Originally Posted by
gregf83
I thought it wa s a little sad also but for a different reason. Why are they still welding bikes by hand? They use robots to cut the tubes and drill the holes, why haven't they moved to automated welding.
Surely they make enough bikes in the world to warrant the investment in a few welding robots.
If there is a good reason for hand welding I'd be interested in hearing it.
Every process step requires the part(s), a fixture to hold the part(s) and the tool to cut the part or perform the action.
Welding is a pretty delicate operation along a pretty complex surface.
I'd guess that the effort (i.e. cost) to tool, program and weld the frame via robot is much more than a human given the quantity of items.