10 seconds. It has become tougher and tougher to keep a shop like ours going because of this gap in production time and more importantly cost of production. Another problem is, most of the work available is commercial in nature and far too involved for a company like mine. Therefore, we are left to pick up the scraps of much smaller commercial work and of course, residential (our bread and butter). But residential and home owner projects seem to be fading more and more even though the housing market has "bottomed". 

Walking this line of keeping the shop smaller in size or taking out loans and making it bigger is a scary proposition. The lack of motivated workers and young people in the field is also something that can be worrisome. Shops like ours will always be needed, but if work can't at least sustain the owner and his family, then smaller shops will continue to fall and go out of business.

Getting Back into The Social Swing

As the summer continues to heat up, so does business and little time for keeping up on social media. However, I have come to realize that more and more businesses and people are migrating to many platforms and ways of communicating. K & E has had a twitter account and blog for a short time and keeping them up to date can be a challenge. So, that's why I have created a posterous account to try and get the word out over multiple platforms in one swing. I hope to post more pictures and musings, trying to get a quality foothold on social media in the business world, help us create more business and help customer relations. Below are the social media outlets we are currently using. Follow us!

• kemetal.blogspot.com
• twitter.com/KE_Metal
• kesheetmetal.tumblr.com
• kemetal.posterous.com

Photos of Some Recent Custom HVAC Fabrication

Here are a few photos of some recent fabrication that has left the shop. Business has been slower but not totally dead.

The first photo was an order for two 25 x 16 to 25 x 10 cold air boots (aka buffalo boots). These are as common as plenums and trunk duct when it comes to installing a forced air furnace. These are for a retro-fit change out in town.

The next photo is a basic plenum, customized with a flat top instead of a normal plenum style cap that would recess 1/2" down inside the top of the box. The customer needed a flattened top for this particular installation.

The last photo is a small order of trunk duct and some small fittings.

Nothing fancy, just a few photos showing the kind of work we do on a daily basis. All of these items are custom made and are what keeps the shop moving along. We concentrate on the residential market consisting of smaller HVAC companies and homeowners with some work coming from very small commercial clients.

Check us out at : www.kesheetmetal.com

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Sheet Metal Prices Continue to Rise, Hurt Margins

Our input costs are quickly rising. The load of metal I received Friday afternoon was the highest metal has been in over three years and until oil and other commodities stop rising, I see no end. A 25% increase in our metal price since the end of the fourth quarter 2010 is a tough pill to swallow. This scenario is a killer for our business because

Fabrication of a Custom Access Door Frame: Day 1

Here is what I am working on this afternoon. A customer needs a door fabricated to fit on this pre-made 12" round fitting. So, after a bit of drawing and thought, I came up with an idea for a frame that I can fabricate separately and bolt on. Today was the day to build the shell of the door frame and map out where to cut the hole on the pre-made 12" round Y-fitting.

Here is the pre-made fitting that

Fabrication of Custom Exhaust Hood For Screen Printing Shop

Even though duct work is our bread and butter and what the majority of my work day consists of. We often get projects that are along the same lines, but just different enough that some extra thought and attention is needed. Case and point, the project I had for the last few days has been to fabricate an exhaust hood for a drying machine inside a small screen printing shop. I won't even pretend to know exactly what the machine does, the customer drew up what he wanted and I am making it to those specifications. Simple. Here's some pics.

Below is the wide shot of the hood. The customer wanted a rectangular box with pieces angled inside that would deflect the air to the center 4" collar.There are no welds, everything is done with the Pittsburgh machine, break, hammer and rivets.

This picture just gives a clearer view of the depth of the piece and a look at the collar in the center. The total dimensions were 62" wide, 6" deep and 12" in height with a 4" collar cut into the top middle.

Here is a shot looking inside at the angled pieces that will deflect the air toward the center of the hood.  It's tough to see, but I also added a 1/4" 90 degree lip around the bottom edge for some stability. Even though the hood is for a smaller application, the width of the hood will make it weaker in the middle and prone to bowing or popping. The angle will give it just enough strength to keep it stable when the machine is running and keep any noise to a minimum.

End of The Week Pin Action

One of my most hated tasks in this business is insulating duct work. I know that it is a necessity for some applications and obviously, more work means a bigger invoice. However, it is one of the most tedious of the jobs that I have and can eat up hours quickly, leaving me little time for other work. I know that it comes with the territory though and for the first time this year I have a full day of pinning and insulating. Any business is good business.

Filter Rack Installation Inside a Plenum

This morning I am working on a custom cold air filter box. Basically a plenum with a filter rack riveted inside. I fabricated the plenum and just finished installing the filter rack. Here are a few basic before and after pictures.

 Here are a couple pictures of the finished plenum without the filter rack installed. As you can see, I have left a slot in the plenum ( 1 1/4" wide ) where the filter will slide in and out.

Next I have to fabricate the 1"x1"x1" channel pieces that will become the finished rack inside the plenum. The plenum is a basic 16" x 24", so I will need two 23 3/4" rails for the long sides and one 15 3/4" rail for the short side. Notice I have subtracted 1/4" from each rail. That is so the rails fit easily inside the plenum without any unneeded force, while allowing for movement in the plenum for easy installation on the job site. I have also cut some 45 degree notches on the 15 3/4" rail so that when the filter slides inside, it won't get caught on a bent corner of metal.

All that is left to do is rivet the sections of rail inside the plenum and the rack is installed. I usually start by installing the 23 1/4" sections first and then slide the 15 3/4" section down inside the other two rails. Now the customer can pick it up and install it on the job site. I have used some basic filter material in the picture to show how the filter would slide inside the plenum. I would not suggest using this as a filter for a homeowner. Buy some high quality filters that will last.

A Full Day Of Custom Fabrication

Thought that I would post a couple pictures of what I worked on today. It isn't everyday that I get to make all custom fittings. Most days are filled with stock duct and maybe a few easy custom things. I enjoy a day that sees a custom fitting go from mind to metal.

The top photos are of a custom condenser cover. They are very basic because the customer wanted something less expensive. The bottom photos are a custom U-shaped elbow for running the duct under a support beam. The customer didn't want to fool around with cutting and fitting stock elbows on the job.

Receivables, Receivables, Receivables

The frustration for any micro or small business is being paid. This is our current dilemma. The slowdown in business has made us tighten on everything from driving less to not eating out with family. I feel like this would be the case for any company we deal with, if in the same dilemma. Not true.

Being a micro-business can be very tough when customers don't pay their bills. We can't afford to get a court involved and our receivables aren't large enough to pay fees for a receivables loan or something similar. You can send letters and make phone calls until your blue in the face, but you will always get the same answer...the check is in the mail. 

Our business is very small and we count on every dollar....literally! We will track down a single dollar if necessary. We as a company continue to pay our bills. We cut costs and use credit cards if possible, but we always pay or we call our vendors and are honest. They will usually be very forgiving and take whatever we can give at the time. We rarely get this courtesy. 

It can be frustrating on many levels. You provide a needed service that isn't compensated. Chasing money is not our business. Our business is metal fabrication. We fabricate, you pay...that's the deal.