Setting up a nonferrous fabricating business

DeWys Stainless Solutions chose to install a 3-kW laser cutting machine because it processes mainly thin-gauge sheet. Images: DeWys Metal Solutions

Sometimes a break works for all parties in a relationship. lost wax casting parts

Like many metal fabricating companies, DeWys Metal Solutions built its reputation for quality and on-time delivery while working with a variety of metals—both ferrous and nonferrous—under its roof in Marne, Mich. Metal fabricators have to be flexible if they want to continue to earn the business of new and returning customers, but as anyone in the industry can tell you, that willingness to deal with variability can cause a lot of headaches.

Many years ago, DeWys was methodically trying to build its business with customers that required stainless steel fabrications. It had carved out a 7,000-sq.-ft. corner of its 100,000-sq.-ft. facility to be the home of its stainless steel work, but as operations grew, space became tight, particularly as the rest of the company grew as well. (DeWys is No. 31 on The Fabricator’s 2024 FAB 40 list and expects to hit $66.5 million in annual sales this year.)

So, two years ago, DeWys made the decision to move the stainless steel business unit to a separate location, where the fabrication of stainless steel as well as aluminum parts could take place with additional room to grow. The new location also would provide the company a chance to create a culture focused solely on nonferrous parts, which requires a slightly different way of thinking than the world of carbon steel manufacturing.

“It was a real challenge just to find a building that we could lease,” said Chris Hawkins, DeWys’ chief operating officer, reflecting back on the real estate search that was hampered by the fact that many businesses were looking for warehousing space around the same time.

But DeWys Stainless Solutions eventually found a 40,000-sq.-ft. building in Walker, Mich., about 10 minutes from company headquarters. The company moved over a laser cutting machine, a hardware insertion machine, two press brakes, and a welding booth. Today, material inventory, equipment, and shipping occupy about a fourth of the building’s interior space.

That’s OK, according to Hawkins, because DeWys is looking for the business to grow in the coming years, perhaps requiring more equipment—and automation. The addition of automation would be a change from the initial strategy at the nonferrous-focused facility, which originally took more of a manual approach to material and parts handling.

“Automation was a struggle for us,” Hawkins recalled. “We’d have stainless steel sheets on top of sheets, which could lead to scratching, and when it came to shaking parts out of nests, the parts could leave marks on other parts.”

That’s why DeWys purchased a new 3-kW AMADA fiber laser cutting machine with simple pallet-in and pallet-out capabilities. That way, the machine operator could pick parts directly out of the stainless steel or aluminum skeleton directly from the table.

“Everyone there knows the quality level needed for the products,” Hawkins said. “The team has rallied around that idea, and they work to meet these high expectations.”

DeWys Metal Solutions, Marne, Mich., moved its stainless steel and aluminum fabricating work to a new facility to centralize customers’ needs and develop the business with new opportunities. DeWys Stainless Solutions is located in nearby Walker, Mich. Images: DeWys Metal Solutions

The strict focus on nonferrous laser cutting also has allowed machine operators to run the cutting programs with shop air as the assist gas on a more consistent basis. Hawkins said that during stainless steel and aluminum fabrication at the Marne location, laser cutting machine operators would sometimes just keep the cutting parameters the same as they went from carbon steel cutting to nonferrous cutting, and in the process use more expensive assist gases than were necessary. The slight wasn’t intentional, as 80% of the laser cutting taking place required something other than shop air, but the impact was real.

That’s the type of intentional actions that allow the crew of 11 on the shop floor of the Walker facility to process these parts without shortchanging job requirements or being lackadaisical when handling sheets or parts. They’ll take their time at the press brakes, ensuring that the correct plastic film or tooling is used during forming, and when welding, creating joints that avoid discoloration and any other surface marring.

Like a lot of other job shops in recent years, DeWys purchased a hand-held laser welding system from IPG Photonics to help with welding stainless steel. The high power density of the laser results in a smaller, more controlled weld pool and a smaller heat-affected zone when compared to gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW, or TIG). A person using hand-held laser welding also doesn’t have to worry about being ambidextrous, which helps with GTAW.

Hawkins said that this new welding tool calls for a new way of thinking when it comes to stainless steel parts.

“So if you have a big panel and you put a handle on it, typically you’d TIG weld it on the panel and then grind the face of it because it’s going to be visible. But when TIG welding, you’d end up with distortion in the panel,” Hawkins said. “With laser welding, you don’t have that distortion.”

When it comes to fit-up for laser welding, the pressure is on part designers to ensure that sides meet up squarely and not just one corner meeting another corner. Then the press brake operators need to form the parts to produce that tight fit-up because that’s what the laser welding system needs to really shine. These hand-held welding power sources have a beam delivery method where the laser oscillates back and forth to help to minimize poor fit-up, but it can’t match the flexibility of the manual arc welding processes that can be tailored to fill extreme gap sizes that are often found in the world of less-than-precision fabricating shops.

Hawkins added that the laser welding unit can be configured to assist with part cleaning as well. With a simple adjustment, the laser can be used to remove any residual oils or debris from the workpiece.

Hawkins said that DeWys Stainless Solutions is on pace to reach $8 million in sales this year. He’s bullish on the ability to grow the business particularly as customers see the company’s commitment to possible expansion.

“We’re bringing customers in, and even though we’re only in a small part of the facility, they can see what we’re doing and get an idea of a layout of where we’re going when we grow to $20 million,” he said. “They can see the equipment layout and understand what the building could look like.”

The customer mix is varied. DeWys makes parts for the emergency vehicle and specialty recreation markets. Hawkins said there’s very big potential in the electric vehicle market as more people buy the vehicles and the charging infrastructure is developed.

DeWys moved a press brake and hardware insertions machines to the new facility to support nonferrous fabrication efforts.

DeWys also works with companies in the medical field, going so far as to attain MedAccred accreditation, which provides potential customers assurances that DeWys has the processes in place to meet the stringent manufacturing requirements of the medical device industry. Hawkins added that the accreditation is much like DeWys Metal Solutions’ ISO 9001 certification, not only a symbol of the company’s quality commitment, but also an important checklist item for purchasing agents.

It might take three to four years to reach the target of $20 million in annual sales, but DeWys Stainless Solutions has put together a solid core to help reach that goal. Standing on its own has enabled the company to stand out from the crowd in an industry where carbon steel tends to dominate the conversation.

A laser-welded test part is examined for quality. Laser welding has proven to be an efficient means of joining stainless steel parts.

See More by Dan Davis

Dan Davis is editor-in-chief of The Fabricator, the industry's most widely circulated metal fabricating magazine, and its sister publications, The Tube & Pipe Journal and The Welder. He has been with the publications since April 2002.