Medical Device Manufacturer

Boosting Welding Productivity Threefold with Autonomous Material Transport

The Challenge

Looking to improve efficiency, a UK-based medical device manufacturer conducted a time and motion study across its five welding bays. Despite employing experienced welders and maintaining high-value processes, the study revealed that welders were only actively welding for 10 minutes per hour, on average.

The cause wasn’t a lack of skill – it was inefficient internal logistics. Welders were regularly stepping away from their stations to walk up to 180 meters round trip to collect parts from stores or 100m round trip to deliver finished components to the spray shop. These tasks, combined with the need to change in and out of PPE throughout the day, significantly reduced productive time.

The production manager set out to streamline internal transport so that skilled workers could stay focused on what they do best – without increasing headcount or committing to high upfront automation costs.

The Solution

Initially, we deployed a single robot vehicle to take over the transport tasks:

Delivered kitted parts from stores to welding bays
Picked up machined parts on the return route as a bonus efficiency gain, rather than return to stores empty
Ran 9 hours per day, without stopping

The Impact

Before

🔧 10 mins/hour of active welding
🚶 180m walks across departments
🔁 PPE on/off cycle interruptions

After

🔧 30 mins/hour — 3x productivity
🤖 Constant automated delivery
🔒 Focused time at the workstation

Phase 2

We added a second robot vehicle to:

Transport welded finished goods to the spray shop
Move items from spray shop to assembly cells

The Result

🛠️ Another 10 minutes of active welding gained per bay across all 5 cells

👷‍♂️ Skilled workers stayed focused on skilled work

🧤 Removed need for welders to leave the cell or repeatedly change PPE

💰 Labour savings + efficiency = rapid return

Takeaway

With Autonomous Go, Guidance Automation helped this manufacturer unlock immediate productivity gains without upfront investment or long-term risk. By taking on repetitive transport tasks, our “robot workers” enabled skilled welders to stay focused on what they do best.

Guidance Automation worked in partnership with the customer to prove the value of automation in their environment – supporting their goals of efficiency, flexibility, and sustainable growth.

No CapEx. No long contract. No license fees. No maintenance costs. Just results.

Location: United Kingdom
Industry: Medical Device Manufacturing
Application: Automated Material Transport
Guidance Automation Solution: iNcaart with Conveyor Top

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at 50% of the human wage

Put robot vehicles to work in your operation—on your terms. Autonomous GO is a fully managed, pay-by-the-hour automation service that delivers real productivity without upfront investment or disruption.

We supply, set up, and support robot workers that handle material movement efficiently and consistently – so your skilled team can focus on higher-value work.

There are no capital costs, no installation or licence fees, and no long contracts—just a scalable service that adapts to your needs, whether seasonal or continuous. You’re invoiced monthly based only on the hours worked, with the flexibility to stop at any time with 30 days’ notice. Everything is monitored and supported by our team of experts to ensure consistent performance.

Stop carrying the load. Let automation do the heavy lifting.

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