ABB cobots compensate for the shortage of skilled workers Collaborative welding robots assist in furniture construction

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The Finnish metal producer Lankapaja employs two collaborative GoFa robots from ABB for welding in order to meet increasing customer demand. This solves three fundamental challenges for the company: it compensates for the lack of qualified welders, increases its capacity, and ensures consistent and high quality.

The Lankapaja Corporation is a Finnish manufacturer of sheet metal and wire products. Other key areas of business include metal processing and high-precision laser cutting of tube profiles, which are shaped or joined into other components. In their factory in Sweden, they primarily weld tubes into components for furniture and other end products. To meet growing customer demand, it was necessary to increase production. However, due to a lack of qualified welders to carry out the work, the company sought ways to automate the welding process with robots.

With the use of two GoFa cobots from ABB, the company has now succeeded in improving the quality of welding while simultaneously resolving workforce shortages. The cobots can be easily programmed for various tasks and weld furniture components even more consistently than human employees. The company also had long-standing problems finding sufficiently qualified welders who were capable of meeting the required high standards. This led to a reduction in production capacity and prevented the company from taking advantage of a rapidly growing market.

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Cobots save valuable floor space because fences are not needed

Therefore, Lankapaja installed collaborative robots at the welding stations where the components are welded using Metal Inert Gas (MIG). The company had already gained experience with six large ABB industrial robots used for arc welding. The two main requirements for the cobots were: they should be able to produce high-quality welds suitable for furniture applications and they should be easy to operate.

JE RobotTeknik, a certified partner of ABB, has many years of experience in using welding robots in various applications and developed a solution based on two GoFa cobots from ABB. Using the programming and simulation tool RobotStudio from ABB, JE RobotTeknik ensured that the cobots move along the intended paths at the designated workstation without any collisions with components or fixtures.

The collaborative robots from ABB do not require safety barriers or fences, thus saving Lankapaja valuable floor space. Additionally, the cobots can be safely used alongside employees during production. The cobots also helped Lankapaja to free up personnel for other tasks, as only one person is needed to monitor the two robots.

Fast programming and high-quality results

The No-Code software Wizard Easy Programming from ABB is based on simple, combinable blocks that allow programs for the GoFa cobots to be created quickly and easily. This enables employees without programming experience to create a simple program for five to six welds in less than five minutes. Employees can also use the so-called lead-through programming. For this, the robot only needs to be moved manually to the desired positions, which are then automatically saved at the press of a button. The program is then immediately ready for use.

The GoFa welding robot from ABB is not only easy to operate but is also equipped with advanced sensors and motion control technology that ensure precise positioning, smooth movement, and optimal torch control. This enables the collaborative welding robot to master complex seam configurations, tight spaces, and difficult angles, ensuring flawless welds even in the most demanding applications.

For Lankapaja, the combination of easy programming and the dexterity of the cobots represents an ideal solution that has enabled the company to increase its production capacity. With the implementation of the welding cobots, employees without experience with robots, coding, or welding can now achieve faster and higher quality results than an experienced welder.

Andreas Lundberg, Managing Director of Lankapaja, emphasizes, "The ABB cobots are a great asset. The additional capacity they enable has allowed us to grow in the furniture and shop fitting markets as well as in other segments. We are already making more space so that we can use six robots with three operators in the near future, which will allow for a further expansion of our production capacity." (st)