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Prefabrication versus Custom - Is Quality affected?
The majority of companies in the industry elect to design and manufacture shade covers in a limited number of standard models, the components of which can be made in the shop and assembled on site with temporary labor. While manufacturing components in a controlled environment can be effective for small to medium-sized projects, the disadvantages of this strategy include:
- Powder coating, once scratched - either during transportation or after installation - can never be restored to its original finish, as the powder paint surface is baked on at extremely high temperatures.
- The bolt-together system utilized by most of the industry assumes that the support columns will be installed exactly in the correct place, and 100% "plumb". Due to variations in the field, such as ground slope, soil and rock conditions, concrete settings and errors in measurement, it is unlikely that the actual environment will conform to the plans. The result is that the steel may not fit together, the cloth may be too tight or too loose, or the entire shade structure may not be able to be assembled, especially if there are steel tubes that must be sleeved into one another.
- The cost of manufacturing cutouts and plates, and reciprocal plates with reciprocal holes for bolting steel tubes together is very high, a prerequisite of a bolt-together system. While there are manufacturing benefits resulting from economies of scale, in-plant supervision, quality control through measurement, and production metrics and standards, the costs of these extra steps and steel parts are extremely high. The production advantages are often lost when difficulties in installation result in additional costs.
- Most companies publish a price list and standard size chart. Many orders taken for structures differ from their standard chart of sizes. As a result, the order must be completed in a custom production run, with lengths, angles, material sizing, and shop drawings having to be recreated. As a consequence, the production economies may be lost, as these production items become "custom" items.
- Few companies have the technology to "sew" a fabric to the structure on-site. The fabric must be cut and sewn in the factory, creating the need for exact tolerances and/or expensive re-fits.
- A typical shade canopy produced by a prefabricator relies upon a single cable stretched around the perimeter of the structure to secure the fabric cover to the steel frame. If the dimensions of the pre-sewn cover are too large, the top will flap and blow in the breeze; if the dimensions are too small, the cover must be returned to the factory for re-sewing. In addition, the lack of support cable sewn into the cloth itself leaves broad expanses of the top with no support. During periods of snowfall or accumulation, the top will "pond", the fabric stretching to meet the load. This is both unattractive and can be dangerous if the wet fabric falls upon electrical fixtures.
AmeriShade designs, engineers, and builds each shade canopy to meet the specific conditions for which it is intended. the steel components are welded together for maximum strength, the top is secured to the frame by multiple connections of steel cables sewn throughout the fabric, and the top is tensioned and sewn on site using specially adapted portable sewing machines to ensure a perfect fit every time.
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Airplane Canopies