Welding cobot boosts efficiency and takes quality to a new level

Mesekon Oy has implemented a cobot welding system consisting of ABB’s GoFa cobot, Kemppi’s AX MIG Welder power supply and robotic wire feeder, and Kemppi’s GXe-C cobot torch. The system enhances Mesekon's work by improving efficiency and repeatability and helps meet customers' extremely strict quality requirements. Operators have found the cobot’s user interface logical and easy to use.

Mesekon in brief

Mesekon's roots can be traced back more than a hundred years to a company called Velj. Suominen Konepaja. After decades of development and acquisitions, the current Mesekon was founded in 1994 and became part of the Stairon Group in 2024. Mesekon's turnover is over EUR 10 million, employing approximately 50 people. The CEO is Timo Kylä-Nikkilä. The Stairon Group has a total of 150 employees and a turnover of approximately EUR 25 million.

Mesekon's customers place high demands on delivery reliability and materials. The delivered devices and structures must endure use in harsh industrial environments, which requires extreme precision in dimensions and documentation.

Adhering to strict standards

With the cobot welding investment, Mesekon wanted to ensure the top quality of its products.

"Our core competence is in the welding of the most demanding steel structures, combining expertise in different materials, performance techniques, and adherence to the demands of stringent standards. We use the term welding intelligence," says Tero Nättiaho, Sales Director at Mesekon.

"By investing in a cobot developed by Kemppi and ABB, we wanted to increase our level of automation, achieve repeatability, and thereby lower the defect rate. The cobot improves employees' ergonomics, as it takes over the repeated tasks in serial production that involve demanding welding positions. The operator can remain further away from the site, which improves flue gas management."

Mesekon has long-term relationships with large international customers that are strict in terms of quality.

"A demanding customer raises us and our corporate culture to a new level. We have made great efforts to adopt different standards," Nättiaho says.

Mesekon’s operations are governed by the quality system of the EN ISO 9001 standard. Welding methods complying with EN ISO, ASME, and NORSOK standards are used in production, and the high quality is also confirmed by the EN ISO 3834-2 certification. All welders are qualified according to various international standards.

Having explored the possibilities of robotics for a long time, Mesekon became interested in Kemppi’s and ABB’s cobot solution, which is ideal for its future productions.

"We started small serial production of pressure equipment for an important customer, which requires 90-degree saddle joints in the shield piping. This means that, in terms of control technology, we are moving from a 2D world to a 3D world, increasing requirements," Nättiaho explains.

More accurate than the human hand

Operator Roni Rautala has been involved in the deployment and testing phase of the cobot. He tells us that the Flexlite GXe-C cobot torch use has been going very well. "When you come to terms with it, its output is excellent. The Gxe-C achieves a much higher precision and smoothness than a human hand could ever do."

ABB’s GoFa has reliably performed the demanding welding of coolant collectors.

“It is easy, fast, and logical to position,” says Rautala.

Rautala praises the user interface of Kemppi’s AX MIG Welder for its readability and ease of adjustment.

“It’s simple to use, and the program presets make it easy to start building the foundation for the job.”

The AX MIG Welder is designed for 24/7 production and can weld at 430 amperes without cooling breaks. The machine’s wire feeder is also designed to meet the needs of industrial automation.

"The AX will be a good choice when moving to heavier production with a cobot. We will certainly need this system more and more," says Rautala.

Cooperation to continuously develop new solutions

Mesekon cooperates closely with Kemppi’s product development. It has had the opportunity to test new equipment that is still under development at Kemppi, which is also motivating for welders.

"Through an international partner, we get ideas we can try out in practice.

It gives us confidence that welding can always be done a little differently and better," Nättiaho says.

Mesekon uses Kemppi’s WeldEye solution, which is one of the brands mentioned in the NORSOK standard.

"Kemppi has helped us with everything. We have had a fruitful dialogue in which everyone has the mindset that we are resolving things together."