One size rarely fits all in manufacturing, as innovation requires creating something new. If product designers are forced to operate within the same narrow constraints regarding the components they use, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible becomes far more challenging. Custom fabrication offers a solution when standard catalog components fail to meet design demands.
With custom fabrication, components can be engineered to operate in extreme environments and under intense pressure. For sectors such as the military, where precision and reliability matter most, the ability to fabricate components to exact specifications provides tangible value in mission-critical situations. When lives are on the line, designing a component to continue functioning under intense stress generates far more confidence than selecting a stock component from a catalog and hoping it rises to the challenge.
Continue reading to delve deeper into custom fabrication and the value services such as precision valve machining offers to the military.
What is the Meaning of Custom Fabrication?
Custom fabrication is the process of making customized materials through multi-stage assembly production that meets exact design specifications. This requires exact fixturing, in-depth planning, and using precise measurements.
As a result of the additional planning and precision, custom fabricating parts usually cost more than electing to use stock parts. Stock parts are also usually ready to ship when ordered, while custom parts take more time to arrive as they need to be fabricated to order. This can lead businesses to avoid using custom fabricated components in favor of the less expensive and faster option.
However, when quality, durability, and adaptability matter, custom fabrication offers the only suitable solution.
What is the Purpose of Fabrication?
Custom fabrication allows businesses to design and set the standards for the type of components they’re willing to use.
For example, precision valve machining offers branches of the military, like the Navy, the ability to set a clear standard for the type of pressure relief valve or safety valve they use aboard their vessels. Custom valve design and manufacturing for military-grade applications establish design requirements for the size, dimensions, and materials used when fabricating a part.
At Dante Valve, we manufacture pressure reducing valves in accordance with MIL-V-2042 or ASTM-F-1370, while pressure relief valves are manufactured by Danco Valve Company in accordance with MIL-V-24332 and ASTM-F-1508.
The Navy sets these specifications because they’ve proven to deliver results under extreme conditions. The Navy has engineered and designed custom valve solutions for high-pressure and high-temperature industrial environments to remove any doubt that these components will function properly when put to the test.
What are the Advantages of Custom Fabrication?
For industries where reliability matters, custom fabrication offers several distinct advantages. Take for example custom fabrication of valve components for the defense industry. This approach provides the military valves:
- Tailored to meet specific needs. Custom valves are designed and fabricated based on specific requirements and system needs. This helps to ensure that a valve is a right fit for a system, which increases optimal performance and efficiency.
- Capable of improved performance. Custom valve solutions are designed to achieve maximum performance when operating a specific application. This provides better system durability and reliability.
- Featuring enhanced safety: Custom valves can be designed to meet exact safety requirements and standards. This reduces the risk of accidents, which saves lives.
- With greater flexibility. Customized valves offer greater flexibility than standardized components because they can be tailored to meet exact specifications. Components can fit a design rather than the design having to accommodate the component.
- More cost-effective. Despite the potential for a higher up-front cost, custom valve solutions prove more cost-effective over the long term. Enhanced durability and effectiveness mean less downtime and better production, which offsets the initial cost.
Custom Valve Design for Military Applications
When running a Naval vessel, system efficiency and the safety of the crew can’t be compromised. At Dante Valve, high-pressure valve fabrication is done using the most advanced designs and the most reliable materials to ensure optimal performance results in the most rigorous marine environment.
As a trusted vendor and partner of the U.S. Navy for over 60 years, we understand the importance of the components we manufacture and their role in helping save the lives of our servicemen and women.
Whether high-temperature valve manufacturing or the production of safety valves that will withstand wartime shocks, custom fabrication answers an immediate need. The adage of the right tool for the job succinctly captures the value precision machining and custom fabrication provide the defense industry.
When you require uncompromised quality, why settle for anything other than a part specifically designed for the task? That’s the advantage of custom fabrication and why other industries should follow the military’s lead and invest in customized components.
Ready to get started? Schedule a call with one of our fabrication experts to discover the difference custom fabrication can make to your product designs.