The DWD Group is a Polish manufacturer in the construction industry, that implemented Universal Robots’ UR10e cobot to automate the manual TIG welding process with a MIG welding system. The implementation of the cobot resulted in an optimized work environment which enables meeting tight production deadlines despite labor shortages, freeing up employees from hand-welding in noxious fumes.
The business transformation
The DWD Group consists of companies supplying products for the road and bridge, industrial and private construction sectors. The group's offer, which is based on production adapted to project sales, where each project is individual, includes bridge drainage systems, elements made of stainless steel and aluminum, skylights, smoke dampers, fences and roofs. For some time now, the company's challenge has been to find qualified welders who can perform the necessary welds in tight deadlines with maintaining high welds quality.
The previous production process required the welding of many aluminum joints and it was 100% manual. The pre-cut profiles were sent to the welding section where specialized workers arranged them and then TIG welded them. The welded elements were characterized by significant sizes and moving them around the plant was not easy. Moreover, after completion of a given step, the components usually had to wait for further processing. With such an organization of work, the welding sector was often the plant’s “bottleneck” making it difficult to meet the expected deadlines in the construction industry.