Save cost and become more competitive

By OEM Update Editorial August 2, 2021 8:40 pm IST

IIoT is already playing a major role in welding, traceability of weld parameters of each part is available.

Indian automobile industry is experiencing a challenging time for almost one year and a half. How is the welding business coping up with it?

Any challenging time is a good time to reflect and relearn. The Automobile Industry has had many challenges, it is one of the most labour-intensive industries, daily welders, fitters are needed. During the lockdown, there was a labour shortage, but due to the Covid, there was also a demand for personal vehicles, as people would like to avoid public transport. This leads to more use of systems such as Special Purpose Machines or Robotics to deskill the job. You still need the operator, welder to be present but the skill set needed is now different. With the automated systems it is easy to handle the influx of orders and variability with semi-skilled operators.

There was also a shortage of oxygen and the industries had to make do without the availability of the same. Brazing is also an important process used for joining in the automobile industry which largely depends on gas and manual brazing operators. This is also a skilled job. Many of these products were migrated to Induction Brazing, where gas is not needed to heat the job. During this process the operator gets deskilled and anyone is able to quickly learn and give repeated product quality and quantity output.

Welding automation uses robots to increase the speed, precision and quality. Besides that, why is this precedence over manuals necessary in recent times, when skilled manpower does get divested of jobs? The manpower availability on a regular basis was a challenge, during Covid many workers had migrated and gone back to take care of family and health. The industry needs to go on. The job of welding automation, be a special purpose machine or robot is to deskill the activity so that any operator can run the robot to get the job done on time. The worker gets upskilled and can produce more with less strain.

What views could be highlighted about future prospects of the robotic welding market?

Joining or welding of material can get tricky when thinner sheets are involved. As designs are evolving products in aerospace, automobile and many other sectors need thin sheet welding, where speed plays a critical part in keeping the quality and straightness of the job, these parts become very difficult to manually weld. The skill set is available with very few welders. Such jobs will be largely benefitted with the adaptation of Robotics and Automation.

As India gears up to meet global demands, we will not only need to produce good quality products but also be able to deliver them at very competitive timelines. Automation and robotics will help achieve faster deliveries of end products to meet both local and global demands.

Why do we need to automate the welding process?

Automation of the Welding Process is done for 3 reasons, first is to improve and get consistent welding quality. When doing critical jobs, repairs are very expensive; they eat away into the timeline and also cost of the project. Change in manpower on the same job can mean change in weld quality as well. Different operators operating the same automated solution will still get the same output, once the process is set and followed.

Industries like aerospace use materials that are very expensive and sluggish to weld. The welders needed here have to be very well trained and have great skills. The material thickness is low and heat input needs to be kept in check to ensure minimal distortion. Robotic and Automated solutions can do this repeatedly once set, anyone can operate the system and get the desired output quality.

Second is to improve productivity. Doing the same work can become monotonous and easy to lose focus on the job. Automation is great when there are repeated jobs as it doesn’t need to think. It is mechanised. The effort needed by the human operator is low and productivity can become very high. During the manufacturing of large pressure vessels, huge volumes of material need to be deposited on the weld seam. This process done manually would take a very long time and make the product un-viable. With automation the same welder becomes the operator of the system and his focus in setting the parameters, and ensuring the arc is doing what it is supposed to and where, without having the fatigue. The throughput of the same welder would now be multi-fold.

Third is to save cost and become more competitive, if the product is produced right, with no repairs and faster than the cost of production will also go down.

How digitalisation and technology innovations are expected to impact welding?

IIOT is already playing a major role in welding, traceability of weld parameters of each part is available and this largely helps in ensuring the right quality of the product. As technology gets better and cheaper automation solutions will also get cheaper and hence will find many more applications in welding as well.