Hydro Expands Fabrication Focus

Hydro has expanded its aluminum fabrication services with more regional technical competence and a new dedicated website. "Customers should benefit from cost savings by obtaining their extrusions and fabrication in one place," said Matthew Dionne, president of Hydro's North American aluminum extrusion business.

The company has added technical specialists to further enhance the deep competence in engineering, fabrication, and process management across its nationwide network. They will be based in St. Augustine, Florida, Phoenix, Arizona, and Guaymas, Mexico; providing customers with project management services to guide customers through extrusion, fabrication, assembly and finishing. Using a single source for these services will condense design and production times, and improve product quality.

Hydro has also launched a resource-rich website dedicated to aluminum fabrication, www.hydro.com/fabrication. It features information on:

Cutting & Drilling
Bending & Forming
Machining & Punching
Welding & Assembly
"There are obvious efficiencies gained from doing the extrusion and the fabrication together. It saves transportation and handling costs because the job no longer needs to be shipped to a fab shop. It also reduces administrative load by eliminating a vendor," says Dionne. "But bigger efficiencies can come from designing the item more holistically.

"If the extrusion design is considered with the fabrication processes in mind, you can reduce the amount of aluminum billet purchased, reduce waste, shorten extruding times and minimize the number of fabrication steps needed. Usually the outcome is cost savings and shortened turnaround time, and it's common that the final product is better, stronger, lighter or longer lasting."

Dionne said the company has also added additional technical specialists to its engineering and fabrication team to meet customers' growing needs for personalized project management.