Soroush Karimzadeh, chief executive officer of Burnaby, B.C.-based Novarc Technologies Inc., a global leader in automated welding systems.Supplied
Once thought of as dull, dirty and dangerous, welding is undergoing a high-tech makeover thanks to advancements in automation and artificial intelligence (AI).
Burnaby, B.C.-based Novarc Technologies Inc. is helping to drive that transformation with its AI-powered “cobots” (collaborative robots), which aren’t just increasing precision and output across industries, but also tackling the toll of repetitive motion injuries on skilled tradespeople.
Since it was founded in 2013, Novarc has become a global leader in automated welding systems. As industries race to boost efficiency and adapt to a rapidly evolving workforce, Novarc is helping to reshape the future of work productivity by reimagining one of manufacturing’s most labour-intensive trades.
Novarc co-founder and chief executive officer Soroush Karimzadeh says he’s on a mission to make the industry “cool, clever and clean.”
“I think we have an opportunity to bring fresh talent into the industry and attract them by showcasing how automation and AI is needed and is going to be increasing productivity for them,” Mr. Karimzadeh says.
The tech comes at a critical time: As the skilled trades workforce ages and global infrastructure projects, from data centers to LNG terminals, accelerate, the demand for highly skilled welders is rapidly increasing. Yet the pipeline of new workers isn’t keeping up, which is where AI is helping to fill the current gaps, boosting production outcomes and attracting the next generation to the trade.
“There’s a strong focus now on bringing more innovation to the welding industry not just because of the welder shortage, but because, as a society, we need to build more,” Mr. Karimzadeh says. “From infrastructure and construction to shipbuilding, oil and gas and aerospace, these sectors all rely on fabrication and welding.”
Reimagining the weld
Traditional industrial welding robots, which date back to the 1960s, could handle only specific repetitive tasks. But Novarc’s smart cobots are opening new doors, taking on tasks that haven’t been possible before and the results are both measurable and transformative. In some cases, the weld times are 10 times faster using the cobots.
“That’s just leaps and bounds ahead of anything humans would be able to do,” Mr. Karimzadeh says.
He compares Novarc’s robots to a dentist’s lamp because of their simple, intuitive and easy-to-position characteristics. Trained operators can quickly guide the arm to the weld location and select a pre-programmed “recipe” tailored to the task. The setup takes just minutes and offers the potential to reduce physical strain and simplify complex processes.
“We directly help improve the health aspects of welders... and extend careers of some of these veteran welders who’ve been around for a long time – and they don’t have to do this work anymore by their hands,” Mr. Karimzadeh says. “There’s no low-level programming…You just press start, and you’re welding.”
AI assist, human lead
With automation handling the most physically taxing elements, more emphasis can be placed on programming, problem-solving and quality assurance, which are skills that attract younger talent.
That shift is happening in collaboration with institutions such as the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Seaspan Shipyards and new industry partners such as Miller Electric, which plans to debut a welding system it created with Novarc at Fabtech (North America’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event) in Chicago this fall.
“We’re super stoked that this is kind of at the forefront. It’s the best adaptive welding technology that we’ve seen,” says Sam Harvey, Miller’s business unit director. “And we are combining it with our market-leading [Miller] co-pilot solution.”
Miller has had welding automation in this co-pilot technology, but Mr. Harvey says this advancement will address challenges such as fit-up issues, which happen when items such as pipes are misaligned before welding and have consistently been a struggle for other automated systems to correct.
While Novarc’s system “doesn’t solve everything,” Mr. Harvey says its camera and vision-based AI system adds a level of precision his company didn’t have before.
“Instead of the robot just doing a straight, exact line, now it’s actually looking at the weld puddle and the joint, seeing what’s coming up, and it’s reacting, changing the welding parameters, changing the robot motion, just like a human would if they were welding,” Mr. Harvey says.
In manufacturing today, AI is designed to assist, not replace humans, according to John Gradek, faculty lecturer in Aviation Management and Supply Chain Management at McGill University.
“That pairing of AI, of technology and humans, is where we’re going to get the most value from this technology in the manufacturing marketplace,” he says, acknowledging that this shift will still require more training of workers.
“You’re requiring a different skill set of the actual labour force that was in the past doing all the grunt work,” Mr. Gradek says.
With more than 100 customers worldwide and a newly expanded facility in Burnaby, B.C., Novarc is helping redefine productivity in the AI age. From shipyards to skyscrapers, its cobots are welding the backbone of global infrastructure, including the cooling systems for next-generation data centers used to power AI itself.
“We’ve been able to demonstrate at Novarc that automation and AI can be an enabler for companies to become more efficient and build more things that power our way of life,” Mr. Karimzadeh says.