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Arizona Contractor Boosts Productivity 33% by Switching from Stick to Flux Cored Welding
- Hot Az Hell Welding pairs SuitCase feeders with its Bobcat and Trailblazer engine drives
- Valuable labor freed from grinding spatter and dressing weld to tackle other tasks
- Flux Cored welding increases both productivity and quality
Customer Testimonial
“Between wages, consumables, fuel costs and actual production, I figure we're saving at least $650-800 for every 100 ft. of handrail.”
— Shawn Moreland, owner, Hot Az Hell Welding
Key Business Issue
- Maximizing productivity with only a three-person crew.
Challenge
- Eliminating the need to devote valuable time and labor to non-productive tasks.
- Maximizing the productivity of all persons in this small company to increase competitiveness.
Previous System & Process
- Stick welding with Miller's Bobcat 250 and Trailblazer 302 gas engine-driven welding generators.
New Solution
- Adding two SuitCase X-TREME 12VS portable wire feeders to take advantage of flux cored (CV) welding output on the Bobcat and Trailblazer.
Results
- Quality combined with a 33% productivity increase. By switching to flux cored welding with a SuitCase wire feeder, Hot Az Hell Welding joins pipe with one pass instead of three, reduces spatter and eliminates the need for excessive grinding.
- Two-week payback after adding a SuitCase X-TREME 12VS feeder. "Between wages, consumables, fuel costs and actual production, I figure we're saving at least $650 to 800 for every 100 ft. of handrail." [A SuitCase feeder has a list price of approximately $2,000.]
- Training speed and simplicity with SuitCase X-TREME 12VS. "We have a guy who had never picked up a MIG gun in his life and he came out here and laid a top-notch coping weld and it looked like a machine weld."
— Shawn Moreland, owner, Hot Az Hell Welding - Lower overhead costs. "We don't have to go out and look for a 20-year rig hand that's going to want $75 an hour to make quality welds. Our guys understand the competitive market right now, and that with an organization of our size, everybody has to wear all the hats. Nobody is above notching the pipe, and everyone is expected to learn how to weld. This is allowing us to train guys at a lower wage scale than we would have had in the past."
— Shawn Moreland, owner, Hot Az Hell Welding
