Welder Productivity Mesurement

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-23-2020 20:11 Edited 06-23-2020 20:14

Better pack a lunch my friend.

I would start by purchasing "The Procedure Handbook on Arc Welding" by Lincoln Electric

And

"Total Welding Management" by Jack Barckhoff

There are formulas out there on the internet as well... But the above mentioned texts are time tested and thoughtful; meaning a good place to start and gain terminology and some basic understanding of the limitations of each process as it comes to productivity.

The process and conditions around the arc will determine "How To Measure" GMAW can be super productive, but if the workstations aren't set-up poorly it is not the boon you might think. If Johnny is hammering things to make them fit, he isn't welding. If he is looking for clips and stiffeners that are in a bin someplace on the other side of the factory, he isn't welding.

Arc-on time or lbs. of deposition? This is one of the biggest traps out there.... Let's say a manager bothers to step out on the Mezzanine hourly, and every time and looks out on his little worker bees, he sees the blue light going on eight of his ten workstations...……. Outstanding productivity right ? Maybe.... Because the weld size call out is a 3/16" fillet, but 4 of the welders are making them 1/4" fillets.. A 78% increase in time and volume... And the other 4 are making 5/16" fillets, which are beautifully rippled, and everyone comments on the "stack of dimes" But Jonny is putting 130% more time into every foot of weld than is required.

Pipe has it's own challenges..... But I think you get the drift...

It's a great project, and you may find ways to make your boss millions.

Pack a lunch

By toddler (**)

Date 06-23-2020 22:54

Hi Lawrence,
Thanks for the heads up and warning as well. I might have an old copy of some of the books you mentioned stuck somewhere in my archives of ebooks but without looking at them I would guess the book will equip me with theoretical background//understanding on various welding processes, terminologies and the likes to which I can safely say that I am already adequately informed being in the field of welding profession for almost 48% of my productive years. What I am hoping to find out in this forum or from any textbooks are time tested practical experience/industry practices as well as acceptable parameters to re-enforce my convictions and textbook/empirical formulas as well as the parameters we are currently implementing in the production floor for example:

shop welders structural continuous fillet welding (aka production welders) to hit at least in a day;structural shapes fabrication
NB: production welders as differentiated from assist welders are those not engaged in the fit-up activity:

10~12mtrs (for SMAW;3.2mmØ E7018;2F; 3.0mm ave. fillet weld size)
20~30mtrs (for FCAW;1.6mmØ E71T;2F; 3.0mm ave. fillet weld size;Gas shielded)

Q: is 30% reduction reasonable for out of position?(aka field condition)
for pipe-welding the agreed parameter is 20~25 Ø-inch SMAW or GTAW/SMAW combo (cs pipes;random RT quality)

these parameters had been agreed/recommended by and between production/welding foremen and supervisors with participation of some selected "good/above average production welders". Nevertheless, I know that this is highly debatable.

On a side note, I agree with your apprehension that this is a daunting task; but I will not be intimidated. This is a challenge I have to meet head on no matter what. I know there is a better way somewhere with the help of smart heads in this forum.

Thank you again Lawrence,

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-24-2020 12:28

Right on !

Daunting yes... But also, at least in my opinion very interesting and even fun.

I … well our teams...… Burn about 4,000 lbs. of solid wire a day, so efficiency is very important and something I encourage our teams to always be aware of and work to improve.

For GMAW/FCAW a solid target in my opinion is 25% arc-on time... With a strong emphasis on right sized welds. As an average that is better than most. We have good days where a workstation can go as high as 40% but conditions must be very good indeed to sustain that.

People often make very high estimates for GMAW and FCAW without actually monitoring their output directly. We have cloud based data monitoring (Lincoln Checkpoint) that allows a breakdown of every single arc strike for every power supply... So we can measure actual arc time or lbs. of deposition... Our WPS's are tight and our welding machines are LOCKED between 12.3-13 lbs. per hour... Meaning there are several ways to explore how efficient each workstation is... But this MUST include feet on the floor to verify weld size.

Field work vs shop work are really hard to compare in my opinion.

More soon... Gotta run.

By toddler (**)

Date 06-24-2020 16:59

wow! 4,000 lbs per day! how many spools can that be? I would be very proud and happy if i will have one welder who can burn that much on my team, even @25% of that rate. Is it really true? As far as I can recall, my welders can burn no more than 2 spools per day.

when you say 25% arc-on time, do you mean 25% x 10hr/day = 2.5 welding time in a day? what is he doing on the other 7.5 hours?
Cloud based data monitoring is new to me; can you enlighten me further on that? how much will it cost to have that?

I believe we don't have workstations, our welders work in a covered fabrication shop where structures are fitted up,assembled and welded in an open space inside the shop building. I' beginning to think that our shop is way too primitive than yours :grin:

Thanks for the new information/knowledge

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-24-2020 20:10

The 4000 lbs. per day is inclusive of a number of factories under my watch... So there is that.   We run 500 lb. kegs of solid wire where we can... Saves time and is safer on the old back than changing 60 lb. spools every day.

When I say 25% arc-on time, I'm talking about "Operating Factor"   or how much time is spent welding vs how much time is scheduled for welding.   It excludes things like lunch, breaks, toolbox meetings, etc. So if Johnny is on the clock for an hour without breaks, and has an operating factor of 25%, he has welded for 15 minutes.

If the deposition rate is 12.5 - 13 lbs. per hour than a 25% operating factor would produce about 3 to 3.25 lbs. per hour, or about 30 lbs. in a 10 hour shift-ish.

So for your 10 hour day @ 25% operating factor (if you are even that efficient) = 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours) actually welding, so yeah... Finding out what is happening the rest of the time is an important thing to do....   There are a lot of managers who actually believe they are welding like 75% or more, and it's a painful awakening to reality.

It's not about being primitive most of the time,   it's about being as efficient as you can be and more efficient than your competition.

When I say "workstation" I just mean a power supply or welding unit... We are definitely a manufacturing thing and not a job shop.... So while we have a lot of diversity in product shape, we also have a very specific component flow in and out the door.

By Tyrone

Date 06-25-2020 11:53

I'm waiting for the ****t to hit the fan from the union once the cloud measurements are enabled.
Tyrone

By Jim Hughes (***)

Date 06-24-2020 13:20 Edited 06-24-2020 19:27

toddler,
Performing a time study that will give you blue light time is the best way. For shop application it is fairly easy. I finished one for our shop last year. Using RMD & FCAW on an 8" inch, 12" and 18" Sch. 40. We did the study using our slowest and fastest welders in our shop. We did it for 6 working days at 10 hours per day. We had the benefit of cameras, so we taped each welder each day. Out of that footage we determined what the non blue light time was attributed too, and plotted it into a pie chart. I know not everyone has the budget or capabilities to use cameras. In that case you would have to place a person at each station and observe and document blue light time and non blue light time. We use a data logger from Partek Labs in Houma LA. for the data tracking, i.e. blue light time aka arc on time. The data logger time stamped when the welder started and stopped.

By toddler (**)

Date 06-24-2020 17:21

Hello Jim,

I totally agree with you that the best way to establish a reasonable productivity rate is to perform a time study but I'm afraid management will take it against us who think we are the know-it -all authority when it comes to welding and should not be doing experiments or studies anymore at this stage of our career. If only they know..... :smile:

Additionally, can someone share or suggest a reference material where I might find a table of established arc-on time per arc welding process?

they say, as much as possible we should refrain from re-inventing the wheels :grin:

Thanks Jim,

By 803056

Date 06-24-2020 18:36

Are your welders preparing parts for welding, i.e., grinding, cleaning, cut raw material to length, etc.? Are the welders doing their own layout, are they doing their own fit-up? Do your welders have to read their own prints? What are their duties other than welding?

I've had repair jobs in the field where the welder welded in 15 to 20 minute shifts because they were working inside the machine preheated to 350 degrees. They wore air cooled vests and pants with a positive air supply welding helmet. The arc didn't go out except when changing welders. There were no coffee breaks or lunch, that was done while they were cooling off and the other welder was welding. They would typically go through 4 to 5 spools per 24-hour day. Other crew members were responsible for prep., layout, changing spools, changing gas cylinders, and preheat. Each welding station had two gas cylinders so it was only a matter of turning one tank on and the other off. Each cylinder was fitted with its own flow meter. They welded nonstop for most of the shift in all positions. The goal was to reduce the down time of the machine. The client was losing about $1.2 million per day because the machine wasn't operating. We used roughly 3500 pounds of electrode during the 12-day repair cycle. Our major concern was heat stress. We had two full time EMTs on site to monitor the welder's temperature and pulse as they came "out of the hole".

Every shop operates differently. Most of my jobs are one of a kind in the field where the down time is the concern. That's in contrast to a production shop where labor cost is a primary concern.

Al

By toddler (**)

Date 06-25-2020 00:22

Hello Al,

As mentioned in my original post I was referring to our "production welders"; they do not do other jobs except to weld; we have "assist welders" who are assigned to fit-up crew. There was even a time when we hired and assigned helper-grinders to highly productive welders to do the joint prep, interpass/cap cleaning, so as to preserve the "golden hands" of that welder but it has resulted to the birth of what the operations guys scornfully called "prima donna" welders, so we scrapped the practice. We do have a company wide 15-minute breaks in the morning and afternoon with a 1-hr lunch in between;and no, we can only afford to provide conventional coveralls and welding helmets and sometimes forced draft fans just to keep ample air circulation; so most welders sweat a lot esp the MIG//FCAW welders. We don't have enclosed workstations though, hence where the structure goes, the welder follows; our shops are open ended where the structures are pre-assembled on the floor wherever there is space. we fabricate oil platforms,PAR PAUs, topsides, jackets and piles, of course jackets are normally assembled outdoor. I guess we are using 15-25 lb wire spool but the welding consumable store house is just a few steps away within the shops. Luckily we have not had any incidence of welders fainting "in or out of the hole" :grin:

Thank you,