In late 2022, faced with both a shortage of certified wire welders and a pipeline of increasingly large-diameter, high-specification projects, Waldinger Corporation adopted Novarc’s Spool Welding Robot (SWR™), a move that has delivered measurable gains in productivity, quality, and operational planning.
Much of Waldinger’s current work is focused on data center projects, where pipe sizes typically range from 8” to 20”, primarily in carbon steel. While Waldinger uses stainless steel less frequently today, the SWR has already been successfully tested on stainless welds and is ready to adapt when those jobs scale.
Skilled Labor Shortage, Growing Project Demands
Located in Des Moines, Iowa, Waldinger has long upheld rigorous quality standards and embraced innovation to meet the needs of demanding clients across sectors. But even a company of this caliber is not immune to the growing labor bottleneck in certified pipe welding.
“The lack of certified wire welders was really the driver for us,” shared Curt Baker, the industrial refrigeration/piping manager at Waldinger. “In our market, we just couldn’t find the people we needed to meet the scale of work we were taking on, especially when we had multiple large projects coming in.”
Before implementing the SWR, Waldinger’s best-performing welders were producing up to 100 factored diameter inches (FDI) per day, depending on pipe size and complexity. But many welders, particularly those less familiar with MIG, struggled to meet that mark consistently, resulting in a production ceiling that left the company vulnerable to bottlenecks during busy cycles.
SWR Adds Weld Power Without Expanding Headcount
The team evaluated other solutions but found them unsuitable due to their large shop footprint and lack of positioner configuration flexibility. “We didn’t want to give up that much square footage,” said Baker, adding that Novarc’s compact footprint and integration with Stratus software worked in Novarc’s favor.
The SWR was deployed alongside the existing pipe cutting system, with full compatibility through Stratus, streamlining the flow from cutting to welding. Today, the robot is operated by a team of four certified wire welders, with a fifth in training. Each operator is fully qualified and trained to understand both the weld process and machine interface, allowing for proactive monitoring and collaboration with Novarc’s support team when needed.
Productivity, Quality, and Predictability
Waldinger’s productivity gains have followed a clear progression as the system evolved:
- With two-positioner integration, the team achieved up to 200–250 FDI a day.
- After upgrading to a three-positioner setup and enabling the NovEye Autonomy feature (fully autonomous pipe welding), the team can achieve up to 300–345 FDI a day, equivalent to the combined output of three to four skilled welders.
- On peak production days, the team logs up to 6.8 hours of arc-on time per shift, ensuring maximum machine utilization.
The team continues to leverage NovEye’s autonomous capability, allowing operators to step away during certain parts of the weld cycle to prep or clean upcoming joints, keeping productivity high and downtime low.
Listen to Novarc’s SparkTalk podcast to learn more about how to define and measure welding productivity: https://www.novarctech.com/resources/podcasts/
In addition to productivity, the SWR has contributed to higher process transparency and quality assurance. Though Waldinger typically X-rays only 5–10 percent of its welds, the X-ray-quality consistency of the SWR gives both the internal team and customers added confidence.
In one rare instance of a field weld issue, the NovEye system allowed the team to quickly retrieve video footage of the weld sequence, verifying the problem and resolving it without ambiguity. “Having the video record of each weld is a game-changer. We could go back, review exactly what happened, and address it immediately,” said Scott Miller, production engineer at Waldinger.
Easy Setup, Exceptional Support
Operator training was fast and effective. Novarc’s hands-on instruction gave welders the confidence they needed early on, and the support team remained available to reinforce key learning moments. “They enjoyed the class and the hands-on training,” said Miller. “Support was there when they had follow-up questions, and the operators felt confident early on.”
The integration of the SWR into Waldinger’s Stratus-driven workflow has been a core advantage, enabling full coordination from spool design to weld completion. The company now thinks more proactively about which spools are best suited for robotic welding, optimizing layouts and minimizing idle time. “It really made us rethink how we plan spool fabrication, and that’s improved our efficiency upstream,” Baker noted.
Read “Some Practical Advice for Automating Your Shop Floor: Guidelines, Caveats, and Best Practices,” from Novarc: https://www.novarctech.com/resources/blog/prefabrication/some-practical-advice-for-automating-your-shop-floor-guidelines-caveats-and-best-practices/
A Foundation for the Future
More than a productivity tool, the SWR has become a strategic asset, driving smarter planning, higher output, and more consistent quality across jobs. Waldinger continues to evaluate workload growth and is considering further system expansion in the near future. “It’s helped us think differently about shop layout, spool planning, and fabrication flow,” said Baker. “It’s a mindset shift, and a positive one.”
For more information, visit www.novarctech.com.
