International Conference on Welding Technology
9th Edition of International Conference on Welding Technology
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How collaborative robots are changing the ancient art of welding
The biggest ongoing construction projects in the UK include the HS2 Railway, Hinkley Point C, and the final stage of Crossrail.
All are expected to generate billions for the UK economy when complete. However, the average onlooker often fails to appreciate the individual skills and components required to make these types of projects a reality.
All these projects rely on welders to bond and fuse the metals integral to their structure and design. And with welding jobs being crucial for communities across the world, demand for welders is only set to grow over the next decade. According to one market research report, the industry is set to reach a market size of around $28.66 billion globally by 2028.
Without welders the world would fall apart. Literally. But the industry’s workforce has an uncertain future. In the UK, the number of welders has fallen by a quarter in five years, according to the Capital City College Group, the largest FE college in London. Similar shortages are felt across the world. According to the American Welding Society, by 2026, 336,000 new welding professionals will be needed in the US.
The art of welding
Welding is by nature both technical and creative, requiring a trained human eye and impressive manual dexterity for the most complex metal welds. It takes years to master and acquire sufficient experience to gain the trust and accolade of companies and fellow experts. With the creativity and passion that it constitutes, welding is worthy to be called an art form.
The work itself can be dangerous in nature and if a task requires long simple welds or hundreds of identical welds, very time consuming.
Due to some of these challenges, there are fewer young people going into welding and developing the skills required, leading to a skills shortage. As the ageing welding workforce retires, it’s becoming harder to meet rising demand that is crucial to many different industries.
This shortage could even threaten the implementation of major infrastructure projects, such as laying new pipes for district heating or building wind turbines.
But what if welders could find better tools to make their conditions and workload more satisfying? This is where collaborative robots – or cobots -- come in.
The evolution of welding: what’s next?
Automated welding has existed for several decades, though for a long time it was available only for specific use cases. For example, huge robots were created to help weld the inside of ships in the 1980s.
Industrial automation, when it first became available to welding, was initially only viable for large companies operating in high-volume, low-mix environments. Today, automation is widely used by welders. According to the International Federation of Robotics, welding applications represented almost one in five of all new robot installations in 2021 with most uses in the automotive industry.
But, with so much nuance required on the job, tackling the skills shortage by completely replacing humans with automated welding machines is not the answer. The industry needs a collaborative approach where welders work alongside smaller, cost-effective robots, called cobots, to help augment welders’ productivity and solve the skills shortage.
Olympus Technologies Ltd, one of Universal Robots’ UK partners, helps manufacturing companies deploy robotics. With new collaborative welding robots going into commission every month, it has helped companies like Storth Machinery, an agricultural management company, develop and build easy-to-use robotic welding solutions that can be quickly integrated into existing workflows.
As Adam Swallow, director and co-owner at Olympus Technologies, says: “Working with Storth Machinery and Universal Robots, we created a turnkey robotic welding solution that was fully operational within two months – and the results speak for themselves.
“Not only did Storth double productivity, but two skilled welders were released onto higher value welding processes. The two cobot solutions we’ve designed have taken on basic welding tasks such as producing scraper parts, and their qualified welders have been reallocated to specialist fabrication jobs with much higher margins. Retention is better, and the team is able to focus on much more interesting work.”
After all, welding is not just about meeting production demand: manufacturing demands creativity and problem-solving skills to create quality output.
Unlocking the power of collaborative welding
Even with widely available technology in place, cobot welding has only started to become more widespread in the last five years.
Delayed adoption is partly a matter of awareness and partly due to the highly skilled nature of welding. It’s arguably harder to see the role of automation in a craft like welding, than in some other manufacturing activities, such as lifting, packing and dispensing. In reality, a cobot is just a tool, similar to a painter and his brush. It completes repetitive tasks, rather than taking over the artistic element of the role.
With the demand for high-mix and low-volume metalwork rising, and a growing shortage of skilled workers, manufacturers should put collaborative welding at the forefront of evolving their sector. With accessible technology in place, the trade will be well placed to meet future challenges head on.
Sparking a welding revolution
In the face of an ageing workforce and low numbers of new trainees entering the profession, welders have an opportunity to shape the future of the industry with cobot technology. Industry experts see arc welding, MIG and TIG welding as the first focus for collaborative welding techniques, with plasma-cutting, grinding and laser and spot-welding fast following.
Not only can automation empower welders to make more of their art, it can also improve job satisfaction. By removing the repetitive and dangerous parts – skilled tradespeople can get on with the task at hand. Welders using cobots keep their creative freedom, while teaching the cobot where to weld and what weld parameter ‘recipes’ to apply – something only a welder can do.
By easing the physical strain and monotony of certain welding work, cobots could help to tackle workforce shortages in the profession by keeping experienced welders working for longer and bringing in younger talent that is excited by the prospect of using collaborative technology.
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