Sustainability in welding – is that possible?

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Every manufacturing company uses natural resources in some way and thus affects the environment. But modern companies must position themselves sustainably. Besides the ecological aspect, there is another important fact: potential skilled employees choose their employer according to its sustainability concept. Thus, if you want to keep up with the competition, you can no longer avoid the topic of sustainability. But how can a production company that uses welding technology in its processes approach the issue of sustainability at all?  

Preserving resources, protecting the environment

Generally speaking, different resources are used in welding:

• the energy required for welding
• the shielding gas used for MIG welding, MAG welding and TIG welding
• the filler wire required
• and of course the base material itself

The environment is also affected by shielding gas emissions such as CO₂. All these facts cannot be sugarcoated. With clever approaches, well thought-out equipment and a little "thinking outside the box", valuable opportunities open up to use fewer resources and reduce or even capture emissions.

Approaches to sustainability in welding

If you want to or have to get into the topic of sustainability, the following steps are recommended for production companies - not only for those with welding processes:

1. Determine your consumptions.
   What is your current situation? Maybe you are still at the very beginning and starting from scratch. However, you may already have initiated the first actions that will help you reduce your company's environmental footprint.
2. Plan optimisations from this data.
   Based on this measurement data, you now begin to define initial optimisation goals and determine what you need to achieve them. Here is a tip: Don't set yourself overly ambitious goals, stay realistic.
3. Involve your employees.
   It is best to involve the entire staff at the beginning of the project to make your company sustainable. In this way, everyone becomes a creator and sees themselves as part of what has been achieved. You will be enthusiastic about the ideas that one or the other can make a valuable contribution with.

What shows immediate success?

Of course, sustainability cannot be implemented in a production company overnight. However, the following approaches can be implemented quite quickly, and in some cases directly:

Efficient welding equipment or power source

A higher efficiency in the welding process can be achieved if you use welding equipment or power sources with the highest possible efficiency. These have an inverter instead of a transformer.

Reduce shielding gas consumption

Using as little gas as possible can also be implemented in welding. Shielding gas offers enormous savings potential. Modern gas management systems enable shielding gas savings of up to 50 % in both manual and robotic weldin.

Seam opening angle for component geometry

Do you have the freedom to influence the component geometry? Then it is advisable to switch from a large to the smallest possible seam opening angle. This way you use less of the resources material and energy.

For more information about sustainability in welding please also have a look at this video:

Are you interested in other topics?

In general, every visitor to the WELDPROF^® website can ask me specific questions via »Ask the WELDPROF^®«. I am happy to answer them by e-mail or in one of my video formats. Interaction with interested parties from the world of welding and joining technology is expressly desired!