FOCUS ON WELDING
THE COBOT REVOLUTION
Glüpker Blechtechnologie GmbH welds small batch sizes economically by using cobot welding systems from CLOOS , and lauds human-robot collaboration .
“ The shortage of skilled manual welders has driven the German manufacturer to invest heavily in automation and cobot welding solutions .”
Glüpker Blechtechnologie GmbH is facing the difficult challenge of finding suitable manual welders due to the shortage of skilled workers . The sheet metal specialist has therefore invested heavily in automation solutions over recent years . To weld even small batch sizes economically and with the requisite quality , the company now also uses CLOOS cobot welding systems .
Lasering , edging and welding : since its foundation in 1981 , Glüpker has been continuously expanding its expertise in sheetmetal processing , with its headquarters at Neuenhaus in Lower Saxony , Germany , and a new Rathenow site in Havelland . Glüpker has relied on CLOOS technologies for both manual and automated welding for around 30 years .
Its first robot system was put into operation in the early 1990s . Today , the company uses more than 30 robot systems for automated welding . These include compact robot cells for welding small parts and larger systems with several robots for welding complex components . By making investments in automated production technologies , the sheetmetal specialist wants to further expand its work quality and productivity as well as sustainably secure its competitiveness .
Cobot welding in focus
Glüpker processes a large range of components for companies in various industries .
“ Our customers appreciate our short processing times and high-quality standards ,” explained managing director , Jürgen Gerst . “ That ' s why we continuously invest in modern machinery .”
Glüpker commissioned its first ‘ Cobot Welding System ’ in 2020 . Two more were added in the following months . The compact and complete packages were delivered completely ‘ ready to weld ’. This enabled Glüpker to seamlessly integrate the cobots into existing production processes . Now , the cobots mainly weld smaller components up to a size of half a metre .
left : Jürgen Gerst , Managing Director , Glüpker Blechtechnologie GmbH .
48 | ismr . net | ISMR April 2024