Application of the Xindashida SA6-1440H Industrial Robot in Welding for the Steel Structure Construction Industry
2025-07-25
Application of the Xindashida SA6-1440H Industrial Robot in Welding for the Steel Structure Construction Industry
Project Background
The welding applications in the steel bridge construction industry are driven by infrastructure investment. Globally, demand for bridge construction continues to grow, particularly in the renovation of aging bridges in emerging economies and developed countries. According to data from Global Market Insights, the global steel bridge market was valued at approximately US$28 billion in 2023 and is projected to exceed US$40 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 5.5%.
China is the world’s largest producer of bridge steel structures, with an output exceeding 6 million tons in 2022, accounting for over 50% of the global market share. The trend toward large-span bridges—such as cross-sea bridges like the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and high-speed rail bridges along China’s “Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal” high-speed rail network—is driving a sharp increase in demand for high-strength steel welding. Welding technology directly determines the structural safety and service life of these bridges.
Customer needs
1. Insufficient flexibility of robots: Existing welding robots have poor adaptability to multi-variety, small-batch components, and the time spent on production changeover and debugging accounts for 40% of the overall production cycle.
2. Low penetration rate of intelligent systems: Technologies such as AI-powered visual weld seam tracking and adaptive parameter adjustment have an adoption rate of less than 20% in the bridge industry, and reliance on manual experience for adjustments still prevails.
3. Poor equipment interoperability: Data is isolated among the cutting, assembly, and welding processes, resulting in an overall production line Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of only 50% to 60%.
4. Advanced Welder Shortage: There is a scarcity of versatile professionals who are proficient in both high-strength steel welding and robotic programming. Currently, there are fewer than 5,000 certified International Welding Engineers (IWE) in China, and companies typically require training periods lasting one to two years.
5. Harsh working conditions in the field: The construction site lacks adequate wind and rain protection facilities, causing the pass rate for gas-shielded welding to drop below 70%.
Xinshida Solution
Proposal Description
By combining the Xinshidada SA Series SA-1440H industrial robot with the SD Series SD7-900 industrial robot for collaborative welding, we have achieved automated welding of tunnel arch support steel structures in a production-line setting.
Scheme advantages
• Compact and agile control cabinet design; robot supports installation in all positions.
• Robot’s hollow wrist design with built-in welding gun cable reduces interference and ensures smooth wire feeding.
• Robot positioning accuracy: ±0.05 mm; end-effector linear velocity: 2.5 m/s
• Multi-robot collaborative welding enables coordinated work for loading/unloading, assembly, and welding.
• Supports machine vision to enable welding in complex scenarios and reduce welder dependency.
Scheme Composition
The project is equipped with one set of Xindash SD7-900 industrial robot, four sets of SA6-1440H industrial robots, two sets of SR20-1700 industrial robots, and an automatic flipping platform.
Associated products
SA6/1440H Welding Robot
Project Results
Through this solution, we have effectively reduced resource waste for our customers, improved production efficiency, and achieved the color-based greening transformation and upgrade of the workshop.
1. Parallel operations shorten cycle time: Multiple robots collaborate by dividing tasks among themselves, simultaneously completing processes such as positioning, clamping, and welding. While traditional single-machine operations take 6 hours per part, coordinated multi-robot operations reduce this to just 2 hours per part, representing a 200% increase in efficiency.
2. Reduce waiting time between process steps: By using a central control system for scheduling, the assembly and welding robots are seamlessly coordinated, eliminating wait times associated with manual handling and positioning. As a result, the overall line efficiency (OEE) has increased from 50% to over 75%.
3. High Precision and Consistency Assurance: The assembly robot equipped with 3D vision can automatically identify the pose of workpieces, achieving a weld gap control accuracy of ±0.5 mm (while manual assembly typically results in an error of ±2 mm), thereby reducing subsequent welding distortion. Through robotic collaboration, the misalignment is reduced from 1.5 mm to 0.3 mm, and the welding pass rate has increased from 85% to 98%.
4. Cost and Resource Optimization: Labor costs have been significantly reduced. Under the traditional model, a team of 10 people is required (4 for assembly and 6 for welding); however, with the multi-robot system, only 2 people are needed for monitoring, resulting in an 80% reduction in labor costs.
5. Energy Intensity Reduction: Coordinated scheduling of multiple robots can prevent equipment from running idle, increasing energy utilization from 50% to 80% and reducing energy consumption per ton of steel structure welding by 30%.
6. Green Transformation and Safety Enhancement: Centralized management of smoke and dust, integrated multi-robot workstations equipped with a comprehensive smoke and dust capture system, coupled with electrostatic dust removal and activated carbon filtration—resulting in a reduction of PM2.5 concentration in the workshop from 15 mg/m³ to below 2 mg/m³.
