Robotic welding technologies continue to advance quickly. But what are the advantages of robot welding over traditional, manual forms of welding? That’s the question we are setting out to answer today in this fourth and last blog on the topic.
Primary Benefits of Robotic Welding
Robotic welding, like most forms of automation, help companies achieve greater productivity, efficiency and lower costs. Depending on the type of welding required, it can also result in more consistent, accurate results that are of higher quality, with much greater ease of repeat-ability. And because they require very little human intervention in terms of set up once they are programmed, it means they can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, moving quickly from weld to weld, without a break.
How does robotic welding increase job floor safety?
There’s no way around it: manual welding can be expensive. It requires the time and expertise of a skilled welder, who is naturally subject to human error. Manual welding can also be fraught with hazards for even the most talented welder. Extreme heat, high-voltage electricity, sparks, flash, fumes — welders are subject to constant interaction with these materials and outputs, making welding a dangerous job. While there is nearly always a place for skilled welders in a job shop, replacing them with robots — even though the initial investment may seem high — is often the right choice in order to ensure better worker safety on the rest of the work floor.
Robot Welding Can Help Decrease Waste
EVS Metal utilizes lean practices to help increase efficiencies, and one of the ways we do that is by eliminating waste at every level possible. While skilled welders are incredibly important to our company, as we said above, they are more prone to error than a robot, which can mean additional time output to redo the weld, plus the materials waste that comes from having to recycle or dispose of the “mistake.” Manual welding tools also use more electricity than their automated siblings. Because welding robots run almost all the time, it necessitates fewer start-ups and therefore fewer inconsistent bursts of electricity than what is necessary with manual equipment’s pattern of constant stop/starting. Robotic welding also results in weldments of more consistent quality. The cost savings created by the conservation of materials and time make the investment in welding robots well worth it in the long run.
Interested in learning more about EVS’s robot welding capabilities for your next metal fab project? Get an online quote, or call 1-888-9EVSMet.
