The Strategic Advantage of OLRP During a Labor Shortage
 

The welding industry is always changing. Techniques and practices constantly evolve as new technologies integrate into the welding process, such a robotic welding.  Everyone - from new students to seasoned welders and hiring managers - must embrace and adapt to the new technology and solutions to be successful. 

While new technology brings positive change, the industry is still threatened by a declining workforce and noticeable skills gap. How do these threats impact the future of welding and fabrication? And how can managers navigate this changing workforce by taking advantage of new technologies?

The Growing Skills Gap and Labor Shortage

According to the American Welding Society, there will be a demand for at least 360,000 new welders by 2027. The current workforce is nearing retirement or changing industries, resulting in a massive need for new, skilled welders. The impact of this labor shortage will have ramifications across the industry. 

However, a decrease in workers is not the only problem hiring managers face. They are also navigating a skills gap. As welders with decades of experience age out of the workforce, there is a significant decline in technical skills. 

What else contributes to this skills gap? A decline in students seeking careers in the trades, a decrease in formal welding education and apprenticeships, and the rapid rate of technological advancement also play a role in workers being unprepared for the workforce.

Strategic Advantages of Digital Solutions

How do manufacturers and operations managers navigate staffing and production given these challenges? Digital solutions, like OCTOPUZ Offline Robot Programming (OLRP) software, offer many strategic advantages to bridge the skills gap and remedy labor shortage issues.

Low-Risk Programming

Errors are always a risk in fabrication. One minimal miscalculation or faulty input could result in massive damage to the workpiece, injury to workers, or significant loss of production time. 

Imagine programming robots with little to no risk of these costly errors. Inexperienced operators? Fewer machines lost to temporary shutdowns? The ability to identify and review any potential issues in coding and complete all necessary adjustments before implementing the program to the physical robot is a massive benefit when navigating a skills gap. 

With OCTOPUZ, managers leverage the strategic advantage of low-risk programming and eliminate errors before welding begins. Through the 3D virtual simulation, programmers detect and resolve potential collisions, errors, and inefficiencies without impacting production. 

Decreased Downtime

One of the reasons manufacturers make the switch to robotics is for increased productivity compared to manual welding. In the fabrication world of staffing issues and a noticeable skills gap, it is critical to use a proactive approach in order to meet production goals. 

The easiest way to achieve production goals? Decrease robot downtime. Less downtime equals increased production and higher profit margins.
OCTOPUZ provides programming in an offline environment before implementing it on the robot. This means robots are kept in production during the entire programming cycle. Programming tasks that used to take days to create, simulate, or redesign now are completed without halting production.

Simplified Training

As the labor shortage impacts staffing, managers may be forced to hire or adjust schedules to include welders with less experience in robot programming. This does not have to be a detriment to workflow or production. Providing a simplified training process is critical to maintaining consistency, quality, and productivity.

OLRP is the solution. It offers an essential learning experience for inexperienced welders and those who are new to robotic programming. With OCTOPUZ software, non-experts learn to confidently program even the most complex robot applications. The program also creates identical coding regardless of brand until it is implemented on the robot. This solves potential issues from workers not trained on a specific robot and provides a simpler solution for training.

The OCTOPUZ team also offers full training to ensure workers are comfortable using the software to program robot applications. This service is available in person or remotely.

With simple training, workers are able to quickly integrate into a shop’s workflow and contribute to overall productivity.

Embracing OLRP with OCTOPUZ

Labor shortages and skills gaps do not have to be a barrier to experiencing success in robotics. OCTOPUZ ensures seamless integration within a shop’s workflow and is a simple tool to empower welders as they embrace robot programming. 

Want to learn more about how OCTOPUZ helps robotics operations achieve success with OLRP? Reach out today to schedule your demo!