Design and Implementation of Secondary Positioner for improving the OEE of Robotic Welding System

Manufacturing is one of the emerging sectors in India. Increasing population needs increased production of all products. Relying man power only in manufacturing industries cannot compensate the increased need. The only solution for increased production is automation. India's automation field is in a growing stage, where every industry tries to integrate robots into their production line. Rather than increased production, the error in the process is greatly eliminated which decreases the lead time. In welding sector still there are some issues like material unavailability, increased material change over time, torch misalignment which leads to decreased efficiency. This paper gives a solution to this problem by improving the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by implementing a secondary positioner to the existing welding system. This would decrease material change over time. Furthur the alignment of workpiece is aided by coordinate measuring machine which increases welding efficiency. The whole process is automated using Programmable Logic Controller(PLC) and monitored by Human Machine Interface (HMI). This is mostly used in excavator bucket welding application.