Control apparatus and a method for providing fabricating apparatus of the type employed with structural members, with an automated operating cycle, where various tool means at one or more tooling stations required for the fabrication of the structural members are actuated automatically. The apparatus utilizes a programming template formed from a thin, flexible metal ribbon that is coiled about a stationary reel, having a free end thereof fixed with regard to a structural member that is moving relative to said tool means. A sensing unit, also fixed, monitors movement of the programming template and upon the detection of the occurrences, indicia on said template at a monitored point produce signals that are employed to control the various functions of the operating cycle. The relationship between the control apparatus and the remainder to the system is such that the template movement corresponds exactly to that of the structural members, so that the dimensional relationship of the patterns of operations to be performed on said members may be transferred directly to the template.
