Weld Production Monitoring in a time of Recovery and Reinvention

Where and how does weld production monitoring fit into recovery and reinvention? Recently our team explore this topic in a feature article for WELD: Canadian Welding & Lifestyle Magazine's Fall 2020 issue. 
Click the link below to read more!

Sections in this blog:

Our team at IRCO Automation has had the opportunity to work with some of the most experienced beam manufacturing companies in the nation and one thing we've noticed is that all of them share similar key pain-points that they're looking to welding automation to help solve:  

• needing to maintain a consistent weld profile
• needing consistent welding process parameters
• minimizing beam deflection due to heat
• overcoming beam deflection during welding

As talk of infrastructure renewal is fresh on everyone's minds, we thought we'd take a moment to talk about Automated Beam Welding systems and share a few examples. 

Automation, robotics, and optimization are some words that have caught the attention of manufacturers around the world. Recently, our team did a Q&A session about Welding Automation which was featured in both Manufacturing Automation and Robotics Insider. 

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians used welding to join metal pieces together? The art of welding has been around for centuries! Over the last few decades, however, technology has led to significant advancements in welding. Today, a variety of manufacturing processes make use of welding automation. Yet, despite it's popularity, understanding the different types of welding automation (and which is best for your process) can be an overwhelming challenge.

In this blog, we'll explain and simplify the main types of welding automation to help you start to understand which would be the best choice for your manufacturing process.
Sections in this post:

• Introduction/Review:
  • What is Welding Automation?
  • The Benefits of Welding Automation
• Types of Welding Automation

• The Walk,Crawl, Run theory of Welding Automation
• How to get started with Welding Automation

We wanted to share with you some of the updates we made to our service process to make it easier than ever to reach our Service and Support team.

In this post: 

• Video: How to Reach IRCO Automation's Service & Support Team
• Changes to our Service Process
• Service and Support Available by IRCO Automation

Welding has changed over time – technology and the growing demands in the workplace have reshaped the way companies fabricate, weld and manufacture. The introduction of welding automation (including robotic/flexible automation and mechanized/hard/fixed automation) has provided companies with new options and ways to improve their manufacturing and welding processes.  However, transitioning from manual welding to automated welding (or positioning/movement of parts) can be an overwhelming road for companies to navigate. They may find themselves asking: 

• What is Welding Automation? (Learn more) 

 

• What types of Welding Automation are there? (Learn more)
• Why should I even bother automating? What are the benefits?

 

In this post, we’re going to address those last two questions:

 

Read this article for the ultimate overview of welding automation.
We explore, on high-level, some of the questions and concepts to essential to understanding what Welding Automation is and the benefits of adding it into your manufacturing process.

Sections: 

1. What is Welding Automation

2. What are the benefits of Welding Automation?

3. What are the different types of Welding Automation? 

4. Are Automated Systems the same as Production Monitoring?

5. Ready to automate your welding process? 

Cool Project Alert!

Excited to see these large capacity positioners being shipped off and delivered to the aerospace industry today. If you look closely, you'll notice castor wheels were integrated onto these three pieces of equipment.... A little customization for increased flexibility. 

Continue reading below for more information about the different types of weld positioners IRCO offers. 

Sections: 

• What are Weld Positioners? 

• Tilt Rotate Positioners

• 3-Axis Positioners

• 3-Axis Low Profile Positioners

• 2-Axis Gimbal Positioners

IRCO Automation delivers a linear robot for box beam welding.

IRCO’s newly designed linear robot is optimized for pre-programmed multi-pass welding on multiple joints of the box beam. Without stopping, this system can weld each joint from one end of the work piece to the other, repeating its set sequence during the scheduled job until welding is complete. With numerous add-on features integrated into its design, this 3-axis linear robot has a 4th axis for supporting and rotating the workpiece. 

Click the video link below to learn more about this machine, some of it's key features, and how it all comes together.