The metal stamping industry is driven by the combined market demands of several important industries. Aerospace and military-grade technologies, fueled by precision metal stamping, are continually advancing, and the transportation industry simply wouldn’t exist without metal stamping manufacturing for the automotive and oil and gas industries.
Aerospace and Defense
Metal-stamped parts are used widely in a range of equipment and munitions. For example, the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit for unguided bombs incorporates multiple metal stamped parts. The energy storage cases, tail fin guidance packages, and inertial guidance systems of these kits all rely on precision metal stamped parts.
For numerous reasons, metal consumption rates in the aerospace industry are forecasted to keep rising, increasing demand in the metal stamping market. Aluminum metal stamping manufacturing, in particular, will increase, with Boeing reporting that over 42,000 new jets — valued at $6.3 trillion — are needed to meet high passenger demand and replace large numbers of retiring jets over the next two decades. Aircraft engineers also require high quantities of steel, due to its high durability, strength, and heat resistance, which further drives demand for precision-stamped steel in missile, rocket, rotorcraft, satellite, and telecommunications technologies.
Due to aerospace and military demands, the metal stamping industry has already experienced growth over the last several years. Older aircraft are being steadily replaced with models featuring the latest fuel-saving, noise-reduction, and other new technologies. These trends drive increased worldwide demand for metal stamping components ranging from nuts and bolts to giant airframe parts.
Because defense contractors depend on complex metal parts that meet tight tolerance windows and are free of defects, high-precision metal stamping is a crucial component of combat gear, helicopter gauges, and other military equipment. Military rocket launches require metal-stamped triggers, detonation clips, and safety springs, and GPS systems require specialty battery contacts. The sheer breadth of metal-stamped parts required by the aerospace and military sectors gives analysts every reason to expect continued growth in the metal stamping industry.
Oil and Gas
Another area trending positively for metal stamping is the oil and gas industry — one of the main drivers of the global economy. Sheet metal is used to stamp precise components for oil platforms and piping, including brackets, washers, handles, and critical sealing components — enabling them to withstand harsh conditions and deliver oil and related products to refineries or other destinations.
The oil and gas industry requires highly custom, precision-engineered metal-stamped parts to maintain the production, safety, and efficiency of pipelines and drilling facilities. Metal stamping is unsurpassed in its ability to precisely punch or stamp sheet metal, and quickly meet the exact design needs for even custom applications.
Given the ever-evolving landscape of technological advancements in the oil and gas industry, businesses can reap a multitude of benefits through the utilization of metal stamping as opposed to other conventional manufacturing processes. An experienced, highly responsive metal stamping manufacturer helps oil and gas companies:
- Quickly react to fast-changing system designs
- Reduce costs by repeatedly using the same custom dies
- Secure high quantities of durable metal stamped parts
- Maintain equipment with parts built to withstand the intense pressures, temperatures, and corrosive substances common to the petroleum industry
- Ensure their stamped metal parts are free of subpar tooling marks, non-continuous edges, and other issues common to alternate tooling processes
Automotive
The recent low fuel costs and favorable interest rates for drivers, as well as the push to use non-ferrous metals for lighter-weight vehicles, have helped to drive growth in the automotive industry, including the use of metal stamping for auto components. The types of parts commonly produced for this industry include corrosion-resistant bolts, crane hooks, gears, connecting rods, turbine shafts, terminal wire forms for sensors, and fuel injection shields for engines.
Metal stamping is a widely employed industrial technique for shaping flat metal sheets. The process entails cold forming using specialized stamping presses and dies to transform the metal sheets into a variety of shapes and configurations. These sheets are shaped by stamping presses and die into the intended design. Automobiles require metal stamping for the chassis, structural components, and transmission parts, which must be made to exacting specifications to meet and exceed safety standards and reduce costs.
Other parts, like hubcaps and fenders, require metal stamping to provide exceptionally high and consistent output. Dies proven to meet the tight tolerance ranges required can be used repeatedly, simplifying what would otherwise be an extremely complex process of blanking, bending, punching, and piercing materials. Metal stamping manufacturers are able to simplify the process using a range of custom-die fabrication methods, which saves their partners (and end users) time and money.
The metal stamping industry itself is rapidly improving with increasingly sophisticated technologies, such as hybrid electromagnetically assisted stamping machines, built to distribute strain more evenly than conventional machines. Increasing automation, such as with computer-controlled automated blanking machines, improves product quality and operational efficiency — allowing operators to make sound decisions at critical moments via self-adjusting data-management processes.
Just as metal stamping manufacturers facilitate the growth of core global industries, those industries in turn drive the advancement of metal stamping manufacturing technologies.
Innovative Metal Stamping Solutions From Hudson Technologies
From telecommunications, aerospace, and defense technologies to the transportation and energy industries that keep us moving, we play a pivotal role in some of the most important modern industries. For questions about our innovations in the metal stamping industry, or to request a quote for Hudson Technologies’ standard and custom tooling services, contact us to inform us of your metal stamping needs.
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