Employees Vs. Automation: Teamwork Is Possible
The automation of the welding world isn't new, but as time goes on, more of the profession is being transferred from human power to automated power. While welding will always have a need for human welders to handle tricky jobs, the proportion of automated to human jobs in a facility can change in favor of automation quickly. This brings the threat of layoffs to many an employee's minds, causing morale to plummet. As a factory owner, you have the opportunity to retain your employees while automating your welding processes at the same time.
Hire Within for Automation-Related Jobs
Some welders may be able to be reassigned to welding jobs that are not being automated, but others may be able to take on automation-related welding jobs, such as inspecting the work done by the robotic welding programs, or quality control. If you can, you can train these welders to handle troubleshooting and overseeing the robotic welding. You don't have to be a computer programmer to actually tell the robotic programs what needs to be done, and you can retrain your welders to take on these and similar roles. Don't hire from outside unless absolutely necessary; you'll have a better reputation in the welding community if you do everything you can to blend your human and robotic welding teams.
Some processes are partially automated only, while humans handle the actual material preparation stages (and not just feeding a program into the automated systems). Look at which processes you have that require human work alongside robotic welding, and see how many people you can retrain to transfer to that type of welding. Many people believe the misconception that automating something like welding means replacing much of the human team, and that's not the case. Sometimes the best way to automate is to focus on these combination human-automated teams.
Expand, Rather Than Replace
Robotics and automation in welding can also be used to expand a factory's services, rather than replace human welders. Consider how much more business you'll get if you are producing more, and see if using robotics to expand your factory, instead of reducing human employee numbers, helps your profits. You could find that the automation makes welding costs in those sections drop enough to finance an expansion of other sections that need human welders.
When you can harmoniously combine both your human welding workforce with automation, you keep morale up and make your factory much more efficient. Welding automation can be good for everyone involved.
For more information, reach out to a company such as Hirebotics.