Port City Metal Services

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I grow the business,” stated Port City Metal Services owner David Carter. “I’m an entrepreneur, I’m not out on the golf course, I’m here every day, so when I see a customer’s need that’s a viable business opportunity, I go look at it.” Unburdened by middle management committees and corporate boardroom politics, Carter has the flexibility to react to market and business trends to gain an advantage. “We’re smaller than the major service centers so we can be more responsive and we’re better financed than the small shops so we can act on our decisions,” he said.

“It was obvious to me, after talking to my customers, that there was a demand for structural tube work. After researching a number of competitive machines, I chose a FabriGear 300 and dedicated 20,000 square feet of floor space for 3D tubing operations, which represents no small investment.” Carter cites the number of customers doing angle and tube work either manually or on machining centers as a key factor in the decision making process to buy the FabriGear 300. He also noted favorable tax depreciation schedules in Oklahoma and on the Federal level as additional factors influencing the decision, “I was ready to purchase. The tax incentives made it that much easier.” Even though he had no 3D work on the books, Carter bought one FabriGear 300 and had the floor space preconfigured for a second machine, as he planned ahead for expansion, “We are currently selling into our regional market, but we do have national companies looking at Port City, which is why we planned for two FabriGear 300’s from the start.” After six months of growth in 3D orders, Port City Metal Services is now running its FabriGear 300 10 - 12 hours per day, five days a week, plus a half shift on Saturday mornings while training personnel for a full-time second shift.

Port City Metal Services occupies over 600,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in Tulsa, OK, offering customers: raw material inventory, plasma cutting, flat laser cutting, press brake bending, rolling, CNC machining and 3D laser cutting. “We do a lot of kitting. A prime example is a tractor bucket where we cut, drill, tap, roll, and bend plate steel and now we cut tube and pipe to exact tolerances, put it all on a pallet and ship it out to the assembler,” he continued, “We’re also working on components of a pump trailer. It has over 50 parts cut from 2” and 3” schedule 40 pipe. We cut, cope and scribe each part on the FabriGear, then palletize the kit and ship in one week. We knock it out perfectly; it fits together like Legos or Lincoln Logs.” It seems that the FabriGear 300 is a perfect fit for Carter’s philosophy of being more than a vendor, “we want to take as much burden as we can off our customers, to be a one stop shop – they use our inventory, our floor space, our equipment, our labor and our capital so they can concentrate on engineering and assembly. Really, the FabriGear represents such a huge shift towards using new 3D technology to manufacture, as a lot of this type of work is being done by hand by iron workers with plasma cutters, the labor costs are such a concern for everyone these days.”

The capabilities of the FabriGear 300 have been paying dividends for both new and existing customers according to Carter. “The flat plate customers see 3D jobs running, and we start getting inquires for tube work that they’re doing, then the tubing customers come in for their job and see our flat plate capabilities and they’re interested in that side of our business.” Once again Carter points to the added efficiencies of having multiple processes performed under one roof, “We can do the work of three or four smaller shops, ensure perfect fits on assemblies, reduce lead times and transportation costs while improving quality and streamlining production. It’s such a unique piece of equipment. Our customers have been very impressed. We’ve gained the upper hand in quality and ability with the FabriGear 300 and that’s given us the cost advantage compared to the traditional shops. We’ve already set shipping records for the year.”

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