Fabricator Magazine Features P1 Group Innovations in Pipe Fabrication
P1 Group was recently featured in The Fabricator magazine for our streamlined processes and innovations in fabrication, particularly our new WM-36 3D pipe cutting system.
"Sometimes meetings and proper scheduling can take you only so far in a fabricating operation. As business grows, maintaining that correct balance of flexibility and on-time delivery gets tougher if the same number of people have to tackle the increased work load in the same amount of space.
P1 Group Inc.’s fab shop in Lawrence, Kan., found this to be the case in recent years. The provider of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing construction and fabrication services has been enjoying robust growth in recent years, which was putting a strain on its 45,000-sq.-ft. shop and its 25 employees.
Now that may sound like a lot of room, especially if you have worked in a garage-sized operation or a small mom-and-pop shop, but when you are talking about pipe work, that changes the discussion quite a bit. Jeremy Price, P1 Group’s pipe shop production manager, said that the shop typically works on pipe 36 in. OD and less, but it has also done the occasional project calling for 60- to 72-in.-OD pipe. The typical length for these pipes is 42 ft. Also, the shop works with specialty metals, such as stainless steel, so it keeps that work separated from its carbon steel projects. Large material and segregated work areas can make 45,000 sq. ft. seem pretty cozy in no time.
With that in mind, Price said the shop has always tried to maintain a streamlined production process. It runs 10 to 20 jobs through the shop at any one time. For things to move smoothly, material and processes have to flow in one direction, not against the current."
