FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
Throughput Gains via Cobot Welding C obot welding has pushed OEM manufacturer Pik Rite, Inc. to redesign parts to improve setup and welding, and has led
Cobot-welding capabilities pushed Pik Rite to reconsider and improve its part designs. “Cobot-welding capability made us focus more on repeatability and efficiency, and consider the entire scope of each project,” says Pik Rite’s Thomas. For example, on one component, correct and accurate completion had required around 15 min. for setup and manual welding of two assemblies. Pik Rite redesigned parts and added features to improve setup and weldability. “Now,” he says, “with smarter designs we’ve cut that time to less than 8 min.”
can, and I’m not even a welder. When I paired one of our welders with the system, I was able to share the robotics, and setup and programming went quickly. More productive work via the cobot-welding setup has led Pik Rite to invest in new capabilities, namely a fiber-laser cutting ma - chine. “We’ve wanted to add laser cut- ting for a long time, but hadn’t seen the value until getting into automated welding and experienc- ing the advantages of slot tabbing and other design elements that fit well with the precision of laser cut- ting,” says Thomas. “Pairing laser precision with cobot welding is a game
to investment in other fabrication processes.
Pik Rite, Lewisburg, PA, in No- vember 2023 installed a THG Automation Fronius-powered du- al-table welding cell anchored by a Universal Robots UR20 cobot, with reach approaching 70 in. and payload surpassing 55 lb. Soon after install and initial use, the company sought the ability to move the robot back and forth to improve weld access, and THG Automation integrated a linear track to do just that.
“I purchased the system and launched it myself,” Caleb Thomas, Pik Rite product line manager, recalls. “With zero tech- nical background, I picked up the cobot teach pendant. Obvi- ously, there’s a learning curve, but if I can do it, almost anyone
changer, and now we’re eyeballing sheet towers to enable lights-out laser cutting.”
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Tasked for the new cobot-welding setup: six to eight weld- ment assemblies that reach across numerous Pik Rite product lines.
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