Metal Building Innovation
At Allied, innovation is in our DNA and being at the forefront of technology is how we operate. We are relentless about improving our processes and operations across our organization, and recently embraced the benefits of employing robotics and automation in assembly and welding processes at our fabrication facilities. In true Allied fashion, we didn’t stop at adopting advanced systems, we collaborated with Zeman and Lincoln Electric to modify robotics systems to meet our unique needs, proving once again that we’re not limited by how things have traditionally been done.
Facing pandemic-driven labor shortages in 2020 and after, Allied’s leadership sought out a way to make our teams and fabrication processes more efficient. While much of the metal building industry continues to operate with tried and tested practices that have worked for hundreds of years, we saw an opportunity to borrow from the successes of the structural steel industry: namely, leveraging robotics systems for applications in pre-engineered metal building fabrication.
Though we are still learning from this integration, robotics and automation have significantly enhanced the quality and efficiency of our operations. These systems provide unmatched consistency in our assembly and welding processes, ensuring precision and reliability in every product. By integrating digital data transfer, we’ve also improved traceability and planning, allowing us to streamline workflows and better meet client demands.
Beyond efficiency, this innovation has improved safety across our facilities. By automating labor-intensive tasks like welding, we’ve greatly reduced the number of man-hours required for these operations compared to other steel manufacturing facilities. In addition to boosting productivity, this has led to a safer workplace for our team, all while maintaining a high standard of quality.
The impact of these innovations is clear:
- 500% increase in assembly production efficiency, enabling us to meet growing client demand with faster turnaround times.
- 90% reduction in parts handling and sorting time
- 40% gain in assembly production time
- 50% increase in welding efficiency
- 75% reduction in crane use for beam handling during fitting, alongside increased energy savings
- 90-95% reduction in assembly errors due to improved accuracy.
- Improved safety metrics, with fewer manual operations and reduced risk of injury.
This vision required innovation and collaboration with Zeman and Lincoln Electric and from every corner of our company. Adapting new tools and processes to PEMB manufacturing not only required making substantial modifications to the robots handling our product but to the software driving their processes, which pushed us to reconsider every aspect of how we approach design, engineering, detailing, and fabrication. Ensuring all teams understood the impact of what we were innovating, how it could potentially affect every stakeholder in our company, and how to contribute and adapt, required teamwork across our organization at an unprecedented scale.
“Everyone within our company needed to change their mindset to maximize the opportunities that the new robotics and automation systems machines could bring. This meant seeing past restrictions to ensure the best possible alignment of goals, ideas, efficiencies.” – Ruben Serna, Vice President of Manufacturing
We don’t just adopt technology, we pioneer its application in ways that redefine the industry. By combining cutting-edge robotics with a culture of innovation, we’ve created a manufacturing operation that not only delivers superior results for our clients but also sets a new standard for safety, efficiency, and creativity in steel manufacturing.