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Axcess Systems Lowers Weld Costs
By Up to $2,000 per Day
- Grinding spatter, chipping slag eliminated
- One wire, one gas, one system for most welding
- Fewer trips back to the welder for adjustments
- Less weldment repositioning
- Improved operator-to-operator consistency
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Customer Testimonial
“The ease and efficiency of the Miller AccuPulse process over short circuit transfer and FCAW has allowed us to substantially reduce waste in our manufacturing process.”
— Scott Exner, manufacturing engineer, OEM Fabricators
Application
Fabricating components for world-class construction and agricultural equipment OEMs.
Key Business Issue(s)
- Welding cells were losing up to 2.75 hours of productivity per 10-hour shift due to older welding technology and its inherent disadvantages.
- Implement kaizen and 5S manufacturing principles.
Challenge(s)
Find a welding process that would eliminate the downtime caused when switching between different welding processes, filler metals and shielding gases, as well as eliminate post-weld grinding and chipping slag.
Previous System & Process(es)
Short circuit MIG welding with 75/25 argon/CO2 for a root pass, then switching to flux cored welding and 100% CO2 for remaining passes. A blend of conventional and inverter-based power sources was used.
New Solution
- Replace short circuit MIG and FCAW with the AccuPulse welding output of the Axcess 300 and Axcess 450 systems.
- Simply by adjusting wire feed speed to control overall heat input, operators can weld thin to thick metal, as well as weld in all positions with one wire, one gas and one welding system.
Results
- Up to $2,000/day savings. The Axcess system enabled OEM Fabricators to eliminate the grinding of spatter associated with short circuit MIG, the chipping of slag associated with flux cored welding and the downtime associated with changing wire types and shield gas blends. Trigger Program Select minimized the need for the operator to return to the welding machine to change parameters, instead allowing operators to select pre-set programs with a click of the gun trigger.
- Six-month payback time. By eliminating up to 2.75 hours per 10 hour day per operator of unproductive time, OEM Fabricators achieved a payback time of approximately six months.
- Consistency and repeatability. "All they [operators] have to adjust is wire feed speed. This fits well with my one wire, one gas, one machine, one knob motto, and is important from a quality aspect. With products for our customers, the first one now looks like the tenth one or the hundredth one. With older technology, we could not get the same operator-to-operator consistency."
— OEM manufacturing engineer Scott Exner.
