JR Merit is pleased to welcome Steve Channel as the manager of our new in-house fabrication facility, which is currently under construction and slated to begin production in Fall 2021.

Steve started with JR Merit in mid-July and comes to us with more than 27 years of experience in the welding industry with emphasis on quality control. His experience includes 20 years with UA Local 290 Steamfitters, where he was the program coordinator and authorized testing rep for Local 290’s welding program. Steve has also served as a regional quality manager for a national contracting company. He is also a certified welding inspector through the American Welding Society.

We sat down with Steve to talk about his new role as fabrication shop manager for JR Merit and the high-quality work that he and his team will be able to execute when JR Merit’s new shop starts production.

What excites you most about JR Merit’s new fabrication facility?

I’m excited to work in a brand new facility with the latest technology, including a process flow that integrates the field and shop through programs like BIM and CAD. We can transfer that information into the shop programs and process spools off those cutsheets. The technology behind this continues to develop, improving efficiency and quality.

I’m also excited about the JR Merit team—the people are a big plus. I’ve worked with several JR Merit staff before. It’s great to be coming to a place with such good people.

What do you see as being three key benefits of in-house fabrication?

In-house fabrication enables shorter lead times—we don’t have to adjust to a third-party fabricator’s priorities and schedule.

It also reduces costs—there’s no markup on fabrication, and we can develop very accurate numbers as we hone our processes for each client and project type, which helps with knowing the cost of the job up front.

In-house fabrication also enables better quality control. We can produce according to our own QA/QC program, rather than relying on a third party where they might have different platforms, procedures, or standards.

What are the most challenging aspects of fabrication, and how do you overcome them?

Fabrication is as a much a team-oriented process as being in the field. This means good team communication is a key factor to success. I get the whole team involved in the process, making sure for every project, everyone fully understands the scope and challenges and we all have a plan for overcoming those challenges.

Another challenge is schedules: navigating short or fast-track schedules dictated by the client’s and project’s needs. Again, the solution comes down to good team communication and planning. Our shop team works closely with project managers to navigate project priorities, build a schedule, and make adjustments as needed, and we make sure all teams are communicating about work and buying into the coordinated plan. Our goal is to make sure our workflow is as smooth as possible while adapting to the realities of project priorities and schedules and managing costs.

Safety is always a key priority, and maintaining a safe environment in the shop is different than in the field. In the field, you have more unknowns, so everyone is always on alert to changing conditions. In the shop, our work is a more consistent and repeatable process. That repetition can drown out standards, so it’s a key focus for us not to get complacent or take safety for granted. I make sure that we have shop-specific safety protocols in place and that my team follows them all the time.

As a manager, what are some of your specific strategies for leading and guiding your teams to success?

The biggest thing is making sure that shop procedures are established and followed, whether for welding, safety, or anything else. I make sure there is structure in running the shop, with a flow chart of responsibilities and expectations that everyone understands and agrees with. Again, we work as a team, so everyone needs to be aware of each other’s work, not just their own, and have buy-in on the proper channels and processes so that the flow of the shop is efficient and well-coordinated.

I’m also big on training, particularly when it comes to adapting to new trends and technologies so everyone knows the expectations and we don’t get stuck in the mindset of “this is how we do it” and only do things a certain way forever. Technology like BIM has really changed the game since it started getting implemented heavily in 2010; everyone was hesitant at first but now it’s just the day-to-day workflow. We will continue to implement and develop BIM usage and integration to make things more efficient and streamlined.

What changes do you see in the next three to five years in the industry, and how will you adapt?

Technologies and tools for welding, cutting, and fabrication continue to become more user friendly and make our jobs easier and more efficient. Implementing the latest technologies is a must, not just a “nice to have.” Over the next five years, I see BIM and CAD becoming even more integrated with our workflows, with elements modeled and detailed in BIM and integrated right into our shop programs, and having everything digitally on iPads, including material tracking. In five years or so, paper will be completely a thing of the past! Digital content and automated technologies are changing the flow of work in fabrication shops—it’s taken a lot of the manual elements out of our work, which is a great benefit; it’s making it easier to execute work and mitigate human error.

Adapting to new technologies and automated machines takes training, whether in-house or through the unions; it’s a necessity.

I’m looking forward to growing with the JR Merit shop and getting to know our work and our teams. We will celebrate successes and always keep a team mentality—that’s a must. We will all have our piece of the process, and through communication and teamwork we will be able to share our success.