TIP TIG Welding is always better quality than TIG and 100 to 500% faster with superior quality than TIG - MIG - FCAW.

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MIG, TIP TIG and Flux Cored.
Process Control Information for the Weld Industry:

 

TOO MANY WELDING COMPANIES ARE THROWING MONEY OUT OF THE WINDOW
AS A RESULT OF THE GLOBAL MIG EQUIPMENT CIRCUS:

 

IN THE MIG WELDING INDUSTRY, COMPANIES WILL OFTEN PAY 100 TO 400% MORE THAN NECESSARY TO PURCHASE A MIG POWER SOURCE. WHEN A WELD SHOP HAS THE ABILITY TO APPLY WELD PROCESS EXPERTISE AND CUT THROUGH THE GLOBAL EQUIPMENT SALES INFLUENCE, THERE IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR WELD SHOPS TO DRAMATICALLY LOWER WELDING AND WELD EQUIPMENT COSTS. CHECK OUT MIG WELDING EQUIPMENT.

ITS' IRONIC THAT IN CONTRAST TO TRADITIONAL CV EQUIPMENT, MOST MIG INVERTERS WILL PROVIDE THE WORST MIG AND FLUX CORED WELD PENETRATION PROFILES ON STEEL AND STAINLESS PARTS > 4 mm . THE REASONS FOR THE POOR PENETRATION ISSUES ARE FOUND IN MY WELDING PROCESS CONTROL TRAINING RESOURCES.

If you are interested in improving your robot MIG weld efficiency in the range of 20 to 40%, dramatically increasing your daily weld deposition rates, or eliminating your manual MIG and flux cored issues, check out the world's most effective Robot Weld Best Practices and Weld Process Control Training and Educational Weld Best Practices and Weld Process Control Training and Educational Resources, or call Ed North Carolina. USA. 828 658 3574.

WELD PROCESS CONFIDENCE AND CHANGE: It's not just a lack of management process ownership and "millions of welders daily playing around with MIG weld controls" that is a global welding issue, in many weld shops you can smell the fear of weld technology change before you enter the door. If managers and engineers lack confidence in controlling the processes on their shop floors, the people on the shop floor will also lack confidence, hold on to what they know, and resist change to cost affective weld products they know even less about.

A WELD SHOP WITHOUT BEST WELD PRACTICES AND WELD PROCESS CONTROLS IS NOT A WELD SHOP.

This business plan is on the wrong side
of the business plan track.

MANAGEMENT. STICK WELDS AND WELD PROCESS EVOLUTION: Many weld shop are still using stick electrodes rather than the MIG, TIP TIG or the flux cored process which will complete the welds 100 to 500% faster and can produce superior weld quality.

MANAGEMENT. WELD EQUIPMENT BELLS AND WHISTLES: The majority of electronics in today's MIG equipment offer limited real world welding benefits when welding steel and alloy steels applications. The MIG equipment electronics have on average increased MIG weld equipment costs by 100 to 600% and increased weld equipment repair costs by at least 300 to 500%.

MANAGEMENT. MIG GAS MIXES: There are approx. 60 MIG gas mixes available for MIG welding the common steels, stainless and aluminium applications, yet the world only needs 4 gas mixes for optimum welds on every MIG application. How many managers this year, will try a new MIG gas, consumable or power source, looking for the solution to the weld issues generated from their "lack of weld process expertise"

MANAGEMENT. WELD CONSUMABLES:Many weld shops use Metal Cored wires that can cost > 40% more than MIG wires, yet the MIG wires will produce the same weld productivity and quality (if the weld decision makers understand the weld consumables and weld processes) . Many weld shops allow the use of self shielded flux cored weld wires yet its impossible to control weld quality with these products. Other manager believe the bigger the weld wire the greater the the weld deposition, this is a myth.The majority of weld shop use the wrong type of gas shielded flux cored wires or the wrong size MIG wires.

 

If most managers and engineers and supervisors ran a weld shop
as if they owned it, perhaps things would be different.

Your company could spend
millions on robots and/ fixtures,

but thanks to lack of MIG weld process expertise,
still produce robot welded truck frame welds like this?

 

LOOKING FOR A LOW COST, FAST SOLUTION TO YOUR ROBOT / MANUAL WELDING ISSUES. E-mail for Weld Help. Ed has resolved over 1000 companies weld issues. Many weld issues can be resolved on the phone Contact Ed by E-mail. ecraig@weldreality.com.

,

D SMOKE
SPARKS AND WELD MANAGEMENT PERCEPTION:

E

The weld management in these exhaust and frame plants are happy to see the weld smoke hovering above the parts and the weld sparks flying, yet this common weld fire works display is an indication of poor weld quality, lack of weld management and lack of weld process controls.

WHY APPLY A TEAM TO A WELD PROCESS PROBLEM WHEN THE INDIVIDUAL ON THE TEAM WITH THE MOST WELD PROCESS CONTROL EXPERTISE WILL TYPICALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM. OF COURSE MANAGEMENT COULD ENSURE THAT ALL THE TEAM MEMBERS ARE PROVIDED WITH WELD PROCESS CONTROL TRAINING AND CREATE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR ALL THE TEAM MEMBERS.

Many managers look for the "team approach" to solving their daily welding problems, yet few managers understand the level of MIG / flux cored "weld process control expertise" necessary for a team member to provide effective weld process controls and process optimisation. This creates teams without the required expertise to get to the root cause of weld issues and we all know the cost ramifications of that logic.

 

Without the correct level of process expertise
Weld Team Meetings can be frustrating costly events..

THE WELD TEAM? You may have been in a meeting like this. The robot weld team leader tightens his black belt while he uses his titanium coated laser pointer on his sophisticated Power Point presentation. The power point program loaded with statistics rather than weld resolutions, is necessary to show the frustrated plant manager why the robots are only at a weld production efficiency of 60% and the daily weld rework is past 40%. It's mid March, there has been 14 weld team meetings since January and the robot weld quality and productivity has yet to be improved by the weld team.

If you have attended meetings like this, please take a moment to reflect on a statement from the following auditor's report (below) from another meeting that took place in 1956. (Thanks! HP). In this meeting an auditor was discussing the death of a famous USA automotive company called the Packard Motor Company. 1956 or 2010 in the auto industry we see so many inadequate management similarities, it makes you wonder what happened to the word evolution.

 

1956: An auditor discusses the demise and bankruptcy
of a USA automotive giant the Packard Motor Company:

"If charts, graphs, never ending reports, procrastination, fruitless meetings, BS and lack of ownership and responsibility were the mark of a successful enterprise, this year Packard would have enjoyed record profits".

SIMPLE COST EFFECTIVE MIG AND FLUX CORED
WELD PROCESS CONTROL SOLUTIONS:

My manual and robot weld process control training resources enable any weld decision maker including Quality Managers and Inspectors to quickly identify the root cause of their MIG and flux cored weld issues and provide practical process resolutions.

With less weld issues from robots or from manual welders, the weld decision maker could cut back on weld inspection, work less hours and weekends and spend less time at those weld meetings.

Best Weld Practices and Weld Process Controls cannot
be implemented without Process Control Training.

MIG OR FLUX CORED: If you are a weld professional you should be able to apply the same MIG / FCAW best practices and process control principles to all your applications: For info on the the world's most effective MIG / Flux Cored, Manual / Robot Weld Process Control Programs Visit Ed's Process Control Training resources.

Ed training Imperial Oil pipe welders, on the use of MIG and
gas shielded flux cored on natural gas pipe. Cold Lake. Alberta. Canada.

MIG STT versus MIG Short Circuit for the Root and Pulsed MIG versus gas shielded Flux Cored for the pipe fill passes. Imperial Oil wanted answers and a unique MIG and gas shielded Flux Cored training program for their welders. Ed's unique, yet simple, three day pipe Flux Cored and MIG weld process control training program saved Imperial Oil, millions of dollars through optimised pipe weld quality / productivity. Its 2010, Imperial Oil and other oil companies should now be embracing TIP TIG as this process is superior to any manual weld or automated pipe welding process they are using at this time. A ten minute demo welding all position pipe root and fill passes at our Philadelphia facility will convince any weld management where their weld future lies. Visit the TIP TIG weld section at this site or go to www.tiptigusa.com.

Weld Process Expertise has no boundaries
From Pipes Ships and Trains, to Corvettes, Bikes & Truck Frames.

Ed set the robots welds on the Corvette, Harley and Ford F150 frames..

 

E-Mail:

Mr. Craig. Your web site was recommended by a friend., I really enjoyed going through it you must be congratulated
for making a rather dry subject like welding both colourful and interesting'. Wishing you all success and happiness. With warm regards.

T.A.Ramesh.
Grafs Welding Institute and Consultancy Services.
Mumbai, India.

 

HOW ONE MAN CAN IMPACT A FACTORY AND EFFECT THE QUALITY OF VOLVO TRUCKS:

During February 2008. I had discussion with a tier one engineer responsible for robot MIG welds on highly critical Volvo truck engine parts. I was asked by the plant manger to review these parts and after evaluating the situation I could see the welding problems could be quickly rectified. In discussions with the plant manager and engineer responsible for the robot weld cells I found the real root cause of the plants welding issues, the issue was the lack of weld process expertise from the plant weld engineer. The weld engineer was adamant that I should make no weld process changes on his "so called qualified robot welded parts" The robot cell produced parts with a 100% failure rate and the 100% manual MIG weld rework time surpassed the robot weld time.


IT'S NO SURPRISE WHEN YOU HAVE POOR WELD QUALITY YOU ALSO HAVE POOR WELD PRODUCTIVITY: The Volvo parts had an approx. robot weld cycle time of 4.5 minutes and the typical robot production efficiency was so poor that the plant was only producing 60 parts per-eight hour shift. I explained to the plant manager and the engineer responsible, that in less than eight hours in the robot cell, by making effective process changes I could eliminate the robot weld rework and get the production up to 120 parts per-shift.

MANAGEMENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO DEFINE WHO IS RESPONSIBLE: To robot weld the Volvo parts, this plant had good workers on the shop floor and the correct equipment in the robot cell. The robot problem at this plant was with two people, the plant manager who admitted he knew little about welding and an engineer that tried to make his coworkers believe he knew about MIG weld process controls..

MANAGEMENT PAYS A PRICE FOR WELD PROCESS IGNORANCE: The engineer who created the robot weld issues would not allow my weld process changes which could have been achieved in a day and would be easy to verify. The Volvo plant manager had relied on his weld engineer for many years and therefore would not allow me to make the changes without his weld engineers permission. (why bother bring me to the plant). The sad fact here was due to ego and human frailty at the management and engineering level nothing was achieved and yet the weld solution was simple.

I did not tell this manager that I had previously set the robot cab welds for the Volvo trucks in West Virginia, as my experience here was not the issue. Perhaps it's time for management to take ownership of their domains and recognize that with open minds and my robot weld process control training, those that are responsible for robots will then have the ability to resolve the robot weld issues. Weld results are either optimum or they are not. In this plant the robot weld results were always placed on the shoulders of the shop floor workers, people who were not responsible, people who had not established the so called pre-qualified weld procedures.

Note: I expect one day Volvo will figure these guys don't cut the mustard and then close down the operation and ship the parts to China where manual weld rework costs are meaningless.

As with all modern day automated manufacturing issues, most robot MIG weld issues will be quickly resolved if the "management focus" is placed on the "human requirements" necessary to optimise the robot MIG weld quality and production.

 

Just a few of the robot welds that Ed set.

 

 

A note to the automotive industry managers / engineers.
"A little MIG and and Flux Cored weld process knowledge
can lead to shorter hours and longer vacations"

After reading Ed's books on Best Weld Practices and Process
Controls, I can finally take that holiday.

DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE HAD TWO DECADES OF PULSED MIG
WELD EQUIPMENT LIES, DECEIT? ITS BEEN ONE BIG FIASCO:

IF YOU WANT TO FIND POOR ROBOT WELDS,
VISIT A CAR OR TRUCK FRAME PLANT.

<2009: FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS THE SAD MANAGEMENT ACCEPTANCE OF OVER PRICED, ERRATIC, ELECTRONIC PULSED MIG EQUIPMENT USED FOR CARBON STEEL, ROBOT / MANUAL MIG WELDS, HAS BEEN AN INDICATION OF THE GLOBAL MANAGEMENT MIG WELD PROCESS IGNORANCE AND LACK OF ENGINEERING WELD PROCESS EXPERTISE THAT PREVAILS.

If a company used the pulsed MIG mode on manual or robot "carbon steel applications > 4 mm" before 2008, the weld reality is that this company was using over priced, unstable, inconsistent, inferior weld equipment, and the weld consequences will have been inferior weld fusion and lower deposition rates for most applications. Want the proof? visit the pulsed MIG section.

As the robot welded frames leave the plant with excessive amounts of lack of weld fusion and the pathetic attempts at manual patch work weld repairs, perhaps some manager would realize, there is a relationship between poor the poor manual MIG weld repairs and the poor robot MIG welds.

The manufacturing manager walks through the robot weld shop, he his pleased to see the welders bent over the parts creating a golden cascade of weld spatter over the frames being repaired. The manufacturing manager and his engineers were simply not aware that it's not just the robots creating the MIG weld problems. The golden sparks of "excess weld spatter" generated by the manual frame weld repair crew, indicate that the two control, 50 year old MIG process used for the weld repairs, is also completely out of control, just as the golden sparks found every day on the robot resistance equipment in most auto plants is an indication that the plant's spot welds are out of control.

Note the minimal effects that the plant's Six Sigma engineers had on these robot welded Ford F150 truck frames. Welds made in accordance to those highly effective ISO 9000 specifications.

How many robot welded parts in your plants will have bad manual rework welds placed on top of bad robot welds?

How many more years do we have to wait before the engineers and managers can figure out how to bring process controls to the two control, fifty year old, MIG process.

When engineers, technicians and workers lack a specific process expertise their is no shame in this fact, however this should be a signal for management to step in and ensure the correct process
control training programs are provided for the relevant employees.

 

 

Without global exception, when you find one weak link with a primary manufacturing process in a major corporation, you are sure to find many more.

IF A MANUFACTURING PLANTMANAGEMENT CANNOT CONTROL THE SIMPLE, TWO CONTROL MANUAL MIG PROCESS, IT'S LIKELY THE MANAGEMENT HAS NOT PUT IN PLACE THE QUALIFIED INDIVIDUALS NECESSARY TO DAILY OPTIMIZE THE AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT IN THE PRESS, PAINT OR RESISTANCE WELD SHOPS.

Competitive, world class robot weld manufacturing quality and productivity does not require;

[a] Unique Japanese manufacturing methods.

[b] Special Electronic weld equipment.

[c] Advice from unqualified salesmen.

[d] Ever evolving ISO standards.

It does require weld process control knowledge and equipment expertise.

 

SHOULD MANAGEMENT FUDGE ROBOT WELD QUALITY / PRODUCTIVITY FIGURES? Many plant managers do not report the real world, robot weld quality and productivity figures to their corporate peers. Fudging robot weld rework figures and excluding manual weld repair costs is the norm in the auto / truck industry. And lets face it, what other recourse do these "hands off" managers have, as many lack the ability to work out the real quality / productivity potential of the robots they utilize. Anyone with common sense knows that most corporate managers at a major global auto manufacturer would not likely know a good MIG weld if they tripped over one. The issue is not with the qualification of the seniors managers or engineers who frequently lack weld process knowledge. The real issue is the global, common management / engineering process apathy and lack of interest in ownership and trying to understand that process control knowledge is important to the success of their organization and therefore these managers have an obligation to ensure the key weld decision makers in their organization have that knowledge.

 

 

That highly engineered
$38,000.00 Ford Truck Frame.

BAD WELDS ON TOP OF BAD WELDS.
WHAT'S MANAGEMENT GONNA DO?

 

 

IF ONLY LAWYERS UNDERSTOOD THE OPORTUNITIES OF THE
POOR WELDS DAILY PRODUCED IN AUTO AND TRUCK PLANTS.

2000: If management believe they don't have to change their too common apathy to poor weld quality perhaps the legal ramifications of the weld quality they daily produce will make them sit up and take notice. A great percentage of the auto / truck robot welded products that have poor manual weld repairs on top of bad robot welds should be a
red light for any lawyer.

One day some bright young lawyer will figure out the ramifications and pots of gold that can be derived from the bad welds produced on the majority of cars cars and trucks. An evaluation of crashed car or truck's welds will often reveal extensive robot MIG and resistance welds "with no weld fusion or excessive weld defects". The lawyer will then link the injured party to the vehicles structural failure and faulty welds that occurred during an accident. Further investigation would reveal that the plant that made the robot welded components, did not know the meaning of Best Weld Practices or Weld Process Controls, and daily this plant allowed unqualified workers to make unqualified weld changes to so called qualified welds that were supposed to be in compliance with the design of the vehicle.


To avoid MIG and flux cored weld liability issues at your facility, click here for Ed's Robot / Manual Weld Process Control Training Resources.

2006: EVEN THE MEANING OF "WELD REWORK" IS MISLEADING OR IGNORED
BY MANY MANUFACTURING MANAGERS IN THE AUTO / TRUCK INDUSTRY:

Few managers have the weld process expertise necessary to work out the real world production efficiency potential of a MIG welding robot or the cost of a simple common 3/16 (4.8 mm) fillet weld. However many managers do understand how to justify the addition of three manual welders at the end of the robot line to repair the robot weld defects. It's amazing how many global robot MIG weld lines end up like this and it's incredulous that numerous plants will not report this condition as "robot weld rework"

As many global plants never acquire the robot MIG weld quality and productivity potential they require from their robots, their solution is to simple, purchase more robots, add an additional shift or shift the parts to Mexico.

From Ed Craig 1995. Report to tier one company.

Managers can quickly get to the root cause of their robot weld manufacturing issues. I would recommend the following;

[a] read less books about leadership ISO or the latest lean manufacturing methods, and read more books about the processes and the equipment used in your company,

[b] focus less on the number of black belts and more on the team's real world process expertise and ensure the team participants are process qualified,

[c] encourage engineers to roll up their sleeves, take an interest in the weld processes and robot equipment, spend less time at their computers and spend at least 4 hours a day on the shop floor in the quest of weld issue prevention and weld optimisation,

[d] have managers / engineers involved in welding decisions take ownership, responsibility, accountability for their weld equipment and the robots and insist they stop relying on advice from salesmen,

[e] stop relying on the people who make your weld equipment, consumables and robot weld equipment for process optimisation expertise.

REFERENCE ROBOT WELD PRODUCTION AND ROBOT WELD REJECTS / REWORK. IF AUTO / TRUCK MANAGEMENT WOULD TAKE THE TIME TO RECOGNIZE THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT COULD BE SAVED ANNUALLY IN A SINGLE PLANT, THEN MULTIPLY THAT SAVINGS THROUGHOUT THEIR GLOBAL PLANTS, SOME BEAN COUNTER WOULD FIND A REASON TO SMILE.

WHILE GM EXECUTIVES ANNOUNCED IN 2005 THEY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT DESIGNERS LACKING EXPERTISE AND THE ABILITY TO UTILIZE SPECIFIC DESIGN TOOLS, SOMEONE AT GM SHOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN CONCERNED ABOUT DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING WELD PROCESS IGNORANCE AND IT'S EVER GROWING INFLUENCE ON THE COST AND QUALITY ON ROBOT WELDED PARTS.

GM announces losses of
38 billion dollars in 2007.

In 2008, GM management recognize that
large trucks and SUVS GUZZLE OIL.

 

For Manufacturing Managers, Weld Engineers, Designers, Mechanical Engineers, Robot Technicians, Supervisors and weld personnel who want a better weld future, this is the book you need for robot / manual weld process controls, click here.

"A Management Engineers Guide to MIG and FCAW Weld Quality and Costs"

With 600 pages Ed's book is the most comprehensive, honest , practical book ever written on the subject of robot and manual MIG / flux cored weld process controls and costs. Get this book with Ed's Robot Process Control Training Video and you have taken a first step in weld process management.

Ed has written three MIG process control books and produced a robot process control training video, click here. To contact Ed send an E-MAIL to ecraig@weldreality.com.

EVEN BEN THINKS THE WELD INDUSTRY,
DAILY WASTES MILLIONS:

PULSED MIG WELD REALITY. Few companies who use pulsed MIG equipment take the time to figure out the importance the wire feed rates utilized on their common weld sizes. To attain optimum, high robot weld speeds when welding steel auto / truck frames or other steel parts > 3 mm thick, the 0.045 (1.2 mm) MIG wire feed rates would have to be greater than 420 ipm, > 11 lb/hr.

The traditional, USA manufactured $2.000, CV. MIG power source that produced the superior spray transfer fillet weld shown on the above picture, (right side). The spray weld was made at a wire feed rate of 450 ipm attaining approx. 12 lbs/hr. The pulsed MIG weld was made at the same wire feed rate. The pulsed MIG irregular weld surface and toe shown left, are what will be typically be revealed with pulsed welds when high wire feed rates > 420 inch/min are used.

[] For carbon steel welds, Pulsed MIG weld equipment is often costly (100 to 400% more than CV equipment).
[] Pulsed MIG equipment will often add complexity to an application.
[] Pulsed equipment will often lack durability and is difficult to maintain.

Thanks to weld equipment salesmanship and management / engineering weld process apathy, without process justification, the pulsed process became the world's biggest selling MIG power source for robot / manual steel welds.

For the MIG equipment weld test in the above picture, I used the Lincoln PowerWave at a Magna Training facility in the North East USA. This pulsed MIG power source was one of the most popular power sources sold in the USA and still is in 2010. The pulsed power source and 0.045 (1.2mm) weld wire was set at 450 ipm (12 - 13 lbs/hr). As careful examination of the above photo indicates, (left picture) the pulsed weld produced a less stable, more agitated weld. Note, the pulsed equipment was set with optimum pulsed weld parameters as recommended by Lincoln the weld power source manufacturer. The resulting pulsed, scalloped weld edges and sluggish weld surface appearance, indicates the common inconsistency of the pulsed weld arcs and peak to back ground fluctuating weld current. Cut and section these two welds and the low cost CV equipment delivering the more consistent conventional spray weld will also show superior weld quality and weld penetration.


MANUAL WELDS: The pulsed power source that made the inferior weld, and every day makes millions of inferior pulsed welds could cost your company approx. $12000. It would take Ed less than 30 minutes at your facility to demonstrate that a $2000 traditional MIG from Lincoln could produce superior robot weld quality and productivity than the $12000 pulsed power source.



If you want to see why the US auto industry has in the last decade wasted millions purchasing useless pulsed MIG equipment for their robot steel welds, click here.

MANAGEMENT & BEST WELD PRACTICES

Joe congratulations in your new position as corporate VP of manufacturing. In our next meeting I believe you will be talking about establishing Global Robot Best Weld Practices and Robot Weld Process Controls. Well Joe before we go down the global path, be aware of the reality we have with the five plants here in Michigan. At these plants, they all have robots welding similar steel parts yet each plant takes a completely different approach with their weld practices and the weld quality and productivity is all over the place. Also lets face it Joe, if these plants have employess with any robot process control expertise why is the daily robot average weld production efficiency at only fifty to sixty percent and the robot weld rework thirty to sixty percent? The bottom line Joe, before you go global, fix the plants in Detroit and also at our North American tier suppliers.

MANAGEMENT ROBOTS AND WELD REALITY.

Joe we need to get rid of the glass walls and that "them and us" mentality that divide the people on the shop floor from the engineers, designers and managers in this corporation. From both a technology and productivity perspective, we must all support each other and swim in the same direction, or the bottom line is one by one we all drown.

With those new robot lines get to the root cause of the weld issues and let me know the steps you will take to optimise both the quality and productivity potential for all the MIG and resistance welding robots. >Best Robot Weld Practices are essential yet will not be established on the foundation of "biased weld sales advice" or weld process ignorance.

Best Robot Weld Practices can never be implemented in organizations subject to management or engineering robot process control apathy or from shop floor personnel who have to "play around" with the robot weld data.

Robot Weld Process Controls will not be affective till all the personnel involved with the robot welding decisions receive robot weld process control training and the engineering management team responsible take ownership and implement and manage Best Weld Practices and Robot Weld Process Controls. 

 

DOES ANYONE OUT THERE GIVE A DAM ABOUT THE REAL CO$T OF THEIR WELDS?

In the last three decades, I have visited hundreds of plants in ten countries. In ninety nine percent of those plants, management had not figured out the real cost of the most common MIG welds produced in their plant. My books deal extensively with weld cost simplification and cost controls.

MANAGEMENT AND ROBOT WELD COSTS.

Joe how can we control robot weld costs, when most of our manufacturing managers and engineers in this organization may know the cost of a weld wire but few have figured the the costs of a common 4 or 6 mm fillet weld. There is no shame to our general a lack of weld process expertise, there is great shame when our managers and engineers know they have a process or manufacturing weakness and don't do anything about it. Throughout the industrial world you will maybe find one or two plants in a hundred that have established uniform "Best Weld Practices" or implemented effective "Robot Weld Process Controls". Manufacturing executives at the world's largest auto / truck manufactures have during the last two decades invested billions in robot MIG weld automation and millionsin training yet few managers in this industry have invested a nickel in weld process optimization.

WELD MANAGEMENT TAKE NOTE:

It's time to cut out the
"playing around with weld parameters organ"

Lack of weld fusion and other costly MIG weld defects are rare when weld
personnel sit down and view Ed's Cd on MIG weld process control training

Have you visited the revised
pulsed MIG section?

MAGNA is an auto parts supplier that has over two hundred plants and generates over 15 billion dollars annually.

DANA does close to 7 billion dollars annually in auto / truck part sales.

Both these companies in 2004 and 2005 had specific facilities or personnel that decided to establish a Robot Weld Best Practices and a Process Control training program for their key technicians, engineers and management robot personnel.

After reviewing the available North American training resources from Hobart and Lincoln, Magna and Dana companies purchased Ed's unique robot power point CDs. Click here for info.

 

E-mail. Nov 2004.

Ed, I purchased your robot process control training materials a few months ago for my employees and we have revised all our robot tube welding parameters with great success. The welds quality and production on our automotive exhaust pipes & mufflers has been greatly improved. Thanks and best regards, Dodge Juhan

For those of you who believe you or your employees are in control of the robot / weld manufacturing equipment in your plants, you may want to try my weld process control test. If you get many of the questions right, you don't need this web site. If like the majority that take the test you get most of the MIG process control questions wrong, ask yourself these two important questions.

[a] How important is logical MIG weld process control data to a robot that requires optimum MIG weld process data?

[b] How important is logical weld process control data to your career and to the success and profits of your organization?

Click here for Ed's MIG Weld Process Control Quiz.

MINNEAPOLIS. 08/07: During rush hour traffic, the entire span of an interstate bridge broke into sections and collapsed, sending vehicles, concrete and twisted metal crashing more than sixty feet into the Mississippi River. During 1990, engineers had evaluated the bridge and expressed their concerns about excess corrosion on the structural supports, and a few years ago it was reported that stress cracks were evident and the possibility of possible fatigue / fracture failure.

On a bridge that supports more than 150,000 vehicles a day, some one made the cost effective decision to do nothing but increase the number of inspections, and anyone in a welding shop is aware of the futility of inspectors trying to visually evaluate steel joints and welds coated with paint, dirt, and extensive rust.

Aug. 2 - 07. MINNEAPOLIS. POLITICAL AND ENGINEERING APATHY.



No Responsibility - No Accountability -
No Ownership. Tremendous Liability:

2008. USA. The rusting infrastructure of a once great country.
Is it leaving in it's dust a sad legacy for future generations :

2008: In a time when too many self serving politicians are focused on attaining vote getting pork projects for their states and ignoring the fragile infrastructure that holds this country together, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated the costs of fixing the over 70,000 USA bridges rated as structurally deficient will be approx. $188 billion.

In America thanks to the politicians and their self interests, we get our money from unregulated banks and credit card companies who seem to have no fundamental rules to ensure the loans they provide are sound and the interest rates they charge are less than what the mafia charges.

In America we get our electricity from thirty and forty year old antiquated power stations who's pipes and boilers strain daily over their design capacity. We get our oil from Saudi Arabia a country that provided 19 terrorists to bring down the twin towers. We get our gasoline from old refineries that can barely keep up with the demand, facilities that are often held together with band aid repairs.

In America where a vote for a politician is less relevant than the dollars provided to that politician by a lobbyist, the majority of our lawyer educated politicians have been quiet on the subject of addressing jobs, health care, energy needs and the rebuilding of America's infrastructure.

In America when we get new jobs they are too frequently from corporations that hide their profits in offshore accounts, corporations that pay minimal or no taxes, corporations that show little concern for the longevity of employment or the quality of life of their employees.

In a time when over 30% of all tax dollars go to support the Pentagon we have politicians who will not think twice about using vague fear / scare tactics as they scheme to add more dollars to that Pentagon budget. And what do the taxpayers get for the trillions spent? They got two failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and two terrorists. They cannot find a six foot ten arab. They could find two terroists, one blew up his shoe and the other set fire to his underwear. These are the same politicians who have no shame in allocating hundreds of billions of tax payers dollars to support middle east religious and tribal wars that are never likely to change, wars that could last for hundreds of years.

In this obese aging country in which we will in see annualy over one million deaths from heart related issues and another half a million will die of cancer we only have 50 plus million without health care, (I am one of those 50 million, I have been unable to get health insurance for six years as I have an existing health condition). In this same same time period the USA is paying 100% more per-individual for health care than any other country, yet the USA is placed #14 in countries that provide health care systems.

To put things into perspective, the anticipated costs to build sufficient nuclear and power plants for every state, replace the broken down refineries, bridges and other infrastructure would be approx. one trillion dollars, or the approx. costs that will be incurred in the Iraq war where we achieved what? Taxpayers vote and there is something wrong in a nation in which half the countries taxpayers dwell in their past glory and seem to lack interest in quality of life attained in other nations or in the fundamentals that impact the quality of life for themselves and for the future generations.

Ed Craig. 08/2008.

HOW MANY COMPANIES HAVE A MANAGER OR ENGINEER THAT
CAN QUICKLY PIN POINT TO THE ROOT CAUSES OF
THEIR DAILY ROBOT OR MANUAL WELD ISSUES?

Manufacturing management will always have a difficult time eliminating issues if the root causes of those issues are generated in the design office. My brother is a highly qualified tool and die maker in Oakville. Ont. Canada. He tells me that few designers of progressive stamped parts understand the complexities of the dies they design and the suitability of their part design to the performance and longevity of the progressive dies.

POOR WELD DESIGN IS A COMMON ROOT CAUSE OF ROBOT WELDED ISSUES: The designer hands in the design of his companies new welded widgets. The parts will be made out of 0.8 to 1.2 mm carbon steels, (great weld burn through potential for the robots). To add to the weld problems on the thin parts the designer has the parts galvanized before the welds are made and more than 50% of the joints are butt and fillet welds.

Of course if the designer had any interest in the MIG weld process utilized, (designers interested in the processes that manufacturer their parts are a rare commodity) they would have made the parts a little thicker and used more lap or plug welds than fillet welds making the weld application more compatible with the MIG weld process. Of course if you desired optimum weld quality the designer would have required the parts be coated after welding. On a thin gage applications you may not want to ask a designer what is the best size plug weld for thin gage, or why a fillet weld rather than a lap weld on that gage application is a concern. It’s sad in the auto and truck industry to see a designer of a welded part walk past the robot welding lines and not even glance at the parts they designed, parts which are typically overflowing from the weld reject bins, parts that are forever causing robot weld issues. You could also ask why the designer does not read a book on the subject of MIG Weld Process Controls and get a little education on a subject he or she is involved with.

It's unlikely in North America if one designer out of a hundred could answer the following fundamental MIG weld process questions.

Many of you will also be aware of the prevailing manufacturing management double standard in which parts in the press shop are built to the design dimensional tolerances, while the parts presented to the robot welding lines will have weld gaps in the 2 to 4 mm range.

[1] Designers: Without robot weld joint sensing or weld joint tracking, the robot weld tolerances for a ¼ (6mm), horizontal fillet are? Why? Note: The tolerances have nothing to do with the MIG weld wire diameter.

If you ask ten designers of an auto / truck robot welded part, what's the minimum optimum gage thickness for a MIG weld made with an 0.035 (1mm) or 0.045 (1.2 mm) wire? You are sure to get ten very different answers. Yet these same designers keep designing thinner and thinner, coated gage components without consideration of the MIG weld process utilized.

[2] Designers: With or without joint sensing or tracking, the robot weld gap tolerances for butt welds on gage parts 1.6mm 1/16 thick are? Why?

How many designers are aware that a 3/16 (4.8mm), robot fillet weld can be made 200 to 300% faster than a 1/4 (6.4mm) fillet weld?

[3] Designers: With MIG welding and an 035 (1 mm) wire you have great potential for weld burn through potential on what gage thickness? Why?

How many designers are aware of the weld fusion and weld and strength issues generated with small, robot weld lengths, <24 mm.

[4] Designers: Which is the best weld joint on a 1 mm hydro formed steel joint. A lap weld. A fillet weld. A butt weld? Why?

Ask ten designers, what the acceptable MIG gap tolerance is for a weld on 16 gage galvanealed part and watch a blank gaze.

[5] Designers: What is the optimum plug weld "width" on a 3 mm steel part? Why?

 

I could ask a 100 weld process questions that would be pertinent to a designer of welded parts, however what's the point, weld and mechanical engineers rarely get optimum weld process training so I should not expect too much from designers.

The above questions are just a few of the numerous questions that I address in my books and in my self teaching robot process control training CD workshop and resources. I am aware that few managers or designers will visit this site as most are too busy trying to quench the weld shop fires that they help create. Hopefully the next generation of corporate manufacturing management designers and engineers will take it up a notch, step up to the shop floor plate and take a hands on interest in the manufacturing processes that build their products and create profits for their organization.

Will the Corporate "Weld Manager" take responsibility for the robot welding issues?
This man is responsible for welding in his corporation and yet many of these managers could not set a MIG weld power source without playing around with the controls or getting advice from a weld salesman.

The manager you know may may spend six hours a day in front of his computer and the other three hours pushing paper around or in meetings which never seem to result in anything of practical weld significance. When the corporate weld engineer is asked by the tier one supplier what weld consumable should be used on his thin galvanized parts, this corporate weld engineer may call on a weld consumable manufacturer or distributor for advice, and of course the consumable manufacturer thinking about the sales profits will recommend something exclusive like a terrible self shielded flux cored wire or a ridiculous market driven three part gas mix.


Will the robot "Project Manager" take responsibility for the robot weld issues?

This is the individual who may recommend the robots and weld equipment, or manage the robot MIG weld line as it's built. This is the manager who' welding knowledge is typically attained from welding vendors. This is the manager that's part of the team that specifies an 0.052 (1.4 mm) MIG wire to weld the thin 2 to 4 mm, galvanealed steel parts a decision that will cause numerous weld issues. This man will ensure you end up with the ridiculous, costly pulsed wave form MIG equipment and three part gas mixes for those steel welds. This expediter of your robot project is typically the man who will have more process responsibility than process knowledge.




Will the "Plant Manufacturing or Engineering Manager" take responsibility for the robot weld issues?

This six sigma manager is proud of his black belt and will typically have spent two decades in the auto industry. His contribution to the plant is to manage robots that daily achieve 40 - 60 percent weld production efficiency with forty to seventy percent weld rework. This is the manager who provides parts to the robot cells and the parts have weld gaps that average 2 to 4 mm. This is the individual that keeps adding bodies to a weld team that rarely gets to the root cause of the weld production and quality issues. This is the man who does not get the simple fact that his robot issues are a result of his lack of process expertise.

Will the "Plant Maintenance Manager" take responsibility for the robot weld issues?

In the automotive industry, manufacturing management who simply don't know better will often make this guy and his crew responsible for the"MIG welding issues" that occur with the robots.

Maintenance millwrights and electricians "playing around" with MIG welds in robot cells, talk about the blind leading the blind. What manager decided that these guys have a clue about robot MIG weld process controls. It would not occur to this manger to provide these process inexperienced individuals with robot / MIG process control training?

The maintenance manger is the one man that typically feels the most pain as he looks at the robot weld rework filling the pallets and watches as his robots daily suffer unnecessary down time due to the numerous weld issues that never quite seem to get fully resolved. I have great respect for most maintenance managers, most are hands on individuals that strive to understand the processes they own and lets face it, this is what all manufacturing engineers should aspire to be.

Will the "Quality Manager" take responsibility for the robot weld issues?

This is the smartly dressed dude that wears a tie at every meeting. This is the guy that often wraps himself in that European, impotent manufacturing standard called ISO. This is the gentleman who likes to quote ineffective AWS or even worse FEMA weld specifications while his inspectors reject welds for minor superficial issues yet ignore the fact that a great portion of his companies welds lack weld fusion. This manager's real world contribution to resolving his plants weld issues is to "document the the rejected parts". >



In contrast to Mark Twain that might have once said to a welding salesman, "First get your welding facts right, then you can distort them in the weld shop as much as you please"

Does your weld manager or supervisor know what his real function in life is? Are these overworked individuals exhausted every day from trying to quench their robot / press shop / paint shop production fires? Do these men know if their robot weld reject bins are "half full or half empty"? Will these individuals ever except responsibility and ownership of their companies key manufacturing equipment and one day come to grip with the "management root causes" of their plant's daily production / quality issues?

We have a great robot weld management section at this site. If you know managers that spend too much time trying to put out weld fires why not gently guide them to it.

E-mail Question:

Ed is there any weld solution to manual or robot MIG welding galvanized steels?

Answer: As soon as you place a weld on a galvanized coated part, the resulting weld will always be poor quality and the weld may contain micro cracks from zinc metallurgical reactions in the weld and HAZ grain boundaries. Also keep in mind the excess weld porosity may weaken the weld and weld destroys the galvanized or galvanealed surface..

If the auto / truck industry was really concerned about weld integrity, and corrosion protection for its vehicles, they would coat the parts after welding.

Has the North American manufacturing industry completely turned it's back on the common sense manufacturing principles that Deming provided Japanese manufactures over 50 years ago? Born in a council house in Manchester, England I have very little in common with a well educated man like Demming, however I believe if we both sat down at the same table, one thing we would have in common, is a similar amount of "common sense".


My Demming like weld statements would be ;

[] Robot weld quality and productivity responsibility starts in the plant managers office and at the end of the day, once the correct keys are provided for process controls, weld quality and productivity is the responsibility of everyone in this organization...

[] Robot Weld process controls and manufacturing innovation should come from the producer of the welded parts ... not from the customer or from a robot integrator...

[] With robot cells, management should should focus on how to daily control the process, not on the unfortunate daily outcome of a less than an optimum robot cell...

[] Process optimisation is derived from weld management and supervision, that recognizes the fundamental, necessary "process control expertise" for it's employees, and understands the job descriptions and requirements necessary for the implementation of Best Weld Practices and Weld Process Controls.

[] Managers, engineers, supervisors and technicians, if you cannot fully describe the parameters and methods necessary to optimise and control your robot weld process, stop wasting time with unqualified weld opinions, fruitless, meetings, and either educate your self on weld process controls,or find a subject you are qualified to discuss.

[] Managers if you feel you need a team to resolve a weld process issue,
the process control education training for your employees is incomplete.

[] With welding robots, process control training is not compulsory, then again neither is the survival of your company.

If Darwin was alive today he would have a hard time tracing evolution in the welding industry. There is no other global technical industry that has spent decades immersed in weld process confusion or resisted logical, progressive technological changes, like the welding industry.

This would be a typical Charles Darwin statement;

"If the evolution of mankind was measured against the technical evolution that has taken place in the typical global weld shop, we all would be still swinging in the trees".

This site "does not represent any company or corporation's views. This site is simply an outlet for myself and others who visit this site to express their opinions" on welding as we see it. This site will always attempt to provide honest, cost effective, practical welding advice without the influence of product biased, weld salesmanship. I tell it as I experience it. If I make a mistake I fix it. If you are upset with what is said I suggest you get your weld advice from go a weld salesman.

WELD PROCESS COSTS:

Weld Automation & "Weld Cost Expertise"

If you are a manager or engineer and concerned about the "Robot or Automated Weld Cost Controls" in your organization don't you think someone in the company should have the ability to answer these simple Weld Cost Questions?

Your company is robot welding a small, high strength carbon steel part. The steel part is 4 mm thick.

The weld gas used is argon - 10% CO2. The weld wire is the common 0.045 (1.2 mm) E70S-6 wire. The weld transfer mode used is traditional MIG spray transfer. The weld parameters selected.

[] 0.045 wire feed set at 400 ipm,
[] 280 amps,
[] 26 volts.

[] The robot welded part has 10 welds.
[] The fillet weld size 3/16 (4.8 mm).
[] The welds are 2 inch (5 cm) in length.

Note: The 3/16 fillet is the most common size fillet weld made on auto / truck parts

Question 1: Approx. how long do you think it will take
the robot to weld one part.

Question 2: How much MIG weld metal will be used per-part.

Question 3: With the following data what is the weld cost of this part?

Labour $40 /hr.
Gas costs $1 per hr.
Wire costs $1 per pound.

If it takes you more than 20 minutes to answer these three straight forward, common MIG weld process questions, you are not in control of your weld costs. To simplify weld costs let me suggest you take a look at these resources. Click.

 

WHEN PURCHASING MANAGERS GETS INVOLVED WITH WELD COST DECISIONS, YOU KNOW
THERE IS NO WELD OR MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT IN THAT ORGANIZATION.

This tier one purchasing manager got a bonus last Xmas by selecting the 0.052 (1.4 mm) MIG wire instead of a smaller MIG wire which cost a few pennies a pound more. The purchasing manager saved his company $50,000 a year in reduced MIG wire costs. Unfortunately this individual was not aware that the use of the oversized 0.052 MIG wire has caused the company robot weld rework and loss of productivity that adds up to over three million dollars each year.

WELD PROCESS COSTS:

IT'S DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THE LOGIC OF A MANUFACTURING MANAGER WHO DECIDES TO PURCHASE COMPLEX, COSTLY WELD PROCESSES SUCH AS HYBRID LASER UNIT, WHEN THEIR ORGANIZATION HAS NOT GOT CONTROL OF THE SIMPLE, TWO PARAMETER, FIFTY YEAR OLD MIG PROCESS.

While at a Detroit Robot Integrator, I watched the engineer struggle to use a laser robot welding the Corvette body. The complex, costly robot welding cell and fixture was well over one million dollars. As I looked at laser, the robot and operator making a mess of the laser Corvette body welds, I knew that I could weld this application, attain superior weld productivity and quality and my robot MIG cell costs would have been less than $250.000 with equal weld productivity, less robot down time and less weld rework.

As I write this, some GM, Ford or Chrysler engineering executive or possibly an electrical or mechanical engineer who likes to discuss weld issues yet knows nothing about "MIG Weld Best Practices" or "MIG Weld Process Controls" may be giving consideration to the purchase of a costly, complex, Twin Wire MIG process, or possibly spending a million dollars on what they think is a unique, laser / MIG hybrid weld process for their companies next thin steel, stainless or aluminium application. The weld reality is this executive has not managed to bring weld process controls to his organization with the two control 50 year old MIG process. As for that new weld application ,with a little process knowledge the automated weld production and quality requirements could likely be attained for a minuscule amount of their projected high tech weld costs.

As there are no Best Weld Practices and limited Weld Process Controls in the auto / truck industry, you can understand why the executives in this industry often look to the expensive laser, twin wire or Hybrid Crutch and make poor and costly decisions in matching a weld process to an application.

You can't get the results you want from your robots and you are thinking about investing in costly, complex dual MIG wire unit or a Hybrid Laser / MIG process system. You may want to give me a call to address much lower cost alternatives. Contact Ed at ecraig@weldreality.com

HARLEY, FORD, CHRYSLER TOYOTA AND GM HAVE IT .IS THE GLOBULAR MIG WELD SCOURGE IN YOUR PLANT? THIS COMMON POOR WELD CONDITION IS AN INDICATION THAT THE WELD DEPARTMENT LACKS WELD MANAGEMENT.

This common globular weld transfer is typically caused due to weld voltage and current restrictions for the weld mode selected and weld wire diameter utilized. The globular weld transfer also often results frequently from the selection of incorrect weld wire size and the selection of incorrect weld parameters. It's a people issue not a weld issue.

In a world of product liability concerns, globular weld transfer is very common on auto / truck steel frames and similar steel components 1.5 to 5 mm thick. The globular weld transfer not only produces excess weld spatter, globular transfer also result in "cold welds" with extensive "lack of weld fusion" as indicated on this robot welded Ford F150 truck frame weld.

This globular weld transfer occurred because the automotive management selected a MIG wire that was too large for the application. This little issue likely cost the frame company a minimum of 20 million dollars annually in weld rework and lost production.

Globular weld transfer as shown on these contact tips taken from a robot weld cell, is a prime cause of robot down time in an industry that will go out and purchase more robots, rather than provide process control training to it's employees to enable them to optimise the weld productivity from it's existing robots.

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR PLANTS THAT HAVE SELECTED THE INCORRECT MIG WELD "WIRE SIZE"
OR THE WRONG WELD TRANSFER MODE, JUST VISIT A FEW AUTO OR TRUCK PLANTS:

When you add the globular weld transfer to the weld issues generated by many of the engineers and technicians who lack robot weld process expertise, then combine manufacturing management indifference to establishing "Best Weld Practices" and "Robot Weld Process Controls" that $12,0000 pulsed power source your company just purchased from Lincoln Electric will end up making robot welds like these. To know when to use globular and when to eliminate globular transfer visit Ed's process control resources.

YOU KNOW THERE IS NO WELD MANAGEMENT IN A PLANT IF THAT PLANT USES SELF SHIELDED FLUX CORED WIRES. THESE WELD WIRES HAVE BEEN RECOMMENDED FOR MORE THAN A DECADE BY THE CHRYSLER CORPORATE WELD ENGINEER. TIER SUPPLIERS WHO USED THESE WIRES HAD MANAGEMENT WHO SHOULD HAVE TAKEN RESPONSIBILTY FOR THE WELDS THEY OWNED AND PRODUCED, THESE MANGERS PAID N EXTENSIVE PRICE FOR TAKING THE CHRYSLER WELD ADVICE.

 

A note to the few mangers that will take
the time to check out a web site like this.

[a] If you care about retaining jobs.

[b] If you care about the the health of your workers.

[c] If you care about the quality of and productivity of your robot welds.

[d] If you don't care for being sued, then you should object to the use of "Self Shielded Flux Cored Wires" on you car and truck parts.

For more than a decade, the Chrysler corporate weld engineer has continued to insist on the use of self shielded consumables for galvanealed steel parts.

Visit here for more self shielded wire info.

Read about one of the world's largest wheel manufacturers that used pulsed MIG AND COULD NOT MAKE CONSISTENT WELD QUALITY in its wheel weld production and then went out of business.

Find out why the Canadian Navy Frigates have serious weld fusion issues
and too many questionable welds click here.

The American Dream

At least when this is over I have
a job and medical benefits for life at GM.

Click here for new "Bad Weld Program" and all
the weld programs in this site:


REAL WORLD ROBOT WELD PRODUCTION POTENTIAL.

I have provided weld process improvements for more than 1000 manufacturing companies in 12 countries. I have given work shops to more than 10,000 weld decision makers. In evaluating the robot efficiency potential (REP) at suppliers of auto / truck parts, I have found only two companies with a robot efficiency of more than eighty percent. Magna was one of these companies and the optimum robot welds it produced had more to do with good part fit than it did with employees who had robot weld process expertise.

In 2006 and after almost two decades of use, the robot weld efficiency average at the majority of global manufacture's of steel robot welded parts is 40 to 70%.

While many companies get caught up in the latest ISO requirements or Japanese driven lean manufacturing fads, few companies have provided their employees with the weld process control expertise necessary to provide effective robot weld solutions to attain minimum weld rework and optimum robot weld productivity.

For those managers that have an interest, the minimum robot MIG weld efficiency potential for an organization should be 97%. For those managers stuck in the 40 to 70% robot efficiency production range, your robot efficiency production goal will never be attained till your company addresses the available level of weld process expertise.

There are three weld production targets that can frequently be found in plants that use robots.

[1] The weld production potential the company believes it should have been making from the day the robot went into production. Often this is a conservative production number established by integrators who are not weld process specialist. This production number typically declines with each passing week.

[2] After six months the daily robot weld production accepted by the company which is often 40 to to 70% of its potential.

[3] The > 97% robot weld production potential the company could make if the company management and engineers understood the process control requirements necessary to attain optimum robot efficiency and how to implement effective robot process controls.

AND THE MOST COST AFFECTIVE MIG POWER SOURCE IS?

Irrespective of the fact that MIG welding power source manufacturers and their distributors achieve much greater profits from their costly, sophisticated, unstable, electronic pulsed equipment, the most cost effective MIG equipment ever developed for welding steels, is a traditional US made, two control, 350- 450 amp, CV MIG and wire feed package. This CV power source and wire feed will sell in the US for $2000 to $4000. With a robot interface a standard CV MIG power source should sell for approx. $6000. For those of you that spent $8,000 to $13,000 for your MIG equipment welding steel parts, all I can say is "you could have done so much more with that money".

The traditional 350 - 450 amp CV MIG equipment manufactured in North America by Miller is not only the best global CV weld equipment available, it's made by your fellow country men and lets face it we have few Americans making anything.

Global trade is a great tool for reducing product prices, however it's completely illogical that the US welding industry, (an industry that is eroded daily by countries that can provide lower weld costs), is today falling over itself to purchase expensive, Japanese and European pulsed MIG weld equipment, weld equipment which can cost up to 300 to 400% more than traditional CV American MIG equipment.

The pulsed MIG equipment when purchased for welding steels is in contrast to regular MIG equipment;

[a] always less durable,
[b] often less stable,
[c] typically more complex to operate,
[d] may be producing lower weld deposition rates,
[e] will likely be producing inferior weld penetration on parts > 6mm,
[f] will provide minimal practical weld benefits for the majority of the world's steel manual or robot "steel" applications.

It's not just the costly Japanese and European MIG weld equipment , if in the last decade you purchased Miller ESAB and Lincoln "pulsed" MIG equipment for steel applications, you also wasted thousands of dollars on weld equipment that provided no primary real world weld benefits for the majority of "steel applications". For that doubting Thomas, it would take me less than 60 minutes at any facility to prove this statement.

For the last decade, this single sentence defined the majority of the Global MIG Weld Industry.

"Its a weld shop, give them bells and whistles and watch them buy it"

Extensive MIG weld application / equipment data is available in the MIG equipment and pulsed MIG sections.

Before you waste thousands of dollars on the Miller Invision 11, the Miller Acu Pulse, the Lincoln Power Wave or that Japanese / European MIG equipment, you may want to contact me at ecraig@weldreality.com

Thanks to the lack of global weld process control knowledge, many manufacturing companies who purchased welding robots have created "semiautomatic" welding robot lines in which few robots get through a shift without weld issues and excess human intervention. Report to tier one supplier from Ed.

E. Craig 1989.

Take a visit to a weld planet called Myth, a planet which figured
out the deep mystery of the two controlled MIG weld process.

If you believe that to make good robot welds you need sophisticated electronic MIG equipment that provides ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, FUZZY WOOZZY TECHNOLOGY, ADAPTIVE DIP PULSED, WAVEFORMS BY THE MILLIONS, FTT, CDM TECHNOLOGY, ALL PROGRAMMABLE WITH A PALM PILOT OR LAP TOP then you have been brainwashed by a weld equipment manufacturer.

The electronic pulsed MIG equipment we find today for welding steels, may have been developed by Japanese or American electronic engineers who had more expertise in designing CD players than with the development of optimum MIG welding equipment. E.Craig 2003.

If you want to know why that new Miller Auto Axcess or Lincoln Power Wave or F355i pulsed power source attached to that robot will give you problems on some high speed steel welds on steel parts, visit the MIG equipment and pulsed sections, then visit a unique perspective on welding auto cradles and high speed robot welds.

2007: IF YOU HAVE TO PURCHASE A PULSED POWER SOURCE FOR NONE ALUMINUM APPLICATIONS, THE BEST AND MOST COST AFFECTIVE UNIT I TESTED IS AVAILABLE FROM OTC. CHECK OUT THE MIG EQUIPMENT SECTION.

As for that costly high tech Lincoln, Miller, Panasonic, ESAB MIG equipment used for your steel welds, believe what you like from these companies, but please remember this. I can readily demonstrate in a few minutes at your facility that these often unstable, over priced pulsed units will not provide superior weld quality or weld production in contrast to a traditional, more durable, CV MIG power source / interface unit that could cost 100 to 500% less.

Joe you are supposed to be the production manufacturing manager. In the last five years you have implemented three different lean manufacturing methods from Japan. You increased the QA department annual budget by half a million dollars, and so far we have spent over $250.000 on ISO. Yet with all these costly changes, the plant's robots now spend more time with the maintenance personnel than they do with production personnel making parts. The robots are producing 50 percent less than we had anticipated and the annual weld rework, rejects and loss of productivity costs is now close to two million dollars. Joe it's time to get real and deal with this plant's weld process issues.

IF YOU CAN TELL THE TIME YOU CAN SET MIG WELDING EQUIPMENT FOR ANY MANUAL OR ROBOT APPLICATION: Over thirty years ago, while frustrated with the universal lack of MIG weld process expertise that I had encountered daily, I started to develop a unique, simple weld process control method I call the "Weld Clock Method"


My unique MIG and flux cored process control training clock method, (written four books on the subject) provides the ability for the weld decision maker (without notes) to instantly set optimum MIG and flux cored weld parameters for any automated or manual steel / stainless application.


As a weld process control specialist, I sometimes bring a weld message which will contrast to the information you will hear from a weld sales rep or from someone at companies like Lincoln, Miller or Panasonic. Possibly many of my weld consumable or equipment recommendations will be in contrast to what you have already implemented. All I ask is you keep an open mind, if you are interested in optimum welds at maximum productivity at the lowest costs you could roll up your sleeves, put on the weld shield and try my advice.

Have you got weld issues? You could immerse yourself in the common process myths and weld process apathy or do what many have done and and ask a welding salesman. Of course you could also ask that kid that has just graduated with a degree in English and Art and now works as a weld tech for Lincoln or some other weld equipment manufacturer.

DOCTOR, WE HAVE TO CUT OUT HIS "PLAY AROUND" WELD ORGAN
BEFORE HE CONTAMINATES THE ROBOTS.

The "manual play around" weld process apathy disease that has dominated the welding industry for five decades will spread from the weld shop floor into the robot cells. Playing around with weld parameters makes no economical sense if a company has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in robot cells and fixtures. All the resolutions are here.

The next time you have a weld team meeting, open up the donut box and bring up the subject of weld "process expertise" and present the weld team with my fundamental MIG weld process control quiz and Flux Cored weld quiz. At the quiz completion, ask the weld team members how important they believe weld process control knowledge is in attaining optimum robot, automated or manual welds. Before you purchase your next MIG power source you may want to visit MIG data and click on MIG equipment. Before you implement a robot weld process control program you may want to visit MIG data and go to the robot management section.

Joe I believe that when MIG welding steels, the greatest benefit attained from most of the high priced, electronic pulsed MIG equipment you have bought into this plant, is the increased profits shared by the weld equipment manufactures and distributors.

 

As many weld shops in this industry are going in the wrong direction, you will find extensive
"constructive criticism" on this site, much of it directed at;

[a] Excessive weld equipment / consumable salesmanship and poor weld process sales advice that for decades has influenced the global weld market and made the welding a trade that lacks engineering credibility.

[b] A global common lack of MIG weld process control awareness from the majority of engineers and managers involved with this process.

[c] A universal weld shop culture in which skills are more important than process expertise and many shops are immersed in numerous weld process myths.

[d] Educational facilities in North America, Europe and Japan that provide weld engineering courses and yet don't teach their student weld engineers how to control the worlds most popular welding processes.