5 Tips for Reducing Sheet Metal Fabrication Costs

Sheet metal fabrication is a popular and highly customizable production process which is widely used to manufacture metal products or enclosures for many industries, such as agriculture, automotive, machinery, constructions, energy and power generation, etc.

It forms metal sheets into the desired products and parts, which involves a variety of processes: cutting, punching, stamping, bending, rolling, welding, surface treatment, etc. Each of these processes, as well as the materials, has its cost. Some clients strive to reduce costs but rarely get satisfactory results.

In this post, we provide some practical advice to help you find ways to save money in your sheet metal fabrication projects. The following suggestions may not be suitable for all metal components as each product has its own functionality and conditions, but we trust they are helpful for engineers and designers providing a different perspective.

1. Apply standard/common features

Firstly, try to use more commonly used materials. For instance, iron, cold-rolled steel, aluminum, stainless steel, weathering steel, and galvanized steel are the most commonly used materials. And try not to limit the grade of the material, or choose from some common grades which are easier for the manufacturer to get from the mills:
Among aluminum alloys: #1016, 1060, 1100, 3003, 5052.
Among stainless steel alloys: #201, 304, 316.

If bending is necessary, try to apply a bending radius equal to the thickness of the sheet, or simply not determine the radius if it doesn’t really matter, so that standard bending tooling can be used. If you need a radius which is different from the material thickness, check with us or your manufacturer if the corresponding bending tooling is available, otherwise it will take extra cost and time to get the specialized tooling prepared. And avoid a radius smaller than the material thickness.

For coating and painting, try to use common colors such as white, black and grey. Among the colors we have in stock, black, white and grey usually have lower cost than other colors. Besides, if you need other colors or a specific color (for instance with RAL reference), check with us or your manufacturer if the color or any similar color is available. If it is not available, you may consider choosing from the existing colors, or purchasing the color material (we don’t recommend this option if the order volume is small).

2. Simplify the design

Try to completely avoid welding. In addition to saving welding costs and time, it may also help save that of surface treatment as it allows using pre-plated metal sheets. The welding process requires using un-plated metal sheets and surface treatments will be realized afterwards if clients need the surface to be anticorrosive. If joining is still considered necessary after assessment, consider alternatives such as riveting. If welding is not avoidable, reducing welding length/area also helps control welding costs.

Similarly, avoiding machining processes (such as chamfered edges, blind holes, pocket milling, etc.) and complicated folding (for instance, having 2 folds too close to each other) are also ways to simplify the design and make it more affordable.

3. Reduce material thickness

Reducing material thickness is a very effective way for saving costs. Think about this: the material cost = volume x density x material cost per kg. Each millimeter added to the thickness implies a significant additional material cost, probably as well as much higher shipping cost as the products are heavier. If you are open to considering other thicknesses, try to re-evaluate and/or examine different ones, or ask our team for advice, to get an optimum choice that balance your budget and quality.

4. Pick knocked-down designs

Pick knocked-down structure instead of welded/joint structure, to save welding, packing and shipping cost. Knocked-down products can usually be mounted easily by final clients with screws or rivets. If the items have to be more elegant, we also provide the option with hidden screws.

5. Loosen unnecessary restrictions

Looser restrictions allow manufacturers use production methods of lower costs or simplify production steps. It is very helpful to reduce production costs and lead-time.

Consider looser tolerance. It sounds good to limit tolerance as strictly as possible, but it may not always be that necessary for all types of products or components. If reducing costs is very important to you, try to re-evaluate the actual tolerance. Assign tight tolerances only to surfaces that significantly impact the functionality of your product. Not all features play a critical role in the part’s performance, which allows for the application of looser tolerances without compromising the functionality or aesthetic appeal of the final product. By strategically determining tolerance levels, you can effectively manage costs without affecting the overall quality of your sheet metal fabrication project.

Consider whether you really can’t accept burrs on cutting edges. The laser cut edges come with significantly less burrs, while the punched edge has more burrs. If the burrs don’t impact the application or appearance of your product, it allows us to use the punching machine that cuts with lower cost.

To clarify, the above mentioned ideas are not suitable for all projects. We just provide options from a different perspective for those who need cutting costs, as the characteristics of the project allow. Considering these ideas may help you find the optimum balance between the budget and the desired quality. And when you successfully reduce the sheet metal fabrication costs, you may also benefit from shorter lead times.