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Welding robot enables increased production at heating equipment manufacturer

By applying modern technology, the Polish manufacturer HKS LAZAR is leading the market in boilers and heat pumps. With the investment in a Valk Welding robot, the company has been able to increase both production and sales. To further increase production capacity, HKS Lazar invested in a second robotic welding system. “The first welding robot from 2017 was already fully loaded. A second gives us the opportunity to grow with the increased market demand for our products,” says co-owner Marcin Lazar.

HKS LAZAR

The main product of the family company HKS LAZAR is the pellet boiler. With the development and construction of heat pumps, it is responding to the growing demand for heat pumps throughout Europe.

Heat exchangers

Heat exchangers form an important part of the heating systems manufactured by the company. The heat exchangers in varying capacities and dimensions were previously welded by hand. “In order to increase production, the investment in welding robotisation was a necessary step. The welding robot guarantees high consistent quality and high repeat accuracy,” Marcin Lazar explains.

Finding welding spots

“Due to the fact that steel deforms during welding, we had doubts if the welding robot could cope with such deviations, which a manual welder has no problem with. With the Touch Sensing technology Valk Welding had a solution for this, which has been successfully applied in many of their systems. With this advanced welding wire touch finder system, it was also possible to use a very simple welding jig to attach the boiler to the manipulator. The jig fixes the base of the boiler to the turntable disc with only four clamps, allowing excellent robot access to the rest of the boiler/exchanger (uncovered by complex tooling).

Single station welding robot installation

Valk Welding supplied a single-station welding robot installation in which the heat exchangers can be rotated in all possible positions on the L-type manipulator, giving the welding robot optimum reach into the inner and the outer shell of the exchanger. Due to the long cycle time and the short changeover time (changing parts on the L-manipulator), one workstation is sufficient - a second station would not give more output.

Using “old” programs on a new workstation

Thanks to the precise calibration of the Valk Welding workstations, it was possible to start full production on the new robot as soon as the new workstation was installed. We could upload all the programs from the first robot to the new one, which was a huge production acceleration for HKS Lazar. “This is a great advantage of the Valk Welding systems.”

Satisfied with the collaboration

“When we look back over the last five years, the welding robot has enabled us to increase production and sales, which has had a positive impact on the company’s growth. We are also very satisfied to cooperate with Valk Welding. If a new demand arises, we will certainly work with Valk Welding again,” says excited co-owner Marcin Lazar.

www.hkslazar.com

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