Exterior Aluminum Panels

Advanced Automation Speeds Installation

of Exterior Aluminum Panels

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Estes Design and Manufacturing, a full-service sheet metal fabricator, uses advanced automation and a collaborative approach to produce exterior aluminum architectural panels that are easier and faster to install. A recent project completed included the 30,000-square-foot Fishers, Ind., Fire Station.

1,003 pre-painted, .050 aluminum architectural and soffit panels were fabricated using a fully-automated fabrication cell – with zero remakes.

Interlocking features of the architectural panels were designed in partnership with The Hitzfield Group of Noblesville, Ind., which designs and installs building envelopes and structural façade components nationally. Stephen Hendrickson, Director of Design and Engineering with the Hitzfield Group, attributes this project’s success to the advanced technology and automation used in the process.

“Estes helped us work through specific design items collaboratively with their engineering department, and we took full advantage of the technology they utilize to help design, produce, and simulate the fabrication process,” Hendrickson says. “By the time our material was ready to be fabricated in the shop, they were already very familiar with our parts and confident they could fabricate them very efficiently.”

Estes’ fully-automated fabrication cell, Max Velocity, starts with the raw material being loaded into the Salvagnini MV Warehouse. Next, traceabi

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