Dewitt, NY – May 17, 2010: Lean seems to be the mantra, not only for distributors and suppliers in the welding and gases industry, but for their customers as well. Savvy distributors can offer an innovative solution to help their customers succeed in challenging times. By acquainting their customers with the benefits of automation and robotics, distributors can help them cut costs, make them more efficient and surpass the competition.
In the current issue of Welding & Gases Today, the journal of the Gases and Welding Distributors Association (GAWDA), Christopher A. Bailey, general manager of the automation division at The Lincoln Electric Company, explains why distributors should promote the benefits of this increasingly popular technology to their customers.
“If you don’t provide the support to your customer to reduce their manufacturing costs, then it will be provided by another source,” says Bailey. “That source may be a North American-based provider or it may very well be your counterpart on another continent. Unfortunately, this is the environment for the American manufacturer today. Either you get competitive or you die.” Bailey warns that distributors, suppliers and manufacturers must be part of the solution, or ultimately, they will end up becoming a part of the problem.
For those who are hesitant about using automation robotics, Bailey points out that technology has continued to improve the cost-effectiveness, reliability and overall effectiveness of robotic and hard-automation products. “Even those companies that have utilized automation over the past ten years are seeing dramatic improvements in productivity by using new, improved programming and vision capabilities as part of their welding fabrication processes,” notes Bailey.
Read more of what Bailey has to say in “Automating The Welding Fabricators Of America” at Welding & Gases Today Online, the leading trade journal for the welding, welding equipment, industrial gases, medical gases and specialty gases industry.
For more information, contact Deanna Cohen, Editor of Welding & Gases Today, at editor@weldingandgasestoday.org or 315-445-2347.
