Manufacturing and fabrication are two commercially used terms in the process of production of finished metal or construction of structures using a metal. However, a lot of people, especially people who wish to opt structural steel for construction purposes, confuse both these terms. One of the most common queries that steel plate fabricators get is related to this doubt. If you also want to get a clear idea of how these two processes are distinct, you have landed at the right place. We have listed down the major differentiating aspects of structural steel manufacturing and fabrication.
| Manufacturing | Fabrication | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | According to the Oxford dictionary, the word ‘manufacture’ is defined as "make (something) on a large scale using machinery." | According to the Oxford dictionary, the word ‘fabricate’ is defined as "construct or manufacture (an industrial product), especially from prepared components." |
| Process | Manufacturing structural steel is the process of producing the final structural steel material by combining all the raw materials in different proportions, by means of large-scale industrial operations. | Fabrication is the process of bringing together different standardized manufactured structural steel parts. The parts are then welded, assembled, or ‘fabricated’ together. |
| Application | The process of manufacturing is preferred only to produce structural steel or other metal parts. | The process of fabrication is considered to create structural steel structures, buildings, machinery, and other components made of structural steel. |
| Relatability | Manufacturing can also refer to the manufacturing of structural steel structures. | Fabrication is considered to be a part of the manufacturing process of complete structural steel structures. |
| Aim | The goal of manufacturing is to create structural steel parts that can be easily assembled and fabricated together. | The goal of fabrication is to create robust, environment-friendly, and long-lasting structural steel components and structures. |
Let us understand the difference between these two processes by comparing them with the example of an automobile. Imagine a company is importing automobile parts for cars and trucks and assemble them, creating finished automobiles. The process of producing finished automobiles carried out by this company can be considered as the fabrication process. The company doesn’t manufacture automobiles from scratch. Therefore, the process of manufacturing is done at other factories where automobile parts are constructed using raw materials.
It isn't very difficult to understand structural steel manufacturing from the fabrication process. If you still have any doubts related to the either of these processes or if you want to get a quote for your next structural steel project, you can discuss it with our structural steel beam and steel plate fabricators.
