Page 30 - Metalforming Magazine April 2022

FABRICATION
Robotic
Welding
Cells
RAISE CAPABILITY, PRODUCTIVITY AT TRUFORM
Efficiencies gained in automated fabrication key production gains while allowing the Tennessee manufacturer to expand its automotive and appliance work, and add commercial-product fabrication.
BY LOUIS A. KREN
In a late-2017 visit to Truform Man- ufacturing LLC in Dickson, TN, MetalForming reported on instal- lation of a 660-ton Stamtec mechanical press to take on new automotive work. Following soon after came the install of two more Stamtec presses (another 660-ton as well as a 330-ton model) to provide additional capacity and redun- dancy in stamping operation, ensuring that automotive and appliance cus- tomers receive the parts they need when they’re needed.
“For every piece of equipment here, contingency backup is important to
New robotic welding cells at Truform Manufacturing LLC in Dickson, TN, enable improved productivity in supply of automotive steering and exhaust components. Note the weld-fixturing decks at bottom left, staged close to the cells for rapid job changeout.
28 MetalForming/April 2022
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us,” says Paul Beaton, Truform vice president. “All through the COVID pan- demic, we’ve been able to avoid cus- tomer disruptions of any type and have maintained 100-percent-on-time ship- ping. That’s saying something, and it’s all due to the dependability and inter- changeability of our equipment.”
With this compatibility and inter- changeability in its stamping depart- ment, Truform has moved to do the
same for welding operations, according to Mart Rowe, Truform general man- ager, through the addition of 12 ABB FlexArc robotic gas-metal-arc-welding (GMAW ) cells. This led to another Met- alForming visit this past February. Tru- form installed its first FlexArc cell in 2003 and replaced that in late-2017 and 2018 with eight cells, moving beyond the initial cell and manual welding to meet high component vol-