Sachin Dobhada is the Head of Research, Development & Quality (Equipment) at Ador Welding Ltd, where he oversees product development, and enhancement, and ensures reliability and quality. With a background in Industrial Electronics engineering, Sachin brings extensive R&D experience from his tenure at Hueco, Germany, and has contributed to developing switches and circuits for ISRO.
Sachin Dobhada, Head – Research, Development & Quality (Equipment), Ador Welding.
Please provide a brief overview of Ador Welding's history and evolution in the welding equipment industry in India?
Ador Welding Ltd has a long and rich history as the pioneers of the Welding industry in India. It was in the year 1951 that in order to meet India's growing demand for welding electrodes, a joint venture gave birth to Advani-Oerlikon (Ador’s former name) that helped build India's welding industry. Advani-Oerlikon became India’s first manufacturer of welding electrodes and equipment and started exporting products internationally. Over the years Ador has remained as the leader in providing welding solutions by investing in research and development and by using the latest technologies to its advantage.
What are the core products and services offered by Ador Welding, and how do they cater to various industrial needs?
Ador is one of the leading welding companies in India manufacturing high quality welding equipment, welding consumables and welding automation solutions. Due to a wide range of products and services, Ador can provide welding solutions to almost all industry segments. Some of the industries that Ador serves are automotive, defence, heavy fabrication, infrastructure, oil & gas, railways, shipbuilding, thermal, hydro, and wind and nuclear power.
All range of Welding electrodes for Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) process, Solid wires and Flux cored wires for continuous welding application with Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process, and wires & fluxes for Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) process are made at Ador’s manufacturing plants. For welding automation, these wires are available in drum packs so that welding can take place without interruptions that are usually caused by changeover of spools. Ador also has a wide range of welding and cutting equipment for Arc welding process using the traditional transformer, diode and thyristor-based technologies as well as the latest inverter based technologies.
Alongside, Ador’s Training Division has been training and certifying welders and welding inspectors for the last 7 decades.
What recent technological advancements has Ador Welding integrated into its product line?
Ador has always been at the forefront of technological advancements with a strong emphasis on research and development. Ador’s R&D Centre for Equipment and Consumables is recognised by The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (GoI). In recent years Ador has introduced welding equipment that work on a digital platform and can communicate digitally with the outside world through IoT. These can further be integrated into automation systems or with robots for robotic welding. Ador is also continuously working to enhance the efficiency of welding equipment with latest technologies for environmental sustainability and energy conservation.
How does Ador welding equipment help leverage automation and robotics in manufacturing processes?
Automation in welding helps maintain consistent throughput where there is a high volume of repeated processes and long welding runs. Industries like automobiles where welding on irregular shape of fabrication is required for a large volume (almost mass production) benefit greatly from robotic welding that provides aesthetic, consistent and efficient welding output. Ador is working to integrate automation to technological advanced welding equipment and has already introduced equipment that use IoT and communicate digitally with the outside world.
The company has strong R&D credentials and a string of patents. Can you explain the significance of the recent hybrid welding patent?
Ador was recently granted a new patent entitled ‘Hybrid Welding Method & Combination Torch Device for High Quality Welding’, marking a significant milestone
as the first company in India to receive such a patent in the welding industry. This patent was issued for an innovative welding process that combines Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) and Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) processes in unique ways to significantly improve quality and productivity in welding.
This innovative method uses a dual-torch system to increase the deposition rate by 1.5 times compared to the standard GMAW process, without generating spatters akin to the GTAW process. This hybrid technique ensures high-quality, spatter-free, and hump-free weld beads, thereby increasing welding speed and efficiency. This patented technology will be a breakthrough for various sectors, particularly in manufacturing, shipbuilding, defence, and agriculture. By facilitating 1G position welding with fewer passes, it enhances productivity and efficiency in fabrications and repairs. The new method is poised to revolutionise surface processing and cladding of both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys, meeting critical demands across these industries.
What current trends are you observing in the welding equipment industry, both globally and within India?
There is a rising trend in increasing both productivity and quality of welding. For this the welding industry is working towards bringing more productive welding processes and efficient equipment that can be integrated into automations or with robots. Welding equipment compatible with IoT are smarter and give real time data of welding parameters, actual arc on time, welding deposition, etc. This data is further used to monitor productivity as well as make improvements to the quality of welding done.
How is Ador Welding responding to the growing demand for sustainable and eco-friendly welding solutions?
Equipment with inverter-based technology is 30% more energy efficient than the old thyristor-based and transformer-based equipment. Hence, the market has shifted to this latest technology-based equipment. Ador has a complete range of welding inverters with advanced digital platforms.
Ador has also introduced many environmentally friendly initiatives and continues to invest in sustainable and eco-friendly solutions.
Electronic components and parts used in machines comply with Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) EU regulations. This ensures that restricted materials like Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and other 10 elements which are not safe for health and are difficult to dispose of are not used. Ador has also introduced corrugated packing material that cuts down on the use of thermocol and plastic.
Engine driven welding machines by Ador comply with the noise and pollution emission norms set by the Central Pollution Control Board. Recently Ador has introduced a welding machine that can operate on batteries. This machine is an alternative to the present engine driven welding machines and will help with reduction of carbon emission.
Sachin Dobhada is Head – Research, Development & Quality (Equipment) at Ador Welding Ltd, responsible for product development and enhancement and its reliability and quality. A BE in Industrial Electronics. Sachin has R&D experience at Hueco, Germany, and has also developed switches and circuits for ISRO.
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