Understanding and Lowering Weld Costs

After converting to a welding system that minimized spatter and improved first pass weld quality, the same activity took only one employee one hour per day to complete. The conversion reduced the company’s weld costs by $1,875 per week in labor, not to mention the savings in tool consumables. This freed up that manpower for activities that contributed to the production process rather than compensating for shortcomings of the previous step in the process.

Another way that real-life manufacturers are reducing weld costs is by converting to a welding system that allows them to standardize the majority of their welds on a single power source, wire feeder, welding wire, shielding gas and welding gun.

This standardization is possible through the use of advanced power source and wire feeder technology that provides a nearly instantaneous feedback and response loop to optimize arc performance across a wide variety of joint types and conditions.

By adopting the one gas, one wire and one power source practice, these companies are able to decrease the amount of time spent switching processes, adjusting parameters and repositioning the weldment and spend more time depositing weld metal.

Additional ways to make the welding portion of the process more efficient include switching from small spools to large drums of welding wire, using bulk shielding gas instead of individual cylinders and converting to high-quality welding guns and consumables that require less frequent maintenance and repair.

Identifying the wasted labor in a welding operation is only the first step in the process, however. Once it has been identified, shops often have numerous options available to reduce that waste, including production process reconfigurations, manpower reallocations, equipment upgrades and outsourcing certain parts of the process. Choosing the best solution will depend heavily on the company’s specific operation, products, growth plans and resources.

Before implementing any of these changes, a shop should conduct thorough evaluations of their welding operations to understand fully the impact of the changes under consideration. Consulting with an efficiency expert, a welding integrator or an equipment manufacturer could help to identify areas where weld costs can be reduced and the best ways to accomplish that goal.

Shops should also be aware that in some cases, identifying and eliminating waste at one location in the production process will reveal or even create deficiencies in another part of the process.

For example, before switching to an advanced pipe welding process, a mechanical contractor in Florida needed two welders to keep up with a single upstream person beveling and tacking the pipes. After switching processes, the company needed two employees beveling and tacking the pipe to keep up with a single welder.

In other cases, speeding up the welding process could spotlight downstream bottlenecks, resulting in no gains in overall productivity. Of course, many of the cost saving practices and strategies discussed here require an initial capital investment. Carried out thoughtfully and with due diligence to their implementation, these investments almost universally pay for themselves within a matter of months.