Robotic Welding Automation Increases Productivity by Up to 500%

by Rich Shive
Panasonic Factory Solutions Company

Problem:

Pressed Metal Corporation (Waukesha, Wisconsin), sought to expand their job shop's welding capacity by adding robotic welding automation.

Solution:

The Panasonic PerformArc 100 robotic welding cell, arrived at Pressed Metal pre-assembled, pre-wired, and fully integrated.  It took only 30 minutes, with the help of only a forklift, to set the cell in place.  The system was up and running within half a day.

Additional features of the PerformArc 100 are an artificial intelligence inverter welding power supply, a 10.5-lb-capacity robot, and a 60-in.dia. turntable.

Results:

• Learning to program the cell proved to be easy, taking only 2 days for a novice operator.
  
  
• The controller tracks actual on-time hours of the robot, providing accurate measurements of operating efficiency for each job.
  
  
• Productivity was measured to have increased up to 500 percent when compared to manual welding and ROI was calculated at less than two years.