What Is Fabrication?

Fabrication plays an important role in making manufacturing not only efficient, but effective. Simply put, it’s the process of making parts or components by working with raw or pre-made materials. Including shaping, assembling, or refining them so they can be used in bigger systems or products.

Today's industries that rely on custom or specialised parts would really cripple without fabrication, and it would be very challenging to produce innovative products. So why is the fabrication process so important and what are the main types of fabrication work businesses rely on today?

What Is Fabrication Work?

Fabrication is all about creating parts or components that are later used in larger systems or assemblies. For example, brackets & machinery parts. These are fabricated first and then brought together during manufacturing to build things like industrial machinery.

These parts are produced through various fabrication techniques including shaping, cutting, assembling or processing raw or pre-manufactured materials. The fabrication process often involves working with metals.  But it’s also possible to apply fabrication on other materials from laminates, wood, composites to plastics.

Similar to manufacturing processes, some fabrication types are performed manually. But in today’s modern age, most processes are automated using Computer Aided Designs (CAD) which are then programmed into a language that Computer Numerical Control (CNC) can understand.
 

What Are the Main Fabrication Processes?

The process of fabrication always starts with the first stage, which is the design. Usually the fabrication shop would receive detailed designs created through CAD programs. If the work is more complicated, then the fabrication would first create a prototype to visualise and test the product before commencing the work.

Ultimately, there is not only one way to fabricate. The processes can vary greatly and include different steps. It really boils down to what material the intended part is made of and what the end specifications are.

Oftentimes, products would undergo coating or finishing processes to improve its overall durability and appearance. Let’s look at some of the main types of fabrication work below.

The Types of Metal Fabrication Work

Below we’ll go through some of the common fabrication processes.

1. Machining in Fabrication

Machining is a subtractive process that removes material from a workpiece in a controller manner. The goal is essentially to turn a bigger piece of material into the desired shape of the final product.

To accomplish this, the machining and fabrication shop uses different machining capabilities including mills, drills, lathes and many other tools. The machining processes are used in many industries as they are both versatile and can perform work on metals, wood, glass, plastics and other materials.

2. Forming in Fabrication

The goal of forming is to reshape a part without removing material by giving it a particular shape using specific techniques. These forming techniques are usually grouped by:

• Temperature: Whether it is hot (formed by undergoing controlled heat treatment) or cold (reshaped by raising its temperature substantially).
• Force type: The type of force used to achieve the objective. For example, compressive (squeezing/pressing the metal into shape), extrusion (force the metal through a die), tension (stretches the metal through a tensile stress), and many others.

3. Stamping in Fabrication

Stamping, or also known as pressing, creates holes in flat sheet metal by placing it into a stamping press. The press ha a tool and a die surface to form the metal into the desired shape through ways such as:

• Punching
• Blanking
• Bending
• Piercing

 

4. Welding in Fabrication

Welding is frequently used by steel fabricators, as it is often you have to join two pieces of metal with an application. It’s achievable through applying heat to the contact area between both parts.

 

5. Assembly in Fabrication

The assembly is the final stage where metal components are joined together using riveting, bolting, welding or adhesives techniques to create a final product or structure.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Fabrication Company?

A fabrication shop is a business that is contracted to convert conceptual designs into tangible, functional products using the main fabrication processes. You can view our fabrication companies directory to explore manufacturers affiliated with Haizol.

What Do You Mean by Fabrication?

Fabrication means constructing components or parts using fabrication techniques into individual pieces that will later be assembled into larger systems or products.
 

What Is an Example of Fabrication?

Imagine you’ve created a new consumer electronics device. Fabrication would usually be the custom metal chassis or custom layouts for switched displays inside the electronics device.

What Is the Difference Between Manufacturing And  Fabrication?

Fabrication involves constructing precise components like steel beams or engine parts. These are then assembled into finished products during manufacturing.

Conclusion: What Is Fabrication?

Many people out there wonder what is fabrication, and how it differs from manufacturing. Fabrication plays a big role in today's modern manufacturing. Not only does it help businesses to create custom parts and components that are later used in their final product. But it also makes it possible to create complex designs with precision & reliability. Creating these parts relies on different challenging fabrication techniques, such as machining, forming, stamping, and assembling.

Whether you're working on a new product or upgrading your machinery; you’ll likely need to turn to fabrication services. But finding the right fabricator can be very time-consuming and difficult.

Haizol is Asia's leading marketplace that connect buyers to trusted fabricators in China. We have over 700,000+ factories that are  listed on our platform. Sign up today for free to explore all the fabricators listed on our platform.