Steel Fabrication 101: From Factory to Framework
- Madden Fabrication
- Sep 24
- 6 min read
You’re immersed in day-to-day life. You come and go — work, errands, dinner, family, friends. Life keeps moving fast. The city is fast: people walking by, cars going around, the noise… But there it is, in the middle of the rapid city — the Wells Fargo Building. Tall, elegant, carefully designed.
Have you ever stopped to look up for a moment? Have you ever wondered what engineering processes were used to create such a beautiful-looking building?
Chances are, words like architecture, engineering, and construction come to mind… but steel fabrication?
Well, steel fabrication is precisely what was used to build the structural steel frames, columns, and beams that give the building its distinctive form — a fascinating example of an early skyscraper.
Whether you’re curious about what goes on behind the buildings in your city’s skyline or just want to learn about steel fabrication, keep reading to discover more. In this article, we’ll walk you through what steel fabrication is, its key benefits, the core processes involved, and answer some common questions about steel framing along the way.
Table of Contents
What Is Steel Fabrication?
Steel fabrication can be defined as the process of transforming raw steel into the desired shape or product. To achieve this, various techniques, including cutting, bending, welding, and assembling, are employed.
When fabricating steel, raw materials are shaped into the desired form. They are first melted down and then mixed to form steel, which is later molded into the intended shape.
Steel fabrication is always carried out by specialists who convert raw materials into commercially viable products. These professionals are specifically trained in the properties and characteristics of steel.
At Madden Fabrication, we specialize in steel fabrication and carefully follow each step in the process to ensure our customers receive the highest quality service.
What Are the Benefits of Steel Fabrication?
Different industries — such as construction, manufacturing, automotive, and infrastructure — benefit from steel fabrication because it offers the following advantages:
Strength and Durability: Steel is naturally strong and durable, allowing the creation of tough, time-resistant structures and products that withstand challenging environmental conditions, fire, and pests.
Cost-Effectiveness: Using steel to fabricate structures and products lowers costs, reduces build time, and minimizes maintenance expenses. With time, this results in significant savings.
Design Flexibility and Versatility: Steel is used to fabricate various shapes, sizes, and complex forms, enabling the creation of customized and innovative designs.
Speed and Efficiency: Construction projects are finished faster using prefabricated steel components because they are quick and easy to assemble on-site.
Sustainability and Recyclability: Steel is recycled without losing quality, supporting eco-friendly practices and reducing environmental impact.
Accuracy and Reliability: Strong and high-quality products are made using methods that guarantee precise, consistent components that fit perfectly.
Low Maintenance: Steel doesn’t need constant repairs or maintenance because it’s highly resistant to warping, cracking, decay, and pests.
Safety: Steel’s stability and strength improve the overall safety of the structure and products.
4 Core Processes Involved in Steel Fabrication
#1: Cutting
Cutting is often one of the first steps in the steel fabrication process. It includes cutting raw steel sections, such as sheets, beams, or pipes into the desired size or shape. Modern technology is used today to cut steel, with laser cutting, plasma cutting, and waterjet cutting being widely employed. Using these technologies, it’s possible to achieve precise cuts that are essential for the accuracy of the final product.
#2: Bending
Bending is one of the most crucial steps in shaping steel into the desired shapes. Once cutting is done, steel pieces usually need to be bent into angles, curves, or profiles without removing material. This is accomplished using specialized machinery, including press brakes, roll-bending machines, section-bending machines, folding machines, manual benders, and CNC (Computer Numerical Control) bending machines.
#3: Welding
Welding is a fabrication process in which two or more pieces of steel are joined; the pieces are generally joined by melting the base metal and adding a filler material to form a bond. Once the materials are cooled, they fuse into one strong joint.
#4: Assembling
Assembling is probably one of the most important steps in the fabrication process because it’s when the individual steel pieces are brought together to form the final product or structure. This step focuses on accurately placing, matching, and connecting the parts in line with the engineering plans to ensure a correct fit and functionality.
Commonly Asked Questions About Steel Fabrication
What Does a Steel Fabricator Do?
To understand what is a steel fabricator, it helps to know that they are skilled technicians who take raw steel and transform it into usable products, such as structures or components. They do so by cutting, shaping, welding, and assembling steel components according to engineering requirements. They work in various industries, including construction, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and infrastructure. A steel fabricator also reads and interprets drawings, measures and marks steel, follows the steel fabrication process meticulously, and does quality checks.
What Raw Materials Are Involved in Steel Fabrication?
Various raw materials can be used in the fabrication of steel. Choosing the right materials is essential for meeting the specific requirements of each project; it’s important to consider the characteristics of the supplies, such as strength, corrosion resistance, and cost. Some of the most common basic materials used for many metal fabrication projects are:
Steel types and forms
Plate Metal
Flat Metal
Sectional Metal
Formed and Expanded Metal
Castings
Tubing and Pipes
Consumables for Joining
Welding Wire
Welding Electrodes and Flux
Shielding Gases
Fasteners and Finishing Materials
Fittings
Bolts, Nuts, and Rivets
Coatings and Paints
What Is the Difference Between Steel Manufacturing and Steel Fabrication?
While steel manufacturing generates steel in its raw form, steel fabrication takes that material and transforms it into finished, tailor-made items using various techniques such as cutting, bending, welding, and assembly, considering specific clients' concepts and criteria.
Steel manufacturing focuses on producing raw steel or standard, pre-specified steel products. Instead, steel fabrication transforms those materials into customized items designed for specific purposes.
While steel manufacturing is a process that transforms raw materials, such as iron ore, coal, and scrap metal, into steel, steel fabrication utilizes advanced tools to cut, weld, bend, and shape steel that has already been manufactured.
Basic steel elements, such as plates, sheets, and structural shapes, are produced by the steel manufacturing industry. Steel fabrication takes those and changes them into custom items or structures ready to use.
What Are Some Examples of Steel Fabricated Products?
It's possible to take advantage of steel's properties and characteristics to manufacture a wide range of products across different industries. Some of these include:
Steel in Aircraft Manufacturing: Steel is commonly used to manufacture all kinds of aircraft, from commercial passenger planes to private jets and military planes. Aircraft parts made with steel are tough and reliable. When carefully made, they’re also heat and pressure-resistant.
Steel in Construction and Design: Steel is a standard material in construction, where small but important components, such as screws, wires, bolts, and nuts, are required because they can be carefully crafted to meet the specific needs of the building. Beams, supports, steel plates, and other hand tools are also fabricated using steel. Architects love steel because it’s an easily adaptable and versatile material that allows artistic freedom.
Steel in Renewable and Traditional Energy: In the energy industry, essential components such as pipelines, wind turbines, transmission towers, electromagnetic fielding, and oil and gas platforms are produced by steel fabrication. Steel is the preferred choice for essential structures in renewable energy, like solar panel mounts, wind turbine towers, and hydroelectric systems.
Steel in Modern Medicine: Medical tools and complex machinery require precise and detailed construction, which can be achieved using steel because of its strength, durability, and versatility. New medical equipment and machines also incorporate steel fabrication, thanks to the precision and accuracy of this process.
Steel in the Automotive Industry: Steel is highly regarded in the automotive industry for manufacturing and repairing cars, as well as for restoring and creating new metal components for vehicles. Structural steel and other types of steel are also used to manufacture cars and bicycle parts.
Madden Fabrication: Over 30 Years of Superior Metal Fabrication Services in Portland, OR, and Nationwide
At Madden Fabrication, our 30 years of experience have enabled us to establish a reputation for delivering high-quality metal fabrication services in Portland, OR, and nationwide.
We’re ready to help you reach your project goals with precise steel fabrication and solutions specifically designed to meet your exact requirements.
Contact us today to get started on your best steel fabrication project yet.
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