Welding Report: Sorting through industry trends

By Kevin Kelleghan

February 12, 2001

Major trends for the welding industry include developments in robotic automation, just-in-time production, and new ways to better serve customers.

Because the welding industry changes so slowly, advances are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. This has been true since the 1920s. And although welding technologies already reach across 140 different processes and process variants -- from metals, polymers, and ceramics to composite materials, from PC chips to trans-Atlantic ships -- new uses for joining continually are emerging, sometimes in unexpected places.

"Welding may be the next major trend in surgery," writes author Kate Matheson. "Research being funded by the U.S. Army may see wounded soldiers being welded back together with a portable laser and tissue patches." She reports that a material derived from animal tissue "can be welded directly to arteries and veins or even into the intestines or bladder."

Because welding is defined as a materials joining process, almost any circumstance in which two elements need to be joined can benefit from welding.

Driven relentlessly to find methods more cost-effective for companies and more useful for customers, U.S. industry constantly seeks better, faster, and cheaper ways to join materials. Automation is a prime example. Since the 1940s, businesspeople have been seeking fresh ways to automate welding, since it has proven to be cost-effective for high production runs, such as mufflers and car bodies. While a robot is costly, per-part savings over large part runs are considerable.

Most automation falls into one category: making products in high production volume. But research will intensify to find methods to automate in circumstances in which products are made one at a time, such as road graders, industry sources said.

Key Areas of Change

Though advances will be slow, knowledgeable sources within the welding industry said research will focus on developing new applications in three key areas as the decade unfolds:

• Robotics automation
• Welding automation for products manufactured one at a time
• Welding applications for just-in-time production

Here is a run-down on nine areas to watch:

Inspection. Research will intensify to automate labor-intensive inspection, particularly in high production runs. Since automation is especially useful when a product is made the same way every time, automation can be adapted to situations in which inspection is the same every time.

Single-product welding. Robots can make lots of the same parts efficiently, but the role of robots still is limited in applications in which manufacturers join large parts one at a time. Researchers are looking for ways to change this.

Geometry. The robot can track a straight seam, but it has difficulty turning a corner. There is a need to improve robotics to control variables in assembly, such as component geometric shapes.

Programming. Robot programming is manual. Researchers are looking for ways to automate the process of "teaching" robots. "There will be cost benefits when the teaching phase is short enough to make money quickly," one source said.

Job Shops. Robotics is not yet within the reach of small and medium-size manufacturers because of cost. But just as the price of personal computers continually has tumbled, similar price decreases may allow robots to one day populate job shops.

Just-in-time (JIT) Production. Automated welding is particularly valuable for JIT deliveries in high-volume industries. Automation can be useful to synchronize deliveries with customer shipping dates. Even in one-of-a-kind manufacturing -- a shipyard, for example -- JIT deliveries can be vastly improved so that the plates for the hull and, eventually, the smokestack are not delivered six months in advance, but rather in the order in which they will be used and at the time they will be installed.

Tolerances. Manufacturers continuously are improving control of tolerances, making them more exact to reduce or eliminate rework.

Miniaturization. Equipment of a certain capacity is becoming smaller and lighter.

Customer-first service. U.S. manufacturers must meet the changing demands of their customers, compete with foreign manufacturers, and comply with government regulations.

Manufacturers and Their Suppliers Continue to Integrate. In the automotive industry, for example, suppliers may set up subassembly operations inside or near the manufacturer's plant.

All of this is driven, in this excruciatingly competitive new century, by the twin engines of whittling costs and exceeding customer expectations. Operations Manager Harlan "Buzz" Roeske at Rockford Industrial Welding Supply, Inc., Rockford, Illinois (www.rockfordindustrial.com), summed it up.

"We will grow with new ideas and new technology for our customer base."