Ten years ago few small to medium sized companies would have considered robots. Robots were for car companies producing high volumes in special purpose installations were they not? If it was true then, it certainly is not so now, writes Andy Sandford. Today's arc welding robots can do more and cost less than their predecessors. If you are in light to medium duty batch fabrication and aren't using robots, maybe now is the time to consider them. Your competitors certainly are. Figures from the British Association of Robotics and Automation (BARA),, show that 2001 saw the highest level of new robot installations in the UK since records began in 1978. And of the 1941 robots installed 360 were used for arc welding-more than double the previous year.
展开▼
