Analysing the Structural fabrication business is a bit like reading tree rings: They’re all there for those who want to read them.

The older,“inner-ring” shops are still alive and well, serving various small construction projects. There you’ll find plate and beams being fabricated the old-fashioned way, with fitters reading blueprints and applying layout marks (copes, hole locations, etc.) with steel tape, squares, and soapstone; using a mag drill or ironworker to drill or punch the holes; and drawing the hole centre locations by hand. People wield plasma and oxyfuel torches to cut weld preps, then grind for a while (sometimes a long while) before the piece finally moves on to welding.

Then you have the larger operations, the “outer rings,” which are evolving into something extraordinarily different. Fabrication data from the 3-D model is downloaded directly to the machines in the shop. After blast cleaning, automation moves the beams (with no overhead crane) to some truly advanced machinery.

Structural fabrication refers to the cutting, bending, and assembling of steel to create different products. During structural steel fabrication, several pieces of steel are combined together to form different structures of predefined sizes and shapes intended for assembly into buildings, industrial equipment, tools, and various other final products.