As a family business, founded in 1930, we believe success is based upon innovation through the continuous understanding and improvement of our own and our customers' value streams. This philosophy of always being the industry's innovator has translated into unprecedented growth to become the largest machine tool manufacturer of structural steel and plate fabrication equipment in the world today. The graphic below illustrates our focus and commitment to our business partners.
In the 40's we started to extend our innovative technology to the area of machine tools for the fabrication of structural steel - first in the area of mechanical ironworkers and later in the 60's into the area of automated drill, saw and angle lines.
This technology, the first available to the industry, is keeping with our commitment to be the first with innovative new processes for our business partners.
The article, Reinventing Construction Through a Productivity Revolution by McKinsey best states the productivity challenge that our industry faces when compared to the general manufacturing sector of our economy. The basis of this report highlights why it is essential that our mission must be to drive innovation to levels never previously thought to be attainable.
The FICEP inventions explained below are significant firsts, but as you can conclude from the McKinsey article, we are just scratching the surface. Thus our corporate commitment to our partners is to constantly reinvest our profits back into product development to help promote the competiveness of structural steel as well as their businesses.
Listed below are just some on the many innovative industry firsts that have been engineered by FICEP to strengthen the competitiveness of our business partners.
Direct Drive Spindle Technology
The drilling of structural steel traditionally incorporated a drill spindle gearbox to reduce the spindle's RPM's and increase the torque for the specified requirement.
CALDER DEVELOPMENTS: The vision of a father executed by the son
During the history of the firm their principle production methods were focused on skilled manual labour. As Stephen and Nick evaluated the potential for future growth of the company in 2019, they jointly agreed they needed to position the firm to increase their competitive footprint in the market.
The Austrian company EBNER STAHLBAU GMBH doubled their productin with the installation of FICEP lines
When I look back to the past few decades at the structural steel industry and its changes there are two very impactful developments as an industry trend.
TEKFEN CEYHAN Manufacturing Facilities continue to select FICEP S.p.A to advance their fabrication efficiency
Tekfen Ceyhan Manufacturing Facilities was started in 1993 in Ceyhan, Turkey. Due to its proximity to major highways and the Mediterranean ports of Ä°skenderun and Mersin they have good access to receiving raw material and serving their global marketing strategy.
ENTERPRISE: FICEP's Girder Gantry Drill Revolutionizes the Bridge Fabrication Process
Currently, FICEP offers the only solution to automate this process and eliminate the manual labor associated with girder fabrication.
FICEP's "Intelligent Steel Fabrication"
FICEP invented the first automatic material handling system in 1988 and have expanded their capabilities over hundreds of worldwide installations.
Mechanical Drill Spindle Feed
Prior to 1988 all drilling lines for structural steel fabrication on the market employed a hydraulic spindle feeding mechanism, which had some favorable adaptability when generating holes in structural steel.
MANNI SIPRE chooses FICEP as Trustworthy Technology Partner
For over 50 years Manni Sipre has been providing to its clients the most advanced technologies that were available from steel service centers in their market.
FICEP Introduced Carbide Drilling of Structural Steel to the Industry in 1995
In the 90's there was a German firm by the name of Helpenstein Mueller that stepped outside of the box when it came to traditional drill line designs.
From humble beginnings DS Staalkonstuktion has grown to fabricate the most demanding and diverse projects
DS Staalkonstruktion's story begins in 1969 when Svend Møller, a travelling fitter for Dronningborg Maskinfabrik, finds himself in Ireland, where during his stay, helps a local metalworker to make steel structures.
Maximizing the Plate Fabrication Efficiency of Your Facility
Most firms today are faced with the common challenge of trying to gain maximum use of their existing facility to achieve enhanced productivity. Typically, the greatest potential to increase productivity rests with a plant's layout to minimize the required material handling steps and duration.
Ferrominio Diseño y Construccion Continues to Invest in Automation
In 1953 Mr. Jose Gonzalez, who was originally from the town of N. L. Linares, decided to start his new business which he called Ferrominio in the town of Culiacan.
Review of Drill Line Systems Designs
Structural steel drill line productivity has been debated by fabricators and machine tool manufacturers as firms started to enter this market after FICEP introduced the first one pass drilling line to the industry in the early 60's.
Why are the FICEP XP Angle Lines the most Productive Versatile Accurate and Reliable on the Market Today?
How did FICEP become the world's most dominant manufacturer of angle lines? In the 60's the largest transmission tower fabricator in the world market approached Ficep at that time to become their single source for automatic angle lines.
FICEP's Innovative Engineering Generates Expansive Product Line With Sub Assembly Commonality
FICEP has grown their industry leading position by addressing the needs of the world's diverse markets. Steel fabrication occurs around the world, but frequently the automation needed in one market is of no practical value in another region.
Direct Drive Presses: Working with the right energy
Ficep meets the requirements of the forging sector with a range of products that makes use of all the necessary technologies for the development of a complete line, from the cutting of the bars up to the hot forging presses. The flagship of the range is represented by the Direct Drive presses (DD).
Evaluating Plate Processor Design
The creative nature of machine tool manufacturers has, over time, attacked the fabrication of plate components or parts with different approaches and characteristics.
DIECI SRL Installs One and Done Plate Fabrication Capability from FICEP
The firm of Fratelli Dieci was founded in 1962 by the Dieci family. During the initial years of the firm the three Dieci brothers grew the product line to include precast, multiple diverse mobile vehicles with telescopic arms and cement mixer trucks. The firm continued under the ownership of the Dieci family until September 1st 1997.
FICEP Innovates the First One-Pass Beam Line for the Industry in 1966
Prior to 1966 most structural steel was fabricated by employing manual layout in conjunction with ironworkers, magnetic based drills, portable hydraulic punches or radial arm drills.
FICEP Takes Automation of the Sawing of Structural Steel to a Higher Level
FICEP, the historical innovator in the automation of structural steel and plate fabrication, has once again pushed the productivity of the sawing process to a new level. Traditionally the industry viewed the integration of material handling and measuring the required cut length as the ultimate in structural steel automation.
"Done in One" for the CNC Machining World and in the Fabrication of Structural Steel and Plate
Regardless of where you travel in the world today, Industry 4.0 is the buzzword that is cast about as all industries try to explore how they can enhance their competitive edge. Many countries in the world today predict that this new industrial revolution will reduce manual labor by up to 40% in the next 10-15 years. This strongly indicates that the change in productivity in the next few years is not a wave but rather a tsunami!
Fabrimet Inc. Continues to Endorse FICEP's Innovative Labor Saving Technology!
In the town of Drummondville, Quebec which was founded in 1815 to house the British in their battle against the Americans in the War of 1812, is where an enterprising and inventive young man by the name of Georges Guerette with his son Gilbert founded the company Guerette Machine Shop in 1944. As Gilbert had seven children he needed to generate some aggressive growth to provide for his family going forward thus he grew the initial company into three diverse divisions under the name of General Manufacturing Company...
The History of Scribing
Beam lines (punching and drilling), when introduced to the structural steel fabrication industry, drastically reduced a fabricator's cost per ton. The cost reduction was realized by the elimination of the layout associated with the required holes and in the process also reduced some of the material handling.
The company TEMSAN Inc. in Kuwait updated their total plate fabrication capability with FICEP
Temsan Inc., located in Turkey, was founded in 1972 and has built their business over the years by expanding their focus to include multiple aspects of diverse steel fabrication projects. The comprehensive approach implemented by Temsan Inc., as part of their business plan, includes the full scope of construction project activities ranging from design, production, installation, testing and commissioning.
How Does FICEP Manufacture Over 100 CNC Different Fabrication Lines in a Cost Effective Manner? Lean Manufacturing
Since their founding in1930 FICEP has built their reputation as the world's most dominant and largest manufacturer of CNC fabrication lines for plate and structural steel. Their global strategy and reason for their worldwide dominance is centered on developing the most innovative and cost effective solution for each unique market. The ideal solution in one market could be a single spindle drilling line where a different market requires a multiple spindle drilling line that also provides scribing and milling capability.
The firm VAN DER SLUIS in the Netherlands invest in FICEP as part of their new facility
Frequently, in the history of steel fabrication firms they are unable to make the transition from one generation to the next because of lack of interest or devotion. The family business of Van der Sluis which started in 1934 and located in the city of Kampen in the Netherlands represents a stark exception from their founding by Mr. L. M. Van der Sluis.
First One-Pass Beam Line
FICEP was the first firm to innovate an automated one-pass beam drill line for the industry in 1966!
Structural Steel Carbide Drilling
In conjunction with HMB, FICEP innovated high performance drilling of structural steel in the 90's using carbide technology for feed rates of up to 48" (1200 mm) per minute.
Direct Drive Spindle Technology
FICEP innovated direct drive spindle technology in 2009 to reduce the number of parts and deliver 100% of the motors power to the tool.
Sub Axis Drill Spindle Positioning
FICEP invented and patented the innovation of incorporating sub axis positioning for each spindle in a drilling line for performing multiple operations and functions. This innovation permitted spindle utilization on all three faces of a structural steel section simultaneously even when they do not share the same length axis.
FICEP's Endeavor Drilling Line
FICEP, using the capability of drill spindles with a sub axis positioning, innovated diverse milling routines to expand the versatility of their drilling lines for structural steel.
Intelligent Steel Fabrication
In 2002 FICEP introduced to the industry the first fully automatic system that later became known as Intelligent Steel Fabrication. This innovative technology eliminated the need for an operator to operate and coordinate the material handling system to the respective CNC lines.
Mechanical Drill Spindle Feed
FICEP pioneered the innovation of ball screw spindle feed system for carbide drilling of structural steel some 25 years before the competition started to abandon hydraulic feed of drilling spindles.
Multi-Tasking CNC Technology
Multitasking CNC Technology was engineered and introduced to the market by FICEP for production cell innovation using the concept of tandem sawing/thermal cutting with drilling.
FICEP's Girder Gantry Drill
The traditional method to fabricate bridge girders was to manually layout the girder, use portable drills to generate the holes as part of the lay down process to confirm accuracy. In 2009 FICEP developed new technology to eliminate the manual labor, the lay down process and free up vast shop space.