Disclosure: I work for General Motors, anything written here is solely my own experience and opinion. I'm not an expert on welding automation, but I've been around it quite a bit.
I think the most important thing to say is: Automation doesn't solve problems; to use automation, you have to solve all the problems that automation will encounter. This is called Design for Automation.
From the article:
> "Manufacturers adjusted their upstream processes to produce more uniform parts with less variability. Part tolerances were reduced in things like metal stamping, jigs and fixturing were made more precise, new handling methods were introduced to prevent parts from being damaged moving between stations, and parts were thoroughly cleaned before welding."
Some notes: the welder may be the cheapest part of the automation solution. A welder is deployed in a 'station' in a 'cell' in a 'zone'. Each of those has it's controller (PLC, robot controller, weld controller) of some type. The station includes some kind of conveyance or handling. There's also a jig or parts holder for every weld station.
There's about 1 skilled tradesperson (electrician) per zone or two. There's also various kinds of monitoring, from cycle times to weld tip temperature. Fun fact: the aluminum welders have little 'pencil sharpeners' that shave the copper weld tips to keep the welds consistent. Aluminum spot welders don't spark like steel welders do.
Every so often, a part is taken off for destructive testing with a hammer and chisel.
In addition to welding, a lot of glue is used in the body shop. Glue is great because it has a lot of surface area, and it stops squeaks, rattles and other noises.
This is all exactly in line with my own experience. Welding itself is a very small fraction of producing welded articles, the prepwork is by far the majority of the work and consistency is an enormous part of that. Without consistency in the supply chain (size, thickness, impurities, surface cleanliness, pre-heat and so on) and in the environment you can just about forget about automation.
Ever see a Macintosh IIci? That was when Apple tried design for automation. It's a rectangular box. Every part is installed with a straight move. There is no wiring harness. The power supply plugs directly into the motherboard. Made in USA, in Fremont.
But it wasn't cool-looking.
There have been phones designed for automation. Some Motorola and Nokia "brick" phones were a stack of boards, with cutouts for thick parts. The stack was compressed together into a rigid block. No wires inside. Very rugged.
Then everybody switched to hand assembly in countries with cheap labor.
Humans are flexible and reprogrammable in a way you can't really understand until after you've tried to deploy and work with automation.
It turns out that "robots are cool" is not on the chief engineer or product designer's list of priorities.
Which is why car plants use robots for a limited number of tasks, almost always involving relatively non-flexible parts that can be placed in a straightforward way.
Paint shop automation is still impressive anytime I see it, even after years of watching it though.
I think the most important thing to say is: Automation doesn't solve problems; to use automation, you have to solve all the problems that automation will encounter. This is called Design for Automation.
From the article:
> "Manufacturers adjusted their upstream processes to produce more uniform parts with less variability. Part tolerances were reduced in things like metal stamping, jigs and fixturing were made more precise, new handling methods were introduced to prevent parts from being damaged moving between stations, and parts were thoroughly cleaned before welding."
Some notes: the welder may be the cheapest part of the automation solution. A welder is deployed in a 'station' in a 'cell' in a 'zone'. Each of those has it's controller (PLC, robot controller, weld controller) of some type. The station includes some kind of conveyance or handling. There's also a jig or parts holder for every weld station.
There's about 1 skilled tradesperson (electrician) per zone or two. There's also various kinds of monitoring, from cycle times to weld tip temperature. Fun fact: the aluminum welders have little 'pencil sharpeners' that shave the copper weld tips to keep the welds consistent. Aluminum spot welders don't spark like steel welders do.
Every so often, a part is taken off for destructive testing with a hammer and chisel.
In addition to welding, a lot of glue is used in the body shop. Glue is great because it has a lot of surface area, and it stops squeaks, rattles and other noises.