Arc-on time is the ultimate measure of welding productivity. The term refers to the actual time the electricity is on, the wire is running, the gas is flowing, the trigger is pulled and the welder is actually welding. Arc-on time is how the shop makes money.
The industry average arc-on time in most manual welding operations is around 10%. While shockingly low, this is because welders take care of a lot of tasks before, during and after the actual welding process.
Welders must load and unload parts from fixtures, prepare surfaces for welding, tack pieces in place, grind welds afterwards and ensure good part fit up. Sometimes, before they sign off on a completed project, welders have to inspect finished parts to ensure they meet the relevant ASME codes or AWS standards in addition to their customer’s specific requirements.
In fact, welders have so much to do beyond the arc that those of us who spend time in metalworking and fab shops are less surprised by that 10% statistic.
In some respects, that’s a good thing. Many skilled welders in North America are over 50 years old, and welding is a physically demanding and often unergonomic job. The prospect of manual welding continuously on a large weldment for multiple hours can be a challenge.
The key questions both welders and fabshop leaders must ask are: Is there a tool that can boost arc-on time while simultaneously improving working conditions for welders? Can welders trust the quality is as good as their work when they sign off on a job? And how easy is it to implement without robot programmers or technicians?
The welder’s secret weapon
Collaborative robot based welding solutions provide positive answers to those questions.
Designed to assist welders, rather than to replace them, leading welding cobots are proven to boost arc-on time across multiple welding tasks. There are many examples, including Fort Lauderdale-based DeAngelo Marine Exhaust, an exhaust parts manufacturer that increased productivity tenfold by deploying a leading cobot welder.
DeAngelo’s cobot can weld 20 inches per minute, versus 2-5 inches per minute when the weld is performed manually and at a similar or better finished quality to their manual welds. While the cobot takes care of the most repetitive and unergonomic elements of the job, welders have plenty of other tasks they can turn to.
Meanwhile, Ohio-based metal fabricator Raymath boosted its welding productivity by 200% when it deployed cobots on complex TIG and MIG welding tasks. And Carriere Industrial Supply, a Canadian firm that produces heavy earth-moving equipment for harsh mining environments, doubled welding production following a cobot deployment that enables welders to weld simultaneously with a cobot in a different area, allowing one welder to run two arcs.
Trusted tool in your toolbox
It might sound surprising at first when I describe a cobot welder as a tool, rather than as a robot. Cobots are industrial robots, of course, but leading cobots are so easy and intuitive to deploy that it makes a lot more sense to think of them as tools.
Welders of all ages that have never used automation before can learn in hours, without offsite training, how to program their first production weld and can program most simple welds in just minutes and complex weldments in a few hours. That out-of-the-box usability and intuitive programming drive up the shop’s arc-on time and profitability.
If you are already familiar with welding robots, you know it can take days, or even longer depending on application complexity, to change production jobs and reprogram traditional welding robots. Cobots can be programmed in mere minutes or hours for the same number of parts produced.
If you’re thinking about deploying a cobot welder, you can simplify deployment and futureproof your investment by selecting a brand that provides an ecosystem of specially designed welding-specific hardware, software and peripherals. This will enable you to quickly deploy and redeploy your cobot for many years to come.
Reduced changeover times means more arc-on time, a result that appeals to production managers, especially in small, high mix/low volume shops. For the shop leaders, it means boosting productivity of the existing welders without the challenge of finding and hiring more welders.
For the thousands of welders around the world that sign off on cobot welds daily, it means improved productivity, better ergonomics and the knowledge that they may never have to perform long boring repetitive welds ever again.