The collaborative approach taken by iR4 to develop our bespoke welding automation solution for our mining product has been outstanding.  From the initial design briefing meetings right through to Factory testing and into delivery and commissioning, the iR4 team have provided an excellent experience.

The system developed by iR4 will enable us to take our highly skilled welding labour from the repetitive works and be re-deployed onto our more intricate works.  It also provides a “Smart” automation solution, with offline programming via 3D CAD Model input, and pre-weld scanning to detect discrepancies between the real world and the ideal model.  It then utilises Artificial Intelligence to re-plan the weld paths and complete the task with high accuracy and quality.

Utilising automation also allows us to use welding processes that are difficult to use through manual welding activities.  This enables us to increase weld productivity rates, eliminate some processes, and initial indications suggest that we will reduce our welding times by more than half.

Overall, the deliverable from iR4 is above and beyond what we anticipated at the commencement of the project, and is just the first step in our automation success.  We anticipate many future projects with the team.