Metallurgy, energy, shipbuilding, aeronautics… welding is common to many industrial sectors. The current 4.0 shift is leading to new solutions and new practices, moving in the direction of automation. Among the automation tools implemented in industry, collaborative robotics must be seen as a means of assistance and not of replacement. It highlights the precious know-how of the welder and adds the competence of a roboticist, while reducing the risks at the workstation. There is indeed no question of replacing the welders, since their know-how is lacking in the industry!
So how do you attract new talent? We interviewed Christophe Jouve, robotics and integrator manager at Fronius France regarding these new practices and in particular the advantages of cobotics for welding. Like all industrial sectors, this field is evolving and preparing for the arrival of Industry 4.0. These new practices seem to be an asset for attracting new employees, with the dual skills of welder and roboticist.
This brings us to welding combined with cobotics, where the know-how of the welder and the flexibility of collaborative robots meet. Such examples of cobotics technologies were particularly well represented at the 2023 edition of the Global Industrie exhibition. In particular, we were able to see equipment capable of reproducing the movement of the welder. The welder’s know-how is thus placed at the heart of the symbiosis between man and machine! Let’s see why and how the cobot is the ideal companion for the 4.0 welder.
Another technology likely to attract the skills of welders is additive manufacturing by wire arc, derived from welding.
This technology uses standard arc welding equipment. It is therefore theoretically accessible to any company with an industrial welding robot! we offer you a quick overview of this process.
Finally, Jean-Marc Scolari, the manager of Fronius France gave us an interview on the reindustrialisation of France. And in this context, 5,000 additional welders should be trained per year. In France, reindustrialization seems to have started, with a major gap in terms of resources. Each year, between 5,000 and 7,000 welders and boilermakers are missing in France. For our interlocutor, the main levers for changing this state of affairs are nevertheless known: training, robotization, investments and the attractiveness of our industries.
