The 2024 Construction Rollforming Show featured the inaugural Construction Rollforming Industry Panel. Moderated by Randy Chaffee, Source One Marketing, the 2024 panel included Ben Schmidt, Bradbury Group; Steve Swaney, Mid South Aluminum; Bob Kula, Mill Steel; and Mike O’Hara, Levi’s Building Components.
Rollforming Magazine published the initial installment of the panel discussion in its last edition (see Rollforming Magazine, December 2024, pp. 33-37). This is a continuation of highlights from that discussion.
The Industry Panelists all agreed that suppliers are a valuable source of information in addition to materials. Once you figure out who you’re going to use for your component supplier, coil supplier, and so on, use them as much as you can. “We want you to be successful because, obviously, it goes without saying, our success is based on your success,” said moderator Randy Chaffee.
Levi’s Building Components’ Mike O’Hara brought up that it’s important to understand your competition and your market. “It’s not always about how you buy. It’s how you sell. Service, quality are things that you can stand behind. It’s your brand. It’s your business. And it’s not about buying right. It’s about selling right, in my opinion.”
Randy explored the topic a little further, explaining how finding your niche and making informed decisions are important. “It’s easy if you’ve got this really successful neighbor 20 miles away that’s roll forming, but he’s been there for 20 years,” Randy explained. “He’s built a massive business. He’s got 20 different panels and 32 colors, and he’s got all this stuff.
“You don’t have to have that to compete, and you can’t unless you’ve got unlimited funds somehow. There’s no way, and you’re going to bury yourself right out of the gates trying to do that. What you’ve got to do is compete, again, on your brand and start building your brand. Because I can see where you would say, ‘Well, they’ve got all these colors and all these panels, and I’ve got to have it all, too, to compete,’ and you don’t. You start with your market.”
Randy explains they probably didn’t have all the patterns and products at the start either. It may be a more financially sound move to source some products on a wholesale basis until you’re at the point where it makes sense for you to produce the profiles or other components yourself.
Mill Steel’s Bob Kula commented about the evolution of the roll forming business. “[Many] people that have roll formers today didn’t have roll formers five years ago. They were buying panels from somebody. So the supplier of the panels obviously helped them get into the business, whether it was selling them coil or referring them to a fastener guy. It really is the buddy system. Don’t go it alone.”
Ben Schmidt from The Bradbury Group advised rollformers to limit offerings and make sure that what they do offer is of good quality. “Make sure that your panel (and it doesn’t happen with domestic supply or domestic equipment builders or machine builders very often), but make sure it will make your panel to 40 7/8”. I’m sure the guys can probably tell you it is horrendous some of the machines that come over. They’re like, ‘Oh, no, you need a 41 9/16”. Well, at least that’s a common stretch. But [they’ll say] you need a 42” or something silly. Just ask that question because everything is about the coil inventory.
“And as you guys know,” he continued, “you buy by the pound and sell by the foot. Some of the worst stories I’ve heard is, ‘Ben, I need a machine because the one I bought, I got a 42 1/4” strip.’ So anyway, ask that question.” Managing that is very important because you “can’t sell out of an empty wagon.”
Mike reminded everyone that organizing the shop for efficiency is critical. “We’ve all been in a lot of shops, seen people maneuvering around. … Having the right colors of trim next to the colors of fasteners or whatever it is, and having efficiency within your shop, I think, is critical.”
Randy pointed out that roll forming panels is fast, and bending trims takes a lot more time, relatively speaking. Since it does take more time, the question was raised if keeping some trims in stock makes sense because it will open up time on the bender or folder for special trims that will take more time.
Bob responded, “I think a lot of times people overstock some common stock, and then it sits there and collects dust. So you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself on the trim. You don’t want to be on a six-lane freeway when you’re starting off on the country road. That’s the biggest common mistake, and then you’re out of business, unfortunately.”
An audience member commented that one of the biggest mistakes he’s seen roll forming newcomers make is they didn’t go visit other shops.
“If they have a friend or somebody that’s already been in the business five years,” he said, “[you’ll find] it’s all about efficiency.” He’s seen people bend trims and then have to move them all to the other side of the building. “If you have any opportunity to go see a business that’s already [been] up and running for a few years, they’ve got that efficiency already nailed. You just copy it, they’ll let you if you have a friend. I know some people are very secretive about it. I can list a couple of people, but it’s all about that efficiency.
“I’ve seen people where they had to even move the roll former later because they couldn’t make a 40-foot panel,” he continued. “They didn’t think they’d need a 40-foot panel. Now they’re going to want to run something longer than that.”
Mid South Aluminum’s Steve Swaney added, “We can usually make those contacts for you. It may not be somebody right in your backyard who purposely does not want to share their secrets and success. But regionally, if it’s someplace that you may have family that you go visit or something, we can typically find someone in an area that you can get in to see.”
Looking to the future, the panelists discussed the areas that are growing and the areas that are expected to grow in roll forming.
Bob said, “Board and batten is the biggest thing and obviously the wood grain prints. Standing seam, that’s going to continue to be popular for residential.
“Who knows what the new innovation will be. I really don’t know at this point,” he added with a chuckle.
Ben said it depends on which part of the country you’re in. He lives in central Kansas and said in his area, there are “probably less than ten metal roofs. So anything that’s converting asphalt to steel” is an opportunity. Considering the sustainability of the roofing materials, steel is infinitely recyclable while “asphalt fills landfills.”
Additionally, Ben said he thinks “solar still has a ways to go. I think solar is still coming at us. As we all look at our utility bills, power costs more and more every day. We’re seeing a push on that side as well.
From there, the discussion turned to the best storage and handling practices for coils, panels, and components.
Steve said, “A lot of roll formers’ facilities that I go in to see, I cringe a little in terms of how the coils are handled once they’re depalletized.
“I mean, we go as a supply chain to great lengths to work with our various processors to protect and get you, if you will, a 100% usable product into your plant. And then you guys typically will run off a portion and lay them down or try to repalletize them. But we see a lot of handling damage done to them. You lay them on a gravel floor, or a concrete floor. If nothing else, go out and buy some remnant carpeting, some high-density foam. Put those coil portions on something that protects them so there’s not going to be dents. Be careful how you handle them, whether it’s with a crane, forklift, so you’re not dinging the edges,” he continued.
Ben addressed some best practices from an equipment standpoint: If you’re going to offload or pick up that bundle [of panels] with a forklift, then think about where you want to put the overlap edge, if you want it on the operator side or on the drive side. “So there’s different thoughts about that,” he said. “One, a lot of times it’s on the operator side so the operator can see the overlap. The disadvantage of that is if you come in with a forklift, then you’re going to be picking it up and you have the potential to damage that overlap. So some guys like it on the other side.”
Another thing pertains to coil sag, or coils becoming out of round. “It’s just the nature of the business; you guys are doing 15, 20, 50 coil changes every day. So until that thing gets depleted, you can do something as simple as build cradles out of lumber or steel so you can pick up from the bottom and raise up [the coil].
“Or you can go to Caldwell and buy an actual coil eye versus going in there with your forklift with your tongs to pick it up [using the eye].
“As far as making the panel,” he continued, “from a roll forming perspective, anything we can do to eliminate the distance of the drop of the panel as it comes out of the roll former is going to help you.
“There’s two reasons why that’s a big deal. One, if you’re post-cutting it, it comes out and it stops and then it shears, you have that force on that panel.”
To illustrate: Imagine a 30-foot panel coming out of a roll former, trying to drop before it’s cut. When the shear comes down, it’s not going to cut as clean as it would if the panel is straight and level. “So then you’re going to get a nasty burr at times.
“The other big thing is it comes out and you’re going to have end flare on that. So then you’re going to have more (like some guys call it) of a fish mouth lap. It’s going to be opened up, it’s not going to be tight.
“And then the other problem is if it drops that far down, it’s going to want to float a little bit and then you have a potential for damage.
If you’re shearing, cutting it to length before it’s formed or after it’s formed, you want the burr to be up. “The reason for that is most guys are gliding panels. Whenever a panel comes out, you’re gliding on top of each other. If your shear is down and you get a little bit of dullness on your blade, then you’re going to scratch that guy all the way through because it doesn’t matter what machine you’re using, but you’re going to have a burr of some description on there.
“So if you can have your burr up, then that little bit of scratch down the underside doesn’t kill you.
“And then probably the last thing I’d tell you guys about would be on the trim side. Road rash is a real thing; handling is a real thing. Put film on your trim. If you’re roll forming your trim or if you’re folding your trim, it’s going to get it to the job site safely because the trim is your building.”
Since the first Construction Rollforming Industry Panel was a well-attended success, the plan is to include another panelist event during the 2025 Show. The 2025 Construction Rollforming Show is slated for October 1-2 at the Dayton Convention Center in Dayton, Ohio. If you would like specific questions addressed, mail or email your questions to Rollforming Magazine, ATTN: Karen Knapstein, PO Box 255, Iola WI 54945 or email to [email protected]. RF
