Case Study: Robotic Welding for a Metal Stamped Part

Robotic Welded Footboard

Customer

Motorcycle Manufacturer

Part

Footboards

Manufacturing Issues

  1. The increasing variability when welding the hinges onto the footboards was risking the functionality and quality of the part.
  2. Manufacturing costs were growing to an unacceptable level as production quantities continued to increase.

Manufacturing Solution

Robotic welding delivered consistent, high-precision welds while meeting the manufacturer’s increasing production demands. Unlike manual welding, the robotic arm operates with exact repeatability, eliminating human variability. Once programmed, it maintains a steady weld pace that improves quality and significantly increases production output.

Customized welding fixture

Each footboard required eight “1- inch” welds so Ultra designed and built a customized welding fixture. This established a stable location for the robotic arm to weld more consistently and at a faster rate.

 

Robotic Welding Arm Second Robotic Welding Arm
And with two robotic welders, CNC Panasonic Robotic Welder and the Genesis Robotic Welder, Ultra can produce two footboards at a time – Decreasing downtimes and increasing production rates.

 

Customized functional gauge

A customized functional gauge designed and built at Ultra tests the placement of the welded hinges ensuring the footboard is ready for assembly.

In addition, the Metal Stamping of both footboards was completed at Ultra. Our Value-Added area completed this manufacturing process with visual inspections of the footboards.

Customer Outcome

Production rates were doubled and labor costs were decreased with the introduction of the robotic welder.
Precision and accuracy of the welding improved for a more secure fit onto the motorcycle.