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36 mbiz | may 2015 36 mbiz | may 2015 W e s t e r n t he newest worker at Behlen Industries doesn't have a name tag, or even a name yet, but could prove to be one of the most significant additions ever made to the company's workforce. The Brandon-based steel building manufacturer recently unveiled a new, one-of-a-kind technology that it expects to boost production, reduce errors and allow the company to get its products to customers faster. The newcomer is a robotic welder. Although the company has used automated robots in the past, this is the first one that is capable of creating custom steel pieces using cutting-edge 3D software. While using robots in manufacturing is hardly a new concept, their use has been generally restricted to repetitive, high-volume tasks. Sean Lepper, Behlen's vice-president and general manager, says what makes the company's new robot welder unique is its ability to perform high variable, low volume work. Lepper says the real breakthrough isn't the robot itself but the software used to program it. The software was developed by Behlen engineers and production staff in conjunction with a couple of industry partners. It allows the robot to be programmed for a new task in about 20 minutes. By comparison, it used to take as long as two days to complete programming using the previous software. "Our problem is that every building we manufacture is unique, they're all different sizes and have different snow and wind loads … and robots don't like different stuff," Lepper says. "We needed software to run robotics that could weld on a unique part every time. We've now been able to develop software … that can take that unique part and have the robot find the pieces that it needs to weld on a unique part every time." The robot project is the culmination of nearly three years and $1 million of research and development. Lepper says it's all part of a commitment by Behlen's ownership to upgrade and modernize its manufacturing plant in Brandon. Although some bugs still need to be worked out, Lepper says the new system is capable of doing three times as much as a single human worker. However, he stresses the new robotic welder will not result in any job losses. In fact, it will allow Behlen to hire an additional 15 new welders since the new system is expected to eliminate some of the bottlenecks which have slowed production in the past. "We're based in the Canadian construction marketplace so spring and summer is the real push for us," Lepper says, adding the robot system will allow the company to cut order wait times by as much as six to eight weeks. "The robot's not going to do all of our welding, just a bit. Even if you have that [added] capacity at your fingertips … you are still going to need to supply a lot of labour around that," he says. The robot employs a three-step process to create welds. The first step is the creation of a hyper-detailed 3D model, which is then fed into a second piece of software and reformatted in such a way that the robot can understand it. In the third and final stage, a robot welding arm connected to a power source uses a metal-cored arc welding technique to make any kind of weld that's needed. While this technology has put Behlen slightly ahead of some of its competitors, Lepper says the company can't afford to rest on its laurels. It's already planning to partner the robot welder with a second robotic co-worker in the not too distant future. ■ robot reVolution high-tech Welder gives behlen competitive edge By Jim Timlick Vice-president and general manager Sean lepper says the robotic welder will boost production and allow behlen to hire more human welders. Photos courtesy of Behlen Industries

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