Does Your Steel Supplier Handle Cutting AND Forming In-House?
Yes — but most steel service centers don’t, and that gap is where projects usually run into trouble. Willbanks Metals processes coil, sheet, and plate through laser cutting, plasma and oxy cutting, drilling, plate rolling, and press brake forming, all under one roof in Fort Worth, TX. That means a part can move from raw material to a finished, formed component without changing hands between vendors.
Why does it matter if cutting and forming happen at the same shop?
Every time a part changes hands between vendors, it picks up a new setup, a new interpretation of the drawing, and a new chance for tolerance drift. A supplier that only cuts has to hand formed work off to someone else — and that handoff is exactly where fit-up problems and schedule slips tend to start.
Keeping cutting and forming under one roof removes that handoff entirely. The same team that cuts the part also forms it, which means:
- Longer formed parts without splitting work between vendors
- Better alignment between cutting and forming operations
- More control over fit-up and final part quality
- One point of contact for the whole job, not one per process
What capabilities does Willbanks Metals actually have?
Most customers first come to Willbanks for one thing — plate, laser cutting, or coil processing — and don’t realize how much sits behind it. Current capability includes:
- 40-foot plasma cutting capacity
- 24-foot, 1000-ton forming capability
- Laser cutting
- Drilling
- Plate rolling
- Coil processing
That range means a job can go from coil to sheet or plate, through laser cutting, and into forming — in one conversation with one supplier, rather than three separate quotes and three separate schedules.
What happens when a customer’s current supplier can’t keep up?
It’s a more common call than you’d think. One recent customer reached out after their existing supplier ran into equipment issues mid-project. What started as a request for emergency support turned into a bigger opportunity: the Willbanks team stepped in, priced a competitive solution, kept the project on schedule, and picked up additional quoting work as a result.
The pattern shows up regularly with unusual specs and tight timelines too. Rather than turning a job away because it’s “outside the box,” the team works through the sequencing to make it happen — which is less about any one machine and more about a culture built around solving the problem in front of them.
Why don’t more customers know about this capability?
Because the market’s perception of a supplier tends to freeze at the first job. As Sherie Brown, who works inside Willbanks’ operations, put it: “There was a gap between what we could actually do and what the market thought we could do.”
That gap closes one conversation at a time. A quick-turn request that looks simple from the outside — scheduling, purchasing, operations, and sales all staying aligned in real time — is usually more coordinated than customers realize. The finished part looks straightforward. Getting there rarely is.
FAQ
Does Willbanks Metals do forming, or just cutting? Both. Willbanks runs 24-foot, 1000-ton forming capability alongside laser, plasma, and oxy cutting, so parts can be cut and formed without leaving the shop.
Can one supplier handle a job from coil to finished formed part? Yes. Willbanks processes coil into sheet or plate, cuts it via laser or plasma, drills it if needed, and forms it — all under one roof in Fort Worth, TX.
What size parts can Willbanks form? Up to 24 feet with 1000-ton forming capability.
What’s the advantage of using one supplier for cutting and forming instead of two? Fewer handoffs, fewer vendors, and less opportunity for tolerance drift or fit-up errors between processes.
What should I do if my current steel supplier can’t complete a project? Reach out — Willbanks has stepped in on short notice for customers whose existing supplier hit equipment or capacity issues, without the project losing schedule.
Have a project that seems to need more than one vendor? Ask Willbanks first. Call (817) 625-6161 or email [email protected] to find out what’s possible under one roof.