Automotive Welding Systems: How Fori Automation's USA Team is Making Them More Efficient
Fori Automation, USA implemented a welding system for an SUV aluminum front suspension sub frame. The integration of weld scanning in North American automotive welding systems required an economical and robust concept to offer original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) European style weld verification and high system thru put. For this project Fori provided Robotic Aluminum MIG Welding, a Robotic Fori Weld Check System and In-line Inspect/Repair Stations.
Weld seam inspections for U.S. Automotive Structural Components are becoming a developing requirement to ensure critical welds are free of defects. Current weld seam inspection systems are not cost effective in North American markets due to high on-set costs and high levels of good part rejections that result in added production labor costs and lost production thru-put.
Current weld seam scanning inspection systems operate with extreme resolution to detect very small defects and weld bead profile conditions required to provide reliable weld certification. This results in high numbers of acceptable welds that are rejected due to the high accuracy image-processing requirement.
Fori Automation and a North American customer developed Weld Check as an alternative to high-resolution weld seam scanning systems. We combined low cost, high-speed 2D profile weld seam scanning and electronic data from the digital welders in a common database to provide reliable weld seam accept/reject capability. The combination provides customers with cost effective and truly efficient weld verification.
The solutions provided on this project offered high robot utilization and keyence profile scan and fronius weld database. Results eliminated part handling and the 100% weld check and allowed for 54 assembly jobs per hour (JPH) with a capacity of 40,000 lbs. or 18,181 kg. This weld project was successful due to the in-line robotic weld check system and the integrated sub-assemblies. To learn more about this project or Fori's welding systems check out our site.