How Robotic Welding Maximizes Efficiency
Process automation has long been a source of productivity and efficiency gains in manufacturing. Even minor improvements in quality and throughput can have a significant impact on the bottom line. When it comes to fabrication, welding tasks are an excellent option for automation due to their repetitive nature. Some common types of robotic welding include resistance, spot, arc, TIG, MIG, laser, and plasma welds. Click here to learn more about ABS’ next generation robotic welding equipment.
Given the competitive environment and the pressure on OEMs to reduce costs, taking advantage of automated welding processes makes good business sense. The key benefit of robotic welding is the ability to rapidly produce high-quality welds, increasing fabrication productivity and consistency as well as safety on the shop floor. Below is a deeper dive into how robotic welding maximizes efficiency.
Elevate Productivity and Throughput
Robots are designed to execute a specific job, typically a repetitive task, and are known for their efficiency on the shop floor. Robots are able to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no breaks except for occasional maintenance. For this reason, robots are capable of higher welding productivity and throughput. Higher volumes and faster cycle times translate to lower costs that provide a critical competitive edge to manufacturers. Additionally, multi-axis robots or robots fitted with slender arms are able to reach difficult welding locations that are common on heavy fabrications due to their large size and unique geometry. Employing robots speeds up the manufacturing process, reduces costs, and enables more throughput – maximizing efficiency and leading to faster speed to market.
Enhance Precision
Automation delivers superior precision, which is another way robotic welding maximizes efficiency. Heavy fabrications are often very large with intricate geometries, and some of these parts undergo significant stress. For these reasons, the welds must be consistent and precise, and free of voids and contaminants, in order to ensure stability and longevity of the part. Human welding can often introduce variance and inconsistencies, whereas, robotic welding machines are known for their excellent precision and quality. Many heavy fabrications require high precision and alignment of parts that are challenging – if not impossible - to achieve with manual welding. Since robots produce more consistent, efficient welds with fewer errors, they drive production consistency – leading to fewer rejected parts and maximum efficiency.
Have a heavy fabrication project that requires high-precision, uniform welds?
Contact the team of professionals at ABS to learn more about our robotic welding solutions.
Optimize Material Usage
Robots use the precise amount of material required for a given job and are not tempted to “over-weld”. Robotic welding typically consumes less materials and creates less waste than manual welding – delivering a huge time and money savings for machines shops. Also, less waste generation with robotic welding results in an easier and quicker post-weld cleanup – providing additional efficiency gains.
Improve Safety
It is no surprise that welding operations present safety risks such as sparks, flash, fumes, and heat. The use of robotic welding machines removes operators from higher risk, hazardous processes, improving personnel safety. A safer work environment may not seem related to efficiency at first glance but reducing lost personnel time due to accidents on the job leads to higher efficiency on the shop floor and, of course, a safer, happier workforce.
ABS Fabrication and Robotic Welding Services
Established in 1971, ABS Machining has grown to become the recognized global leader in large machining, fabrication, and assembly for OEMs. The key to our success has been exceptional people, unparalleled facilities, and an unwavering commitment to quality. Our people are experts in their given field. Their expertise is matched only by their passion for serving our clients. We continue to invest in our people with education programs, cross training and in our internal accredited apprenticeship center.
ABS Heavy Fabrication is a full-service facility certified to CSA47.1 (AWSD1.1) and ASME Boiler Vessel B31.1 and 31.3 standards. Our welders are certified by CWB/AWS and ASME, and are fully trained on flux-core, gas metal, submerge arc, tig and stick electrode welding techniques. Individual customer requirements are followed and enforced in conjunction with our in-house certified weld inspectors. (CWI Level 2's). Below are some of our fabrication services:
- Robotic Welding
- Flux Core Welding
- Forming
- Metal Fabrication
- Mig Welding
- Full Penetration Welding
- Sub Arc Welding
- Metal Core Welding
- Laser Cutting
We offer a unique combination of medium to high volume production machining and welding services. Our team is committed to producing an un-paralleled level of quality and throughput, while also focusing on cost. We also offer secondary services such as mechanical assembly, making ABS a true single source solution for the most challenging programs of today and for the future.
Contact us today to see how we can help with your fabrication project, or give us a call 1-844-227-6224.
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