As a welding specialist and founder of the family-run company with around 10 employees, Managing Director Jörg Engelmann can personally look back on 30 years of experience in application technology.

The catchment area between the Ruhr area and Marburg is mainly home to medium-sized industries, including a few suppliers to the automotive industry and smaller processing companies such as metalworking shops, sawmills and drop forges. Companies that, according to Engelmann, are still extremely productive in terms of welding technology: "Some of these companies tend to suffer greatly from a lack of skilled welding personnel. In addition, larger production runs can no longer be easily completed using the manual welding process. Neither in a given time nor with consistently high quality."

Engelmann and his team noted that, in addition to the shortage of skilled workers, small and medium-sized companies also face particular challenges when it comes to bidding for larger welding orders. On the other hand, it can be observed that, in addition to the personnel problem, there is currently an increasing reluctance to make large investments "for pandemic reasons" when it comes to getting a grip on the production problem with automation technology and, above all, in the long term.

Around two years ago, the welding automation manufacturer OTC Daihen Europe made contact with Engelmann and presented the concept of the Easy-Arc welding robot cell to the dealer. "At that time, we were already well positioned for conventional applications thanks to our sales partnership with a welding equipment manufacturer, but we were still looking for a viable solution for automated, robot-supported processes that was affordable, especially in the interests of our customers," says Jörg Engelmann.

Previously, the specialist welding dealer had looked into a welding robot solution, but this was offered without an enclosure and was not CE-compliant, which was too critical for the owner as a sales solution in the long term. "We needed a concept for our customers that would be straightforward and offer appropriate safety standards. A non-CE-compliant cell without an enclosure would have required too much effort for us to retrofit. The solution initially considered was also a one-way street in terms of programming: the transition to a larger welding robot would have required a completely new start in terms of application technology, which we did not want to impose on any of our customers. With the OTC welding robot cell, on the other hand, you can build directly on the knowledge you have already acquired."

Engelmann was delighted after the presentation of the Easy Arc welding robot cell, which is CE-compliant from the outset and ideal for entry into full automation, and has now been a permanent sales partner of the Japanese manufacturer for two years. "To meet the needs of many smaller companies in our catchment area, the Easy Arc from OTC was exactly what we were looking for," says Engelmann. "We quickly realized that the cell is an affordable and high-quality entry-level option for robotic welding for these company sizes."

Welding specialist dealer provides successful support

Not every metalworking shop that has to weld 200 brackets every now and then wants to or can immediately fulfill the dream of having its own robotic welding cell. This is why Engelmann not only presents the EASY Arc to potential customers for sale at its site in Lennestadt, but also offers it to potential customers for hire. If this still doesn't fit in with the operating concept or if you are also facing time bottlenecks, Engelmann can also provide quick production support.