Welding Technology

Marvin Herrera, one of the guest speakers at the conference, was instrumental in introducing cobots to Chicago-based Freedman Seating Co. Marvin Herrera Welding automation is nothing new for Marvin Herrera and Corey Mays, as their jobs have incorporated it in some form or another for years. Their respective workplaces, Freedman Seating Co. and CM Welding & Machine, had traditional robotic cells in place. Both companies have introduced cobots to their respective shop floors over the past few years. It was these experiences that brought them to Ohio State University last October for the American Welding Society’s Welding Automation Expo & Conference. The three-day event featured presentations on how legacy manufacturers can rethink automation, the current and future state of welding, improving efficiency, and welding automation challenges and solutions. Multiple welding equipment and cobot manufacturers were on hand for demonstrations and information. Some attendees also visited...

Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the manufacturing sector. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked robotic process automation startups. Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Robotic Process Automation Startups impacting Manufacturing out of 587 The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks. The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 587 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research.  Further, it highlights 5 robotic process automation startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and...

The welding industry has adopted robots to ensure consistent quality, maximize productivity, and facilitate cladding applications. With the constant evolution of technology and the development of construction and infrastructure, the global market for welding gear is expected to reach over £12 billion by 2026 (over $14.7 billion). Technological advancements in the welding industry can bring a wide range of benefits, transforming the way welding operations are performed. Among many other things, they can increase efficiency, reduce downtime, enhance safety, offer better precision, and improve the quality of welding processes overall. So what are the latest, most innovative tools that are driving the sector forward? Let’s take a look at some of the tech introductions that are already starting to shape the future of the welding industry. Robotics Over the years, more and more sectors have been using robots to facilitate their day-to-day operations. In more recent times, the welding indust...

 Christopher Ogden, founder of Laser Partners UK Limited, based in Sheffield, explores the plastic industry’s hesitancy to introduce laser technology and why it could be something to consider. Key Highlights: The adoption of industrial laser technology has surged since the 1970s, offering multiple applications in the plastics industry including marking, welding, cutting, de-gating, cleaning, and surface texturing. Laser marking allows for fast and precise marking on plastic surfaces, while laser cutting and de-gating offer clean edges without mechanical wear. Laser cleaning presents a promising avenue for industrial cleaning, offering fast and consistent results without damaging the underlying material. Growth in Industrial Laser Uptake The uptake of industrial laser processing since its inception into the mainstream industry in the 1970s has been nothing short of phenomenal, with $5.7BN worth of lasers sold in 2018 and a prediction that this will increase to $14.5BN by 2026. So, w...

Texas-based All Metals Fabricating's journey could be summed up in four foundational factors that continue to drive the organization toward its automated future. weiyi zhu / iStock / Getty Images Plus The shop floor at All Metals Fabricating (AMF) began a transformation in 2016. That’s when the custom metal fabricator started diving deep into automation. It already had robotic welding, but in 2016 it made a big leap forward in laser cutting and punching, investing in towers and load/unload systems. Automated bending came next, including a robotic press brake and a panel bender. AMF is just getting started. “You see all these integrated, automated cut-to-bend solutions out there, but I’ve seen them mostly in OEMs. I need to see how it works for a custom fabricator like us. We want to prove that out.” That was Lance Thrailkill, CEO of the Allen, Texas-based, 70-employee operation in the outskirts of Dallas. He and the management team have been leading the automation charge over the ...

Collaborative robot welding packages are a viable solution for small and medium-sized job shops. They are easy to implement and operate without prior robotic experience and require a lower overall investment. Lincoln Electric The demand for robotic welding systems on small to medium-sized shop floors grows steadily, reflecting the urgency of job shops to make their operations more efficient and competitive in the face of the notoriously tight market for manual welders. This is a relatively new phenomenon. Up until recently, the uptake of robotic welding had been more prevalent in heavy industries. The prevailing perceptions that robots are costly, inflexible, and difficult to program have deterred small-scale companies from investing in the technology. Another principal area of concern has been safety. Like any other piece of machinery, an industrial robot typically operates in an environment safeguarded by barriers, screens, and other protective measures to shield human workers from t...

Advances in Laser Welding Using Beam Shaping Bolster Green Transport Future WMG, in collaboration with Lumentum, a San Jose-based market-leading designer and manufacturer of innovative optical and photonic products, has developed an innovative beam-shaped laser welding technique to dramatically increase the reliability of welded joints between dissimilar metals. In a bid to meet the growing demand for lightweight and environmentally friendly vehicles, this process will allow manufacturers to join mixed materials in an efficient way that does not limit performance. Challenge Manufacturers are exploring the use of lightweight and low-cost materials to advance the green transport sector. The use of lighter materials drives energy efficiency gains in transportation products including electric vehicles. Lighter materials include aluminum as well as more novel materials such as recyclable alloys. Until now, progress in using such new materials has been impeded by the challenges involved in j...

The automotive industry has been at the forefront of adopting robotic technology, with welding being one of the most prominent applications. Today, most welding operations in automotive manufacturing are performed by robots, which offer speed, precision, efficiency, and consistency. How Have Welding Robots Improved Automotive Manufacturing? Over the past three decades, automotive welding robots have revolutionized the industry, making assembly lines faster, safer, and more cost-effective. Their integration into manufacturing, which began with General Motors' UNIMATE in 1967, gained momentum in the 1980s, setting a trend followed by other automotive companies. Automotive robots have significantly improved safety by replacing humans in hazardous welding tasks and withstanding challenging conditions. In addition, they contribute to cost savings by boosting production capacity without requiring breaks or benefits. Image Credit: Factory_Easy/Shutterstock.com In response to industry dem...

Welders past and present have helped pave the way for how welding helmets look and feel and what features they provide. This can be seen in the higher-end models, middle-of-the-line options, and the basic helmets. Miller Electric Mfg. LLC Take a quick glance at today’s welding helmets and you may wonder how to use and master all the features. Nowadays, you can find autodarkening, natural color, lightweight, and ergonomic features on higher-end welding helmets, middle-of-the-line options, and the more basic models (no, manufacturers haven’t forgotten about those customers, either). Some welding equipment manufacturers argue that welding helmet advancements are the result of years of welder input—what they need from their helmet to make welding safer, more comfortable, more productive, and more efficient. As long as welders continue seeking ways to improve their performance and work environment, manufacturers will continue to make improvements to their welding helmet offerings. Seeing Un...

image: Large-scale electron beam welding system installed at Halla E.B.Technology Inc., a family corporation of the KIMM view more Credit: Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) A high-power (120kV, 60kW) electron-beam welding system has been developed for the first time in the country, paving the way to the domestic production of a local vacuum** high-power electron-beam welding system***, the key equipment for the welding of small modular reactors (SMRs)*. * A small modular reactor (SMR) is a small-sized reactor that has a power capacity of 300MW or less. It has been included in the list of the “12th national strategic technologies.” [④ Next-generation nuclear power (small modular reactor)] ** In typical electron-beam welding, the product is installed and welded inside a large vacuum chamber, which is why vacuum pumping takes a long time. On the other hand, in the case of local vacuum welding, a small chamber is used for partially vacuuming the welding spot, which can hel...

What comes to mind when you hear the word “robot”? Do you picture a metallic humanoid in a spaceship in the distant future? Perhaps you imagine a dystopian future where humanity is enslaved by its robot overlords. Or maybe you think of an automobile assembly line with robot-like machines putting cars together. Whatever you think, one thing is sure: robots are here to stay. Fortunately, it seems likely that robots will be more about doing repetitive or dangerous tasks than seizing supreme executive power. Let’s look at robotics, defining and classifying the term, figuring out the role of Artificial Intelligence in the field, the future of robotics, and how robotics will change our lives. What Is Robotics? Robotics is the engineering branch that deals with the conception, design, construction, operation, application, and usage of robots. Digging a little deeper, we see that robots are defined as an automatically operated machine that carries out a series of actions independently and do...