PeddiWriter Handrail Fabrication, JT Steel and Fabtech - Peddi-TV - Fall 2016

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Peddi-TV. I'm Ashley Novak, bringing you the latest in structural steel news.

With Fabtech just around the corner, let's take a look at some cutting-edge technology US fabricators are using.

CNC Layout Marking may be a newer technology, but Brian Smith and the team at Unlimited Welding take new applications to new heights. Discover how they are profitable thinking outside of the box or a handrail.

I'm Lindy Casey, here at Unlimited Welding today with Brian Smith.

Brian, thanks for being with us today.

Thank you.

Can you begin by telling us a little bit about Unlimited Welding?

Yes. Unlimited Welding is a family-owned business, been around for almost 30 years now. We primarily service Florida but have traveled to southeast, the Caribbean, as far north as Washington DC, and as far out as Salt Lake City, Utah.

You recently invested in a Peddinghaus PeddiWriter CNC Layout Marking Machine. What initiated this decision in your investment?

Well, what initiated it was the lack of personnel to do layout work.

As our workforce continues to age out, it's getting harder and harder to find people to do layout work. So if we could free up more people to do layout work that physically won't fit the PeddiWriter, it makes us a lot more productive.

Now, you had the installation earlier this year. What type of benefits have you been experiencing from the PeddiWriter?

More layout capabilities. Again, if you had a guy that you would've been counting on to layout four handrails in a day, now he's free to do something else.

And in the meantime, the machine has laid out 12 handrails. It's freed you up a great deal of labor.

How would you describe your process before the PeddiWriter?

It would be typical manual layout that a lot of people still do today. It's fixtures and jigs, and that's great if you're doing a lot of production work.

But usually handrails are not a lot of production work. They're a lot of one offs, because the rise that runs up the stairs and things vary.

So what makes the PeddiWriter so adaptive to us is we take the Tekla files, run them right into the PeddiWriter, we can layout the handrail as quick as it can run through there. And it doesn't matter if it's one of each kind as we have an accurate layout within a matter of a few minutes.

You've also recently hosted the Peddinghaus Motorcycle fab shop tour that were held earlier this year.

Yes.

You've had many riders and visitors come through, and take a look at the machine being demoed.

What were the guests and riders most interested in?

The handrail layout. We use it for stair stringers as well, but the biggest thing everybody was interested in was how we were laying out handrail. Because it was something new.

Nobody was quite making a PeddiWriter layout handrails the way we were. So it was very, very intriguing for a lot of guys.

I'm here with Troy, the shop foreman here at Unlimited Welding. Would you say the PeddiWriter has been welcomed into the workforce here?

With the younger generation, they pick up the technology and just run with it. It's been great for the younger guys in the shop for sure.

How has the learning curve and the training been on a machine like this?

It went really easy. We import our files from Tekla, and pretty much push Start, and it does it for you.

Is there anything else you'd like our viewers to know about Unlimited Welding?

We're a family-run business that have been around for a long time, and we take a lot of pride in the work that we put out.

And that's how we get a lot of our work, is through our reputation. And we continue to mark, and strive, and make our reputation that much better.

Simply the best, that's what Jerry Taylor has to say about his fabrication company, JT Steel.

We dig in to how he stays ahead of the steel industry while leading the town of Escalante, Utah as mayor.

Hi. I'm Lyle Menke. This is Peddi-TV. Today we're here with Jerry Taylor, the president of JT Steel, as well as the mayor of Escalante, Utah. Jerry, welcome to Peddi-TV.

Thank you, Lyle, and I appreciate you being here in Escalante to do this interview.

So, Jerry, first of all, let's talk about JT Steel. How was it founded? What's the background of the company?

Well, JT Steel was founded back in 1983, and it's because I'd lost my job as a welder for a company that-- back then, the economy was really bad.

I had nothing to do other than start JT Steel. I took a Rolodex and $238, it was an unemployment check that I had.

So, Jerry, what separates JT Steel from your competitors in the area?

Well, it's important to me as a business owner and always has been. Customer service is number one.

In JT Steel, we want to be simply the best. So we're always trying to improve what we do and improve our customer service. It's all about taking care of the customer.

So you made the decision to buy the multi-spindle drill and the saw together. How did that change the format in your shop?

We picked the saw and the drill, because it was in progression with one another. We could cut everything, drill it, and then move it to our shop.

You added an Anglemaster machine and also a plate line from Peddinghaus. Can you tell us a little bit about those purchases?

Plate line come first. And what it was is my partner, Mike, he's always looking for a new piece of equipment to buy, especially through Peddinghaus.

The parts that thing makes, we couldn't keep up. Once we had the saw and the drill, our parts team couldn't keep up with the amount of parts that we needed.

By adding the plate machine, it's allowed us not only to stay up, but stay way ahead on our parts, and for us that was a no-brainer.

And then we decided that we were using a lot of clip angles, and then the Anglemaster became a big part of our company.

It's always been that issue with getting the drawings and getting them in time to meet the fabrication process.

Does the Peddinghaus machinery give you a little bit of advantage in that way?

Contractors now are wanting a faster product. In other words, they bring the design in late, they bring the team in late, and they want you to catch up or to put them ahead. And so this equipment that Peddinghaus has for us has allowed us to do that.

How do you make that work while being the mayor of Escalante and the president of JT Steel?

Well, I'll tell you the way I make it work, is because I have great people around me, both in the city and at JT Steel.

LaVell Edwards taught me one thing, and that is he surrounded himself with people that was as good or better than he is. So that's kind of what I've tried to do, is my management style is to surround myself with great people.

Tell me, why is Escalante such a special place?

Well, as you saw driving in today, Escalante is one of the most beautiful places you'll ever see. The highway that you drove in on today, Highway 12, is rated the second-most beautiful highway in the world. So the scenery around here is unreal.

This is where I'm from, though. I was born and raised here, grew up here, and it's just a place that I love. It's very dear to my heart. Small-town, hometown boy.

Fabtech is almost here.

In preparation for the steel industry taking over the city of lights, Peddi-TV hit the Las Vegas Strip to find out what people really know about the steel industry.

Georgia.

A little town out of Calamine, Arkansas.

Norway, Trondheim.

Australia.

South Carolina.

My first time.

About my third time.

Yes, very first.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

With the H-A-U-S, I would say it's some German something.

It's a law firm.

It's German?

Whatever it would be it would be done right.

Garments.

Pedicure.

Small animals.

Storage.

Storage.

Like build something.

Foreign Metal Association.

Future Manufacturers Association?

Future Mechanics of America?

I thought about fabrication.

Fabricators--Fabricators Manufacturers, I don't know,

I'm--

Fabricating Material?

I don't know, something may be.

Archetype.

The pyramid, I hauled in steel to it.

That was the first time into here, so I know about it.

I would say all of them.

Steel beams?

I would imagine just about every one of them are.

I'm assuming it's something made from steel.

Something that you eat on?

I don't-- I don't--

Structural reinforcement typically.

Don't you have a gusset in your stockings?

Gusset is a bracing of a piece of steel.

Before you made a decision to go to war, would you consider that your kids or yourself would have to go?

What's the overall goal?

How are you going to help truck drivers out?

How can we get steel back in the iron factories in Ohio, Pittsburgh, and places like that?

That's all for this installment of Peddi-TV.

Stop by the booth C37069 at Fabtech to see showstopping CNC technology from who else but Peddinghaus.

Until next time, I'm Ashley Novak, bringing you the latest in structural steel news.