Robotic Welding Readiness Checklist

Use this checklist to judge whether your shop is ready for robotic welding and where the gaps are. It is general guidance, not an engineering assessment.

Work and Parts

• You can name the recurring weld families in your work (joint type, material, thickness, position).
• You know roughly how many welding hours each family takes per month.
• Recurring families make up a meaningful share of total welding hours.
• Parts are available in 3D CAD, or drawings are consistent enough to model.

Procedures and Quality

• Applicable WPSs exist for the target families, with supporting PQRs where procedure qualification by testing is required.
• Inspection criteria are written down and consistently applied.
• You know your current repair or rework rate for those families.

Fit-Up and Fixturing

• Fit-up gaps are controlled within a known range.
• Parts can be presented consistently, or the cell can sense variation.
• Tack welding practice is consistent enough for automated welding.

Space and Infrastructure

• Floor space and crane access exist for a rail or gantry cell.
• Power, shielding gas and fume extraction can be supplied.
• Safeguarding can be designed around how people will load and inspect parts.

People

• A supervisor and at least one technician can be trained as cell owners.
• Experienced welders are involved in choosing families and accepting welds.
• Maintenance has time allocated for a new system.

Economics

• You know your loaded hourly labor cost for welding.
• You have a target payback period.
• You have considered funding options such as MARAD Small Shipyard Grants, where eligible.

Next Step

If you can check most of these boxes, a weld-family study can turn them into measured numbers and a cell design. If many are open, the study will show where to start.