5 Ways to Increase Welder Efficiency

In our many years of working in the welding industry we have come across some phenomenal
welders. We continue to be impressed by the level of skill of quite a few of these men and
women. Unfortunately, many business owners allow this skilled labor to be underutilized.
Welder efficiency, which also goes by other names such as welder factor, operator factor and arc
time, is perhaps the most important metric when considering productivity in a welding shop.

Many employers pay good salaries to welders based on their skill, but their ability is not taken
advantage of in terms of productivity. Welders are paid primarily to weld, but they perform
many other tasks in the typical fab shop: grinding, fitting, tacking, handling parts, changing gas
cylinders, changing wire, changing contact tips and many other tasks. Every time the welder
does not have his or her arc on you are not making money. So it is necessary to increase this
efficiency. In other words, let’s get rid of as many non-value added activities to allow the welder
to weld more.

Here are 5 ways to increase welder efficiency and at the same time make their jobs easier.

1. Provide adequate fixtures – set up time (fitting/tacking) can sometimes take over 50%
of the time spent by a welder. Many welders that do repetitive work end up creating their
own fixtures to make common weld joints easier and faster to make. However, when a
fabricator buys a robot, fixturing becomes very important. We get great tooling so that
the robot can spend time doing what they pay for, welding. It only makes sense that we
should to this for welders as well.
2. Keep equipment in good repair – faulty equipment, even equipment that only has
“hiccups” from time to time can cause a lot of problems that cause the welder to stop
welding. Voltage drops due to undersized cables, loose connections or frayed cables can
create large amounts of spatter which require grinding time. These issues can also cause
an erratic arc which decreases the life of contact tips, diffusers and nozzles. Increasing
changeover of these parts again takes away from welding time. Keep equipment in good
repair and see efficiencies increase.

Excessive spatter adds to grinding time.

3. Develop welding procedures – proving your welders with adequate instructions on what
parameters to use on different joints and material types is essential. Even the best welders
will spend a lot of time fine tuning a procedure when parts, thicknesses of positions
change. A written welding procedure allows the welder to set his or her machine and go,
thus eliminating time with trial and error.
 4. Train your welders and welding operators – is important for welders and welding
operators (operators of robots and fixed automation) to understand what effect the many
welding variables have on the deposited weld metal. By knowing what happens if you
increase or decrease amperage, voltage, travel speed, travel and work angles, contact tip
to work distance (in GMAW an FCAW), welders can more easily and quickly
troubleshoot bad welds, make the necessary adjustments and get back to welding.
5. Consider the quality of your materials and evaluate alternatives – there is a reason
why some fabricators will pay a premium for premium wires and rods. There are certain
applications that cannot tolerate any kind of variability such as wire flip or changes in
wire diameter that affect amperage. A wire that may be OK for welding dumpsters may
not be adequate for high-speed robotic welding. If your welders or your robots are
having issues with wire tangling, clogging liners excessively, missing the joint (robots)
and excessive tip usage don’t discard evaluating different consumables. This concept is
also true for other inputs such as welding guns, contact tips, nozzles, etc.

Top Recent Developments in Arc Welding

Necessity, the Mother of Evolution & Revolution

Living as we are in the age of rapid technological advance, things are changing at breakneck
speeds. And the transformation affects all walks of life. Since ages, change has been the only
imperishable entity. Of late however, it has gathered unprecedented momentum.

Welding is among the most popular joining processes, highly valued across the rank and file of
the metal industry as it connects materials at the molecular level with joint strength equivalent to
that of the constituent materials.

As for arc welding, the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and broad applicability of the process make
it an imperative fusion welding process for the shipbuilding, automobile, power plant, and
building-construction industries.

Properties of weld joints, and not of the base materials, command greater influence over the
structure’s performance. Metal industries are demanding superior efficiency, productivity, and
quality. This has spurred metallurgists to formulate novel materials.

Modern Process of Bronze Casting: The Bronze Age Marked a Significant Milestone in the
Material Development of Humans

Welding processes need to evolve to join new materials such as composites and steels that retain
high tensile strength at extreme temperatures. In some cases, fundamental changes may be
essential.

More than that, welding has to survive the competition from bolts, screws, rivets, and emerging
joining processes such as adhesive bonding, polymer bonding, and abrasion. This requires welds
to be cheaper, faster, and better than these other contestants.

Such a paradigm shift will come only with a radical change in approach. Many welders still look
upon welding more as an art than a science. Codification of welding knowledge is essential to
change this as is the development of data systems that permit efficient use of such knowledge.
Customer requirements, expertise levels of welders, technical sophistication of welding
equipment, and the type of to-be-welded materials set the broad framework for welding
processes and their evolution.

‘Smart’ Welding Materials

History is replete with instances where advance in material technology has spurred social and
economic progress. Isn’t this how we moved from the stone age to the bronze age and thence to
the iron age? And breakthroughs in semiconductor technology landed us in the information
technology age.

Context is very important when labeling a material as conventional or advanced for the purpose
of welding. For example, structural aluminum is conventional material in the aerospace industry
but advanced in the automotive sector.

Arc Welding @ Australian Munitions Factory in 1943

Image Courtesy of the State Library of South Australia at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arc_welding_part_of_an_anti-tank_gun.jpg

Properties of conventional materials are well known. You can improve the quality of welding
these materials while slashing costs through superior process control and automation.

Often, advanced materials come with exorbitant price tags and highly specific properties. They
are therefore used only at absolutely-necessary locations. This amplifies the number of joints and
necessitates advanced joining processes including those for bonding dissimilar materials.

And because the properties of joints influence the performance of the structure more than the
properties of the main materials, the application of novel materials will be restricted by how
easily and effectively we can join them.

Structures are becoming more three-dimensional even as to-be-welded parts are getting smaller.
Although steel will continue to be the primary structural material, industries will demand new
materials with:
  adaptability to welding with higher heat input, greater speed, and multiple electrodes –
this hikes efficiency
 superior tensile strength and toughness
 ability to perform efficiently even at extreme temperatures
 low pre-heat temperature requirement
 negligible or zero environment polluting elements such as lead
 minimum weight / density
 resistance to fire, weather, corrosion, wear, acids, and destructive gases
 low energy needed for fabrication
 negligible or zero impurities such as hydrogen and nitrogen

Metallurgical understanding will be more important than before. For example, hydroelectric
power plants use pipes of 950 N/mm2 grade steel. Welding high strength steels (HSS) is tough
because stress concentration and residual tensile stresses lower the joint’s fatigue strength.

Welding @ Ship in Dry Dock

Image Courtesy of bikeriderlondon at http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-145222345/stock-photo-
welder-working-on-side-of-ship-in-dry-dock.html? src=F267LprdThrE0tMxNfx_dQ-1-30

Using weld metal with 150-200 ppm oxygen and Si-Mn-2.5-3.5% Ni-Cr-Mo composition gives
weld joints that do not take away toughness from the 950 N/mm2 grade steel even at low
temperatures.

Developments in the form or structure of materials include:

 Heavy Plates that provide better transportation efficiency for container ships
 Thin Sheets minimize automobile weight without compromising on performance or
safety
 Steel Pipes serve numerous industries – petrochemical, shipbuilding, automobile, food
processing, desalination plants and the like
Making heavy plates, pipes, and thin sheets with new materials not only necessitates
transformations in the welding processes used to join them but also in the procedures used for
their manufacture.

An example is the Thermo Mechanical Control Process (TMCP), used since the 1980s to
make heavy steel plates of 490 MPa tensile strength, high weldability, and a carbon equivalent
similar to that of mild steel.

Please note, weld joints lose toughness when the carbon equivalent of the welded materials rises.
And hence the emphasis on low carbon equivalent as that of mild steel.

Arc Welding is the Most Popularly Used Welding Process

Image Courtesy of the United States Navy
Retrieved From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SMAW.welding.navy.ncs.jpg

Arc Welding Developments

In arc welding, it is the arc phenomenon that controls the rates of material transfer. Greater
controls over parameters that govern the arc improve the efficiency and productivity of the
process.

Technological progress in arc welding has focused on:

 improving productivity
 stabilizing weld quality
 saving labor

Targeted automation can provide all three. In order to be successful, automation will need to be
simple and inexpensive vis-à-vis the typical complex and extravagant one.

Automation has complemented cutting-edge power sources in their quest for stabilizing and
increasing metal deposition rate and penetration depth by employing refined waveforms and
current.
Presently, automation is the most prominent growth area in all welding processes because it
boosts efficiency and productivity by hiking the deposition factor, operator factor, speed,
economy, control, quality, consistency and appearance of welds.

While minimizing the training and operator skill requirements, automation improves safety
levels by saving human welders from exposure to the inevitable fumes and radiations. It also
spares them from the drudgery of repetitive tasks that normally cut down consistency levels.

Arc welding for shipbuilding has particularly witnessed the development of:

 sensors for weld-line tracking

 adaptive control to respond to changes in work contours, groove shape, and welding
position

Currently, the capabilities of arc welding to weld high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels without
preheating are severely limited. This may change in the near future.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) also called Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welding is inherently
flexible. It uses modulated electric current that enables adaption with varying welding positions,
materials, and components. Plus, it is used in automatic, semi-mechanized, or fully-mechanized
modes.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) on Stainless Steel

Image Courtesy of Mgschuler at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GMAW_application.jpg

Better control over energy transfer ensures closer direction of metal transfer. This assures
minimum spatter essential for welding surface-coated or highest-strength steels that tolerate only
low heat input. Short-arc welding processes direct metal transfer by:

 withdrawing wire during or just after metal transfer

 lowering current in the short circuit phase

More applications will use GMAW because as a continuous-wire process, it can replace Shielded
Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), Brazing, Gas Welding, and Resistance Welding. Expected
developments in GMAW include improvements in:
  deposition control via thermal management and out-of-position welding
 bead contour control
 productivity by minimizing defects and maximizing deposition rates

Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) or Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding delivers elite
quality welds, is compatible with automation, and can weld the emerging thin specialty metals.
These factors will propel its growth.

Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) Setup

Image Courtesy of the United States Army at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GTAW_setup.svg

Researchers will also extend the use of GTAW for on-site welding of reactive metals such as
titanium. But GTAW is slow as quality comes at the cost of speed, something that will limit its
development.

Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) is regularly used in the construction of ships and bridges for
all-position welding and fillet welding of painted steel plates. The process however suffers from
high filler material costs and low filler utilization. Research may improve these areas.

Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) is the most efficient fusion welding process for structural and
plate work if you can position the workpieces correctly and guide the welding torch
appropriately. Construction of ships, pressure vessels, and bridges use SAW.

However, the process is not very useful for out-of-position welds when workpieces are moved
frequently or when multiple welds are necessary. This is because the arc zone and weld remain
submerged under a layer of flux. Research may find a way around this inherent limitation.
Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) Setup
Image Courtesy of Wizard191 at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Submerged_arc_welding_schematic.svg

Hybrid Welding is a combination of arc and laser welding. The blend offers the merits of higher
welding speed, superior energy density, low thermal load, excellent gap-bridging, deep
penetration, and high tensile strength.

It enables welding thicker workpieces in a single pass, addition of filler material, and changing
the metal microstructure. Used mostly for steel, possible developments in hybrid welding
include:

 use of stronger power sources and gas-assists for deeper welding

 multiple beam welding
 combination of other welding processes with laser welding

Advances in Other Welding Processes

Electron Beam Welding and Laser Beam Welding are compatible with automation and will
therefore witness faster growth. High power density of electron beam welding lowers heat input
even in 250 mm-plus thick welds.

You can split the electron beam and weld simultaneously at separate locations on the same
workpiece. And with large vacuum chambers of 630 m3 available, welding of large jobs is not an
issue. But the process requires a vacuum chamber.

Laser beams have the same high energy density advantage. Plus, they can weld outside vacuum
chambers. But lasers are limited to welding materials up to 25 mm thickness only. Developments
may extend these capabilities. Lasers welding may find increasing application in automobiles.
Friction Stir Welding (FSW) joins materials at below fusion temperatures. This minimizes
metallurgical changes in materials. Aerospace, rail vehicle building, and leak proof welding of
hydraulic control parts use FSW.

Research has extended the applicability of FSW beyond aluminum and its alloys. This is likely to
continue. The process however requires robust clamping jigs to provide great clamping forces.

Finally

Moving ahead, welding processes will witness greater integration with the manufacturing cycle,
welding equipment and control systems, metallurgy, and product design.

Increasing automation and advances in filler material with better deposition rates will drive
productivity. Simulation and non-destructive testing (NDT) methodologies will garner greater
acceptability as researchers seek to verify the compatibility of novel materials with various
welding process.

There will also be greater use of information technology systems that facilitate more accurate
decision making by enabling quick and easy use of data and analysis compiled from welding
experiments.

 
Costs Involved in Welding Process Metallurgy
Broadly the cost of welding can be split into four components: 1. Equipment Cost 2.
Consumables Cost 3. Labour Costs 4. Overhead Costs.

1. Equipment Cost:  

Equipment cost varies widely with the welding process. To the initial cost of equipment must be
added the maintenance cost for its working life. Generally SMAW plant is depreciated over 10
years, semi-automatic equipment over 5 years, and automatic plants over 7 years.

The maintenance cost increases with complexity and sophistication of equipment. Amongst the
arc welding equipment the most expensive to maintain is the semi-automatic GMAW plant.
Usually an allowance of 5% of capital cost of equipment is often made for maintenance.

2. Consumables Cost:  

Almost all welding processes require some consumable or the other but this term is most often
used for arc welding consumables like electrodes, flux or shielding gas. Items like contact tubes,
tungsten electrodes, resistance welding electrodes which need regular replacement are usually
treated as spares.

In arc welding processes account will have to be made for spatter and stub ends discarded during
the process. Stub end loss in SMAW depends upon the length of the electrode used and may vary
between 11 and 14%. However, the corresponding loss in GMAW and SAW processes due to
wire snips may be 1 to 2%.

Thus, the electrodes cost will reflect deposition efficiency which is the ratio of the weld metal
deposited to the weight of the electrode used. The deposition efficiency is affected by losses such
as stub ends, weld spatter and metal vaporisation, etc.

The amount of metal required for a given joint will depend not only on the deposition efficiency
but also on the electrode efficiency or filler metal yield which is the ratio of the weight of the
deposited weld metal divided by the weight of the filler metal purchased and it may vary
between 50 to 100 percent.

The spatter and volatisation loss vary with different compositions and makes of wires and
electrodes, welding positions, process and current level used. For SMAW the loss can be upto 20
– 30% and for gas shielded processes approximately 3 to 15%.

Deposition efficiency, wastage and the requirement of consumables for a definite amount of
weld metal deposited are given in Table 23.1.:
Loss due to damaged and lost electrodes is usually allowed upto 30% for SMAW and this figure
is often increased to 40% for site welding applications. For gas shielded processes this loss is
much less normally being in the range of 5 to 15%.

The direct cost of the most commonly used consumable i.e., electricity can be less than 5% of the
total cost of welding for most of the arc welding processes. For exact calculations for different
type of welding current depositing steel table 23-2 provides the necessary guidelines.
Flux-cored electrode wire has slightly higher losses than GMAW because the flux in the
electrode melts and is consumed as slag. The fluxing ingredients in the core amount to about 10-
20% of the weight of the electrode.

In SAW flux is one of the major consumables and its cost depends upon whether the flux
recovery unit is employed or not. As only 33 – 50% of flux is fused in making the weld, the
remainder can be recycled.

In GTAW the cost of replacing tungsten electrode amounts to about 4% of the cost of gas used in
welding.

The cost of flux in SAW, ESW and oxy-fuel gas welding is usually related to the weight of the
weld metal deposited. In SAW normally one kg of flux is used with each kg of electrode wire
deposited. This gives a flux-to-weld metal ratio of unity. This ratio varies depending upon
welding procedure and the type of flux used. For ESW and oxy-fuel gas welding processes the
flux ratio of about 0-10 or 10% is considered appropriate.

Shielding gas used depends upon the gas flow rate and the time required to make the weld.
Normally, the gas cost is based on the cost/m of the weld. For cost calculations the shielding gas
cost/min of operation is used. Table 23.3 provides the guidelines for gas consumption in welding
and cutting operations.

3. Labour Costs:  

Labour costs represent the largest and most significant proportion of the total welding costs. The
labour cost is a function of time and this depends upon the actual time that the arc is burning.

This is represented by ‘operator factor’ or operator duty cycle, and can be expressed as:

The operator factor varies from job to job and from process to process.

The approximate duty cycles for various processes tire as given in Table 23.4.:
*No additional time is allotted for preheating in oxy-fuel gas welding.

The deposition rate, that is, the weight of the filler metal deposited in a unit time also has a
tremendous effect on welding costs. The higher the deposition rate less the time required to make
a weld. Fig. 23.6 shows the welding current versus deposition rates for most of the commonly
used fusion welding processes.
Fig. 23.6 Welding current versus deposition rates for welding steel.

4. Overhead Costs:  

All those costs which cannot be directly charged to a specific job are referred to as overhead
costs and may include management, facilities, depreciation, taxes, small tools, and safety
equipment of general use.

Usually overhead costs are calculated as a percentage of the labour cost and this percentage is
termed as ‘on-cost’. ‘On-cost’ figures of 250-350% are quite typical of the fabricating industries
but they may be as high as 500-700% depending upon the organisation and the product involved.
Graphs and charts, as shown in Fig. 23.7 and 23.8 can be usefully employed to analyse the cost
of welding.

These can give the labour and overheads direct from the length of the electrode per metre of
weld and can also take into account any variation in operational factors like operator duty cycle,
labour rate, and ‘oncost’ percentage.
The cost of welding can be considerably affected by increase in productivity which depends
upon the judicious selection of consumables, process, equipment and the mode of operation viz.,
manual, semi-automatic and automatic.

The hidden costs of welding

Airgas’ weld‐process engineer says productivity of average operation can be boosted 20% with minimal 
or no capital investment  

PRODUCTIVITY at an average welding operation can be improved by 20% with little or no

capital investment, according to Bill Pharmer, senior weld-process engineer for Airgas’ south
region.

“The average operation is purchasing two to three times the shielding gas required,” Pharmer
said. “We have found this is not only an issue with the cost of the gas, but also the gas mix used.
The gas mix and gas quality can have a significant impact on the amount of rework generated.”

Pharmer said the average time welders have their “arc on” and are actually welding is only nine
minutes per hour.
 “The top 20% of companies reviewed are welding more than 18 minutes per hour,” he said.
“The average company welding nine minutes per hour will spend 50% more.”

He said that Airgas executives are hearing from US manufacturing companies that these are the
most important issues: cost reduction and productivity initiatives; employee training and skilled
welders; and new technology in operations and automation.

“Most procurement teams can influence price but not mix or consumption,” Pharmer said. “The
potential gain with a price focus is 1% to 5%. About one-third of these procurement teams use
TCOs (Total Cost of Ownership) with their vendors. The potential gain when pulling multiple
savings levers is 15% to 25%.”

Quality standards are critical. He asked these questions:

• What are the quality standards?

• Is there a quality inspection procedure?

• Is there any re-work?

• Are welding procedures in place?

• What are the weld specifications?

• What’s working? What’s not working very well?

• What is the main thing you would like to improve?

“It’s all about doing it right the first time, doing it consistently right all the time, and control of
inputs,” he said.

Pharmer said welding is a science by which everything is measurable.

What to measure with weld inputs:

• Joint type. Butt, T, lap, corner, and edge.

• Joint description. Bevel angle, depth of bevel, groove angle, root gap, and root face.

• Process selection. Deposition rate, penetration, position, skill, and cost.

• Base metal. Type, thickness, surface condition, and fit-up.

• Filler metal. Diameter, properties, and bead shape.

• Shielding gas. Arc stability, bead shape, properties, surge, and flow.

• Pre-post heat treatment. Temperature, time, and properties.

• Position. Cost, weld appearance, and welder fatigue.

• Technique. Torch angle, push/drag, stick out, and stringer/weave.

• Weld procedures. Wire speed, voltage, and travel speed.

• Rework criteria. Spatter, porosity, penetration, cracks, bead shape, and weld size.

“To make and manage the change, know your current baseline: What’s going on now?” he said.
“Gather data and do a complete evaluation of your shop. A baseline efficiency report is a survey
based on accurate data that will establish your current efficiencies and deficiencies. What’s
working? What not working? Set priorities. You only know what to improve if you know what
you need to improve. You might think you know now, but don’t assume.”

Calibrate equipment at the arc, he said, and ensure electrical integrity of all welding circuits.
Also consider digital equipment on feeders.

Pharmer said the weld cost perspective breaks down like this: labor 85%, wire and gas 9%,
equipment 4%, and power 2%. Common hidden costs are weld volume, deposition rate, operator
factor, spatter, and gas-flow control.

“The shielding gas, in addition to protecting the weld puddle, influences the entire process,
operation, and resultant welds,” he said. “Specifically, it also affects metal transfer, penetration,
bead shape, welding speed, spatter, mechanical properties, and fume and smoke.

The Procedure Qualification Record (PQR) makes the weld specified.

“It’s dependent on variations in base metal, joint type, position, thickness, process selection,
consumables used, properties, fit-up,” he said. “Measure and record all input variables. Perform
visual, destructive/non-destructive tests as required.

The Efficiency Analysis (EA) begins as a data-gathering exercise. Purchasing Department

activity includes: gas purchases; wire purchases; purchase quantities for contact tips, nozzles,
diffusers, liners, anti-spatter spray, torches and grinding wheels; shop floor activity; a walk-
through to understand the type of welding and number of welders; crunching the numbers to see
the health of the “system”; comparing information with the database; and
benchmarking/quantifying opportunities for improvement.”