Jan. 4, 2023 - One of the manufacturing trends over recent years, especially in the window shade industry, has been to move production away from domestic facilities. This has mostly been done in the name of cost-cutting and commoditizing shading products. But Draper has done the opposite, and one of the things that sets us apart now is our wide range of manufacturing capabilities. And nowhere is that more clear than in metal fabrication.

"I think it’s very unique to Draper. I think most people are actually going offshore, or overseas to get a lot of their components, especially their major components, and that is significantly increasing their lead times," said Harold Seib, director of engineering at Draper. "By us having this equipment here, we can drastically cut our … lead times and produce products and lot faster and a lot more custom."

Our metal fabrication capabilities include everything from basic metal cutting and forming to milling centers, presses, a coil fed laser line, powder coating, plasma cutters, and robotic welders.

"We can design items, we can get them manufactured, put together and tested in a very short period of time," said Seib. "We’re not waiting on suppliers. When I think of innovation, I really think of what we can do as a company to meet our customers’ needs." Our in-house metal fabrication capabilities and the advantages to our customers are covered in a new video available now. 

Learn More About the Metal Fabrication Building at Draper® HQ video.