First, a changing economy is revealing that there are not enough welding operators in today’s marketplace. Rather than attending vocational schools to be trained as welders, more and more of this country’s high school graduates are headed to college. This means that there are not enough young welding operators coming into the industry to replace those that are retiring. Because of this, companies are spending an incredible amount of money recruiting and training welders-much more money than many companies realize.

Second, robotic welding in the past was thought of as something only for high volume part producers such as automotive suppliers. But, technology has come a long way in the last few years and now rapid part changeovers and interchangeable tooling nests (or fixtures) mean that even a company that produces small batches of a number of different parts, may be able to take advantage of automation.

The goals of automation should be to decrease manufacturing cost and increase weld quality. With the cost of a complete cell starting at approximately $50,000, justifying the cost of a robotic welding system may be more affordable than many companies might believe.

Justifying a robotic welding system can be addressed from a number of different aspects. For instance, most companies look at what they pay their employees in hourly wages plus benefits and determine that it is far more cost effective than investing in a robot.

What many don’t factor in is the fully burdened labor rate. This rate takes into consideration such things as the cost of the building, taxes, utilities, transportation, etc.-all the costs of doing business. The company which looks at a fully burdened labor rate might be surprised to note that it could be as much as $80 to $90 per hour per employee as compared to the employee’s direct rate of pay which may only be $35 to $40 an hour.

Of course, one of the main ways to justify the cost of a robot may be to look at the productivity that your company could receive versus what you are currently achieving with your manual or semi-automatic welding systems. In many cases, welding with a robot is two to five times as fast as other methods. For example, the Tandem MIG system, which uses two arcs in unison, coupled with robotics has helped several component manufacturers greatly increase plant productivity. And, if you have a difficult application, don’t automatically assume that robotic welding is not for you. Today’s newest fixtures can hold up to 20 parts which means that integral designs and difficult geometries can easily be accommodated.

Switching to robotic welding can also be justified based on reliability. As much as you hate to admit it, employees can sometimes be unreliable-they don’t show up for work or have bad days. Robots are reliable-they are there every day and can work numerous hours without taking a break or stopping for lunch. In addition, you will not experience employee turnover with robots.

The ability to increase production volume is another argument that can be used to justify the cost of a robotic welding system. When you get a new contract or decide to expand the scope of your operations, robots can easily handle the extra volume. Also, since they need less floor space than an employee does, as business increases, you don’t have to worry about building, renting or buying extra space. In most cases, robots show a return on investment in six months.

Eliminating variability is another consideration. A robot will put the same weld in the same spot every time. Because of this, it is usually able to help a company realize increased quality and efficiency. With robotics, companies invest in making good parts upfront, not trying to correct problems after they occur as is the case with manual or semiautomatic welding in many instances. Also, with robots, a visual inspection is usually all that is needed to check the part.

As was noted previously, some companies feel that they don’t have the volume of parts to warrant investing in a robotic system. But, tooling is now commonly designed for rapid changeovers. For instance, companies are taking advantage of flexible layouts that can surround the robotic welding unit and offer room for a number of different tooling nests. These tooling nests have also been designed for rapid changeovers so that a couple of motions will allow the operator to completely change out one tooling nest for another.

Savings in filler metal can also be critical in justifying a robotic welding system. Investing in a robot reduces the amount of overwelding that occurs with manual processes. When left up to the operator, a margin of safety is usually built into every weld he makes. The end result is that the operator usually puts down more filler metal than necessary and will also make the bead longer than it needs to be. A robot is much more exact and will lay down only the amount of filler metal that is absolutely necessary. In addition, a robotic process usually equates to less spatter and less wasted filler metal.

As was already established, it is difficult to find trained workers in today’s market. What is even more challenging is in environments where code work is required, where welders have to constantly be re-qualified and keep up their skills. Some companies have gone as far as providing their own training facility on-site. As compared to paying a skilled welder, it can be less expensive to hire someone who can simply load and unload the robotic welding fixtures.

In many cases, companies should be looking at automation as a question of “when” and not “if.”  Keep in mind that the goals of automation should be to decrease manufacturing cost and increase weld quality-if you can achieve that with robotics, justification may be simple.

This article was written by Geoff Lipnevicius, engineering manager, Automation Division, The Lincoln Electric Company, Cleveland, OH.

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