Lincoln Electric NX-4.310 User Manual
S UCCESS
WAVEFORM CONTROL TECHNOLOGY
Pulsed GMAW
Automation
Valley Industries, of Lodi,
California, has produced trailer
hitches and towing accessories
for 57 years.
-CHALLENGE-
Valley Industries was looking to
increase welding productivity and
improve product quality.
-SOLUTION-
• A pulsed GMAW (MIG) process using
Lincoln Power Wave® 455M power
sources embedded with Nextweld®
technologies with FANUC® 120iLB
six-axis robot cells.
Valley Industries
®
• A Lincoln System 40 robotic workcell
with a FANUC® 100iB six-axis robot.
• Lincoln SuperArc® L-50 MIG wire
supplied on 1000 lb. Accu-Trak®
drums.
-RESULTS-
Valley experienced a 60 percent
increase in productivity, improved
process control and higher quality parts
resulting from the move to automation
with a Pulsed GMAW process.
Valley also improved manufacturing
delivery times and reduced inventories.
s the manufacturer and
distributor of 400 different
A
accompanying towing accessory
components, Valley Industries, LLC
of Lodi, California, was looking for a
way to increase welding productivity
and improve product quality. To do
this, the company made the switch
from a semiautomatic GMAW (MIG)
welding process to robotic GMAW-P
(Pulsed MIG) welding systems from
The Lincoln Electric Company. The
move to automation has resulted in
a 60 percent increase in productivity,
improved process control and higher
quality parts – adding up to a
competitive advantage for Valley
Industries among its OEM and
aftermarket customers.
In addition, the robotic systems,
which combine Lincoln’s Power
Wave® 455M power sources with
FANUC® robots, allowed Valley
Industries to improve order delivery
time on popular products like
receiver style, fifth wheel, and
gooseneck hitches. This, in turn,
trailer hitches and
reduced inventories for work-inprocess and finished goods.
Brad Ownbey, Manager of
Manufacturing, Maintenance and
Special Projects for Valley Industries,
indicated that half of the company’s
products involve some type of
welding. Therefore, efficient welding
practices are extremely critical to the
57-year-old company’s success.
“Welding, and especially automated
welding, have been key elements in
addressing sales, operating cost,
new products, quality, and
efficiency,” said Ownbey. “Valley is
also very much about people. You
cannot be successful without them.
Sustained business growth, year over
year, has afforded us the ability to
maintain employment levels while
integrating automation into the
operation.”
The Move To Robotics
When management decided that
automation was a viable option for
Valley Industries, the company set
out to evaluate several robotic
NX-4.310 2/06
WAVEFORM CONTROL TECHNOLOGY
®
SUCCESS
Pulsed GMAW
Automation
2/4
Valley Industries
As indicated, each robotic cell is
equipped with a dual headstock/tailstock
fixture used to position and rotate the
production parts. Coordinated Motion
software is used to synchronize the
motions of the robot arm and the
rotation of the fixturing, allowing welding
and part rotation at the same time.
To maximize system uptime, the
operator unloads finished parts and reloads components into one side of the
cell while the robot welds on the other
side. Part program changeovers are
completed quickly and easily using
hand-held robot teach pendant controls.
According to Ownbey, the company’s
previous experience with CNC-type
machines (plasma/punch, tubing bender,
saws) helped to make an easy transition
to operate the Lincoln automation
systems.
welding systems. According to Ownbey,
Valley chose Lincoln’s system because it
was reliable, easy to use and had proven
success in numerous other manufacturing applications across the country.
“Another factor that helped make our
decision was our ongoing relationship
with Lincoln Electric. We trust their
people and enjoy good experiences with
the Lincoln semi-automatic products
already in our shop,” noted Ownbey.
Installation of the robot work cells was a
joint effort between Lincoln Electric and
Valley Industries personnel. “Since the
work cells are preassembled as three
major components at Lincoln’s
Automation Division, on-site installation
and set up goes quickly,” noted Ownbey.
“In our application, the robotic arm,
controller, and welding equipment make
up one component of the work cell. Two
headstock/tailstock fixture components
are then mounted in a symmetricallyopposed fashion in relation to the robot
arm to position our product for welding.
Electrical power, welding gas,
compressed air, and several digital
communication and power cables are
hooked up. The Lincoln technician then
ensures that the set up is correct and
programs the system operating functions
and welding programs.” He indicated
that installation and set up are
“Because these power
sources create such high
quality welds, we are able
to go directly to the paint
stage of our processing,
without having to do any
grinding or finish work on
the welds.”
accomplished in as little as four days
per cell.
Initially, Valley Industries purchased one
robot. However, over the last three
years, they added eight customdesigned robotic cells as the advantages
of automation became apparent.
Currently, 140 Valley products are
welded using automation.
It’s easy to see the efficiencies robots
brought to the production floor at Valley
Industries. Each of the seven FANUC
ArcMate 120 iLB six-axis robot cells on
the hitch line has two welding stations
that can be programmed to weld the
same part or entirely different parts,
adding tremendous production flexibility
to Valley’s operations.
In addition, with seven identical robotic
systems on the shop floor, Valley gains
more scheduling flexibility. At any time,
the production team can call up
previously set part welding programs to
quickly duplicate part production on any
number of robotic cells to meet changes
in demand.
For the company’s ball mount products,
Valley selected a Lincoln System 40
robotic work cell. This system features
a sizable 71 inch diameter turntable,
allowing four parts to be completed at
the same time
for optimum
overall
productivity. In
this cell, a
FANUC
ArcMate 100iB
six-axis robot
is used.
However,
robots and
fixturing are
Brad Ownbey
Industries. The heart of the welding
systems is the Power Wave 455M power
source with advanced Waveform Control
Technology® capabilities, an element of
Lincoln’s Nextweld® series of innova-
only part of the
story at Valley
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