Welding Cobots: An automated welding solution David Wilton, managing director of Lorch South-Pacific, speaks with Manufacturers’ Monthly on how the company is developing smarter solutions for tomorrow’s industrial challenges, such as the Lorch Cobot Welding system – a collaborative robot designed to take welding to the next level.
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ITH the demand far exceeding the supply of skilled welders in the market, smarter solutions where welding processes can be automated are needed. In the 2021 October edition of Manufacturer’s Monthly, managing director of Lorch SouthPacific, David Wilton, had shared with us about bringing together the art of high-level welding and cobot technology. Here, he gets down to the nitty gritty.
Manufacturers’ Monthly (MM): Cobots are great for replacing standard welding tasks. Where and how much of the human element is still a factor in the entire welding process, and why? David: Let me break this down into a few parts. Any Automation is great for welding large amounts of repetitive parts, in the sense of never taking a break and working around the clock. Whether it be cobot, industrial robot or fixed automation, will achieve this. The fundamental difference with a cobot is its simplicity, speed of setup, flexibility to weld small batch quantities and ability to work in the general work environment closely with humans. So yes, a cobot can do large volumes of repetitive work, but also is highly flexible in performing very high-quality welding on a single part or small to medium batches of subassembly parts, like 20 to 40 parts. Let’s be clear, no automated welding solution is going to take the place and skill of a highly trained, certified welding professional with the knowledge and experience for all welding applications. The problem is, we don’t have enough of these people – so why not use some of their skills in conjunction with cobot 36 MARCH 2022 Manufacturers’ Monthly
The Cobot can be used to offset the shortage in skilled labour.
technology? The best welders in a shop can still be welding, but they can also support a number of cobots to perform many of the mundane simple welding tasks. Taking this approach broadens our capabilities, drives productivity, improves welding quality and shop floor efficiencies. Overall, makes the team stronger! MM: How would a manufacturer or fabricator decide if a collaborative robot is right for the welding application? David: Lorch Cobot Welding was released several years ago in Germany and now all across Europe, today growing at an exponential rate. Lorch Cobot Welding is new for Australia and New Zealand, but not for more progressive countries like Germany that have a very high
level of welding automation. Cobot welding has proven its place as a very good solution for small to medium enterprises that are looking for simplicity, flexibility, and a fast return on their investment (ROI). In terms of welding, the purposebuilt, fully integrated Lorch cobot welding system has all the latest and most advanced “Masters of Speed” welding processes with hundreds of wire/gas and process combinations that are suitable for the vast majority of welding tasks in any position with solid, flux cored and metal cored wires on all types of materials including steel, stainless steel and aluminium. If it is not already standard, Lorch can develop specialised synergic lines with any wire/gas combinations if required.
MM: Could you share more about the ideal applications of using collaborative robots in a welding workspace and some advantages? David: We have set up our Australian website at www.lorch.com.au, with testimonials and case studies featuring real customers that have invested in one or more cobots, where you can see the advantages that cobot welding can bring to the table. MM: How do you save overall bottom-line costs in implementing an automated welding system, like the Lorch Cobot Welding System, on the factory floor? (e.g. manual worker redeployment, longer production hours for menial welding tasks) David: This is difficult – it really depends on the individual company manmonthly.com.au
