QUALIFICATION OF ROBOTIC ARC WELDING PERSONNEL

An investment in people and training is a pre-requisite to maximize the value of the automated welding solution that is designed to significantly improve productivity over a manual welding process.

With robots and automation, North American manufacturers can be profitable in today’s global market. The scale of the success, or limitation to the magnitude of that success, often hinges upon the proper selection of the operator/programmer and the investment in their training. An investment in people and training is a pre-requisite to maximize the value of the automated welding solution that is designed to significantly improve productivity over a manual welding process.

As important as it is to choose the robotic welding system hardware and software (i.e., the robot, the welding and positioning equipment, etc.), choosing the correct operator/programmer is commonly overlooked as critical to the success of a project. While programming a robot has become relatively easy thanks to the simple interactive screens of the teach pendant, embracing automation does not diminish the requirement for personal skills and ability, experience and education, and training. In fact, it can be easily justified that weld cell operator/programmers require more training investment, not less.

In the context of the American Welding Society D16.4 “Specification for the Qualification of Robotic Arc Welding Personnel”, the term ‘Certified Operator’ is used to reference someone who is capable of dealing with all aspects of an arc welding robot cell. 

Operator/programmers must first possess a fundamental welding knowledge and understand the impact of variables such as voltage, wire-feed speed, travel speed, torch angle, and electrical stick-out.

Planning for robot programming training and a gradual start-up is essential to the success of a project. Too often, companies want to disregard sending their personnel back for basic training because they are ‘too busy’. However, proper robot programming training is crucial for the success of a system. Operator/programmers that are selected – not based on seniority – by their willingness and desire to learn a new skill, by their interest to work with a new technology, who are comfortable working with computers, who have the ability to think in a three-dimensional mindset, and who have prior experience in other related technologies such as CNC machining or plant maintenance (electrical / mechanical) are a plus.

The operator/programmer must understand how the automated system operates. Comprehension of the general safety requirements of the system, how to power the system up, and a general sense for how a robot system can be programmed to achieve realistic goals, along with experience to know how to approach common challenges by hand – such as complicated contours, wrap-around welds, and gaps that exceed half of the diameter of the welding wire that is applied to the process – are must-have traits.

Existing shop personnel that exhibit a good work ethic, who are self-motivated, who take initiative and pride in their work, and who keep their work areas cleaned and organized are excellent candidates as robot operators/programmers. It takes thousands of hours of manual experience to know what works, what doesn’t, how to make incremental improvements, and to understand the little tricks and insights in a manufacturing environment to overcome the common barriers to achieving world-class productivity gains and quality. Programming the robot to utilize fast ‘air-moves’ and efficient approach and exit points are core to efficient weld sequencing, and those operator/programmers that are known to be ‘problem-solvers’ and ‘solution-finders’ are key to offer ideas to making the product/process better.

Personnel that have good problem solving and troubleshooting abilities and companies that empower their personnel to take full ownership of the system are most effective because any programmed system requires the ability to recover from basic errors involving torch motion, welding process development, and operating peripheral equipment such as a reaming station or torch cable support hardware. Routine maintenance and service is critical to insure that the uptime of the system is maintained.

A robotic welding system requires daily maintenance of hardware such as contact tips, gas diffusers, gas nozzles and various liners. Annual maintenance programs offered by the manufacturer or, in the alternative, encouraging the operator/ programmer or plant maintenance personnel to attend a service class to understand the annual maintenance requirements of a system is a must.

Personnel that are comfortable working and interacting with a team to reach the desired goal and who are quality conscious are equally important. Operators that have the training and ability to visually inspect, that are enabled to stop production and step forward to raise an issue about quality, then make changes to bring welds within specifications, these operators possess a skill set that enables a high operating factor to the cell.

Needless to say, the specifications should already be in place before a robotic welding project is considered.    As quality standards transform, the ability to keep accurate up-to-date records is increasingly the role of an operator/programmer. That capability expands to require the same personnel to perform file management tasks such as saving, copying, and deleting program files, as well as maintaining production monitoring statistics that can be useful to operations and finance team.

Once basic programming training has been completed and a gradual start-up process has been achieved, the ground work is in place for the operator/programmer to return and attend advanced or applied classes to learn how to make the most of various options such as advanced high speed or high deposition waveforms for welding, basic system variable management tools such as if-then logic, cycle counting, program-shift utilities, and integrated vision tools to continue to elevate the productivity and quality output of the purchased system.

A Certified Robotic Arc Welding – Technician or Operator class is offered by reputable manufacturers that embrace the importance of training and teach to a standard that is recognized as safe, efficient, and productive by the industry.