Precision Welding Case Study
How Wertzbaugher Services delivered the dimensional accuracy a robotics integrator couldn’t find anywhere else.
THE PROBLEM
An automation company serving the automotive industry turned to Wertzbaugher Services with a problem their existing supplier couldn’t solve: precision-welded metal racks capable of interfacing reliably with robotic automation equipment.
Their machines move product through automotive facilities at high volumes, delivering the labor savings, throughput gains, and error reduction that define modern industrial automation. But the system only works when every rack presents product at exactly the right position, orientation, and height. Even minor dimensional variation causes misalignment, machine faults, and costly production stoppages.
Their incumbent supplier was unable to achieve the weld consistency the application demanded. The result was a stream of rejected parts, rework, and downtime. They needed a fabrication partner who could meet the tolerance requirements — not just weld steel together.
THE SOLUTION
Wertzbaugher Services designed and built a precision tooling fixture in-house, purpose-built to hold tight tolerances throughout the welding process. By controlling the geometry of the rack at every stage of assembly, the fixture eliminated the dimensional variation that had plagued the previous supplier.
Each rack was fabricated using this fixture and inspected against the customer’s specifications before shipment. The approach combined Wertzbaugher Services’ 25+ years of fabrication expertise with a disciplined, process-driven solution rather than relying on weld skill alone.
The racks passed sample inspection — confirming that the custom tooling fixture delivered exactly the repeatability the automation system required.
THE RESULTS
With dimensionally consistent racks that interface accurately with their automation equipment on every cycle, the customer was able to move directly into high-volume production — free from the downtime and line stoppages that interface failures had previously caused.
- Entered high-volume production with no stoppages due to rack-to-robot interface issues
- Machine faults caused by dimensional inconsistency were eliminated
- Throughput runs uninterrupted — no manual intervention needed to correct misaligned product
- Human error is removed from the equation — the racking performs the same way every time
- Passed sample inspection, giving the customer a repeatable, production-ready solution
Where a previous supplier couldn’t meet the standard, Wertzbaugher Services engineered a solution from the ground up — proving that the right tooling makes the difference between a rack that fits and one that works.
