Many customers approach Ameritex seeking custom metal buildings in sizes ranging from 8’ x 8’ to 60’ x 18’ and even bigger with long lists of customizations, including, doors, baffles, partitions, hardware, louvers, platforms, stairs, paint, finishes, gutters, and so on. There’s nothing you can ask us to build that we cannot customize in your buildings, you name it we can make it reality.
With our combined in-house engineering and fabricating expertise, we pride ourselves on our ability to help customers wherever they are in the design process. When a recent customer came to us in need of a custom metal building for their power generation solution, we knew we had a big challenge ahead of us.
The building needed to be big—40’ long—and involved many intricate details for which the customer didn’t provide specifications. In other words, the project would require the full extent of our engineering prowess.
Our Ameritex team worked diligently with our customer from beginning to end to get them exactly what they needed. Though the design phase alone took nearly six months to complete, the results were well worth the effort: we’ve since reproduced approximately 50 of these custom metal buildings flawlessly.
Here’s a closer look at some of the unique challenges we had to overcome and the keys to successfully completing this custom metal fabrication project.
Top Challenges
Two customizations proved to be the most challenging to figure out: the latch and the insulation.
Latch
The customer initially requested a car-style latch with a pin lock for the building’s doors, but we quickly realized that this type of latch wasn’t ideal for a structure like this one. Despite making some adjustments, we wound up scrapping the latch and starting over from scratch, with the customer entrusting us to come up with the right solution. Redesigning took careful planning, because there were internal components that were going to be housed inside the building that would limit our options regarding latches and locking mechanisms.
It was a tricky situation, but even though we had never designed a latch before, our engineers were up to the task. We ended up incorporating the latch and lock into the door, using a shipping container lock inspired mechanism allowing for more space in the building that would not interfere with any of the contents inside the building.
Insulation
The customer wanted the building’s insulation protected by a specific type of wall liners. We purchased the liners they wanted us to use, but the delivery times were long, and the cost was too high for us and the customer. So, we devised a better solution: we designed our own liners. We purchased a custom die to stamp the holes and made the liner fit to the exact specifications. Problem solved.
Keys to Success
It takes the right approach to succeed at such a challenging project, and there were a few keys to our success.
Collaboration
A project like this one requires significant collaboration both externally and internally. Externally, we kept in close contact with the customer to convey our design recommendations. Internally, we had all our engineers working on separate parts of the project through various iterations, so clear communication was absolutely essential.
We’ve learned to over-communicate internally to ensure everyone always has the information they need to pick up where someone else left off. Our well-honed processes keep everyone organized and on track.
In-house capabilities
Thanks to our wide range of in-house capabilities, we were able to complete every aspect of this project in our Texas shop, from engineering to laser cutting to bending to punching to welding and more. Keeping the entire project under our roof gave us complete control of the process, which was undoubtedly a big contributor to our success.
Product-first philosophy
Ameritex embraces a product-first philosophy regarding custom fabrications. We take the time to understand the end-use application so we can make the smartest design and fabrication decisions.
We have even changed our manufacturing philosophy and practice to reflect a product-first approach to manufacturing. We research to understand the capabilities of the end product and design in order to craft the highest quality parts possible for our customers.
Bring Us Your Custom Metal Building Project
If you take anything away from this case study, let it be this: bring it. No matter how underdeveloped your idea, no matter where you are in the design process, bring your next custom metal building project to us, and we’ll help you bring it to life.
