ESAB Welding and Cutting Products has opened a new automation process center at its facility in Florence, South Carolina.
The demo lab features a range of fully functional automation equipment, including tractors, column and boom equipment, ESAB’s new Telbo telescopic beam system, side beam welders, welding gantries, robotic welding systems and fully functional Hybrid Laser Arc Welding System. ESAB offers a broad range of automated welding equipment, cutting systems and material handling systems for high-production manufacturing, especially in the wind tower, pipe mill and bridge/structural steel industries.
“This new facility will make it easier for us to present our automation solutions to our customers in North America and provide training to help customers maximize the potential of this equipment,” said Andrew Masterman, president and CEO of ESAB North America. “It will also help us highlight some of the newest technology available to help make our customers more productive, including tandem twin submerged arc welding, narrow gap welding, friction stir welding and hybrid laser welding.”
The newly renovated process center features more than one dozen welding equipment systems ready to demonstrate and prove out customer applications. The center includes everything from simple tractor welding packages valued at approximately $20,000 to hybrid laser systems valued at more than $2 million. In all, the automation process center houses more than $3 million worth of demonstration equipment.
ESAB invested more than $500,000 to fully renovate the process center located in the Florence manufacturing facility, which is staffed by 12 employees in sales, engineering, and customer support.
A series of customer symposia are planned to introduce the new facility to customers in key markets. These will include presentations by industry experts in each field as well as demonstrations and presentations by ESAB staff.