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Automating for Uncertain Volumes
In welding, price pressures aren't going away. Decreasing welding costs is the only way to increase margins and, in reality, stay alive in today's climate. About 70 percent of welding costs go into labor, which means manufacturers eliminate as much labor as possible.
A few years ago, many automation integrators hit the "volume wall" and so entered the market with new, flexible solutions aimed at smaller contract manufacturers, many of whom were receiving more and more welding work from upper tiers. Those upper tiers are now demanding automation, because they know, first-hand, the cost savings and quality automation brings.
"This is a real wake-up call for some of the smaller Tier 2 stamping companies," says Monte Swigart of MIM Industries, Miamisburg, Ohio.
Low or varying volumes complicate the pricing pressures from the upper tiers. Price pressures make manual welding operations too expensive, while low volumes make automation a not-so-obvious solution.
Such pressures make new welding-process technology out of reach for many. Still, applications are out there. Twin-arc gas-metal-arc welding (GMAW), available from Lincoln Electric, Cloos, Fronius and others, welds with two wires about a half inch apart; each wire carries its own current. One arc preheats for the other, allowing easier penetration for the second wire and at least doubling deposition rates. On some systems, pulse technologies prevent arc interference such as arc blow between the two arcs. Pulses are synchronized so that only one arc fires at a time. Other manufacturers use a constant-voltage lead wire and a pulsing trail wire. Each technique creates different welding characteristics from increased penetration to higher deposition rates. Because of the amount of arc energy this process produces, proper application is critical to produce satisfactory weld results.
"Most of our applications have been for thicker materials," says Bill Heller of IGM USA, an automation integrator based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., "and it works very, very nicely."
The Edison Welding Institute (Columbus, Ohio) and Fronius are also working on a hybrid laser welding system featuring an Nd:YAG laser and hot-wire GMAW. Lamb Technicon has put out a customer bid that includes a plasma/GMAW combination for a thick-walled steel application.
Like with many new technologies, though, price limits their applications - at least for now. Process engineers have always looked at lower-cost solutions first, and today's pricing pressures force them to look at those lower-cost solutions more than ever.
Using Less Weld Metal
"If manufacturers didn't have to weld, they wouldn"t," says Heller.
There's no getting around it: Welding is expensive and dirty. Welding uphill in the 6G position - all day, every day - isn't anybody's career aspiration. Cycle time for arc-welding robots remains higher than for other automated operations. The solution: Reduce weld time through better design. Consider, for example, the tab-and-slot technique using a turret and/or laser to cut and bend tabs and slots.
"It does two things for you," Heller says. "First, it eliminates a lot of fixturing; the parts are self-locating. Second, depending on the part design, some are able to go from a continuous weld to a skip weld."
A few years ago, many automation integrators hit the "volume wall" and so entered the market with new, flexible solutions aimed at smaller contract manufacturers, many of whom were receiving more and more welding work from upper tiers. Those upper tiers are now demanding automation, because they know, first-hand, the cost savings and quality automation brings.
"This is a real wake-up call for some of the smaller Tier 2 stamping companies," says Monte Swigart of MIM Industries, Miamisburg, Ohio.
Low or varying volumes complicate the pricing pressures from the upper tiers. Price pressures make manual welding operations too expensive, while low volumes make automation a not-so-obvious solution.
Such pressures make new welding-process technology out of reach for many. Still, applications are out there. Twin-arc gas-metal-arc welding (GMAW), available from Lincoln Electric, Cloos, Fronius and others, welds with two wires about a half inch apart; each wire carries its own current. One arc preheats for the other, allowing easier penetration for the second wire and at least doubling deposition rates. On some systems, pulse technologies prevent arc interference such as arc blow between the two arcs. Pulses are synchronized so that only one arc fires at a time. Other manufacturers use a constant-voltage lead wire and a pulsing trail wire. Each technique creates different welding characteristics from increased penetration to higher deposition rates. Because of the amount of arc energy this process produces, proper application is critical to produce satisfactory weld results.
"Most of our applications have been for thicker materials," says Bill Heller of IGM USA, an automation integrator based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., "and it works very, very nicely."
The Edison Welding Institute (Columbus, Ohio) and Fronius are also working on a hybrid laser welding system featuring an Nd:YAG laser and hot-wire GMAW. Lamb Technicon has put out a customer bid that includes a plasma/GMAW combination for a thick-walled steel application.
Like with many new technologies, though, price limits their applications - at least for now. Process engineers have always looked at lower-cost solutions first, and today's pricing pressures force them to look at those lower-cost solutions more than ever.
Using Less Weld Metal
"If manufacturers didn't have to weld, they wouldn"t," says Heller.
There's no getting around it: Welding is expensive and dirty. Welding uphill in the 6G position - all day, every day - isn't anybody's career aspiration. Cycle time for arc-welding robots remains higher than for other automated operations. The solution: Reduce weld time through better design. Consider, for example, the tab-and-slot technique using a turret and/or laser to cut and bend tabs and slots.
"It does two things for you," Heller says. "First, it eliminates a lot of fixturing; the parts are self-locating. Second, depending on the part design, some are able to go from a continuous weld to a skip weld."
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