Smart Solution
Addressing the increase in welding demand that coincided with a worldwide shortage of welders, a manufacturer automated the process
NPK Construction Equipment Inc., Walton Hills, OH, is a manufacturer of heavy machinery equipment for the construction, demolition, and mining industries. The company manufactures attachments for equipment used in its customer’s processes.
The SmartTCP system is a combination of hardware and software from different manufacturers which lets the operator weld a variety of parts
Sales and production grew exponentially and its manual welding process experienced growing pains. The company’s master welders were taxed by the increase in demand. At the same time, the availability of expert welders decreased. To address these issues, NPK planned for a new manufacturing facility and began researching options for automating welding.
The company needed an automated welding solution to increase production, improve quality, and enhance employee working conditions. With products ranging in size and shape, and its inventory including multiple part numbers with minimal quantities per part, the small-batch production process didn’t lend itself to standard robotic welding systems. The company needed a solution to accommodate working with a variety of sizes and shapes, flexible enough to adapt to each part’s welding requirement. The company found few solutions to handle its issues.
Research Shows the Way
“As we conducted our research, it was apparent that there was a lack of adequate, fast, automatic programming options that would minimize our down time,” Dan Tyrrell, president of NPK, said. “We needed a solution that could weld all of our parts with minimal robot programming time.”
The company turned to SmartTCP, Farmington Hills, MI, a supplier of automatic welding solutions for complex fabrications in small batch production. Its system, the SmartTCP Robotic Welding Solution, is a comprehensive welding system that provided the capabilities NPK needed, without sacrificing the flexibility its welding operations required.
“NPK knew it needed to automate, but with the company’s high-mix and low-volume production line, conventional robot cell configurations and robot programming wasn’t an option. It was too complex and time consuming,” Efi Lebel, founder and CEO of SmartTCP, said. “SmartTCP’s hardware and software components create a system for small batch production that provides accurate, flexible, and reliable robot welding at a much faster rate than other robot techniques.”
Fast, Accurate, and Flexible Automatic Welding Cell
The welding solution NPK adopted automates both the robot programming and the weld production. The system is a combination of hardware and software and features a flexible and modular working envelope that lets NPK weld any part.
The hardware consists of multiple industrial products from industry manufacturers including a gantry system, a robot system, external axis motors, control technologies and positioners, and welding power supplies. The system’s software, by SmartTCP, automates the robot programming tasks. This combination of hardware and software creates a flexible welding cell.
The system addresses multiple axes which gives it the flexibility to weld a variety of parts with different sizes and geometries, as well as welding technologies. The base system is constructed of 9 axes – 6 robot axes and 3 gantry axes – with additional manipulators of one or two axes as needed, with up to 16 axes in two or more working zones. The system’s best use is in an 11-axes configuration in each working zone for in-position continuous welding, resulting in a higher quality and faster welding process.
The automated SmartTCP system helped NPK address the shortage of expert welders, save on labor costs, and shorten welding times, increasing manufacturing capacity and improving its bottom line.
NPK saw one part’s manual welding reduced from 2-1/2 hours to 30 minutes using the SmartTCP system. In a more complicated part, the weld time went from 28 hours of manual welding to five hours of robot welding with an additional three hours of manual welding time. The robotic welding process improved the working environment for NPK’s employees by reducing hazardous tasks.
NPK’s system was installed in three weeks and the company went into production in one week.
Want more information? Click below.
SmartTCP
© Nelson Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved