Tate deploys 58 Hirebotics cobot welders across multiple facilities

Hirebotics LLC last week announced that Tate Inc. has deployed 58 of its robotic welding systems. The data center infrastructure developer has deployed them across its manufacturing facilities in Arkansas, Virginia, and Kentucky.

For 120 years, Tate has supplied structural ceilings, containment systems, and airflow management products. The Columbia, Md.-based company now faces intense demand for large data centers and tight project timelines with zero tolerance for manufacturing errors.

Tate wanted to scale, but it didn’t want to lose out on precision. So, in 2024, it decided to transition from manual welding to an agile, cloud-connected automation network powered by Hirebotics and its cloud-based, no-code Beacon Pro control platform. Beacon Pro enables the company to program, run, and monitor the Cobot Welders from any smartphone or tablet.

Tate looked at about nine automation providers, according to Daniel Adams, director of sales at Hirebotics. He said a few factors contributed to Tate’s decision. First, when Tate brought specific parts to Hirebotics, the Nashville, Tenn.-based company‘s team was able to perform welds on the parts within 30 minutes of Tate’s arrival.

Next, ease of use was a top priority for Tate, said Abrams. The construction provider was able to program the robots while the Hirebotics team was still on site.

Finally, Hirebotics was willing to collaborate. Adams said the company worked closely with Tate to figure out how its process would change when it automated welding with force- and power-limited robot arms.

What was the deployment process like?

Hirebotics shipped Tate’s first two robots in September 2023. “Tate had pretty quick adoption,” Adams told The Robot Report. “They had a bunch of people on staff who had been welding by hand for their entire careers, but they were able to see the benefits to both the company and themselves.”

To train Tate’s employees, Hirebotics used a combination of self-training with tutorial videos and Hirebotics employees providing hands-on training onsite. It typically only took only 10 to 20 minutes to train the employees to use the robots, Adams said.

“The majority of users are surprised at how quickly they can become operational with the robot,” he recalled.

“It was a fantastic process to learn to manipulate not only the movements of the welder themselves, but [also] to control the amperage, the heat, and travel speed,” said Jonathon Cook, a cobot welding programmer at Tate. “We can manipulate and curate every single weld that we make here for Tate to be exactly how it’s supposed to be as by spec every single time. And that truly is a marvel within itself.”

In addition to traditional welding projects within all three facilities, Tate has pioneered a unique workflow in its Arkansas plant, where the cobot systems handle the upstream precision step of tacking and pre-assembling parts to feed downstream industrial robots. This helps to keep production moving at a steady pace.

Tate reports productivity boost with Hirebotics

Since implementing Hirebotics’ robots, Tate has reported a 12x increase in per-welder throughput on critical structural assemblies while simultaneously expanding its team of certified welders.

Tate also said the cobots eliminated costly rework caused by manual welder-to-welder variability. The team also encoded precision discipline directly into the Beacon Pro software. Certified programmers dial in exact torch angles and travel speeds, which enables floor operators to execute perfect welds with confidence.

With automation, Tate said its facilities operate as a single, unified ecosystem, sharing weld programs, parameters and enhanced playlists across company facilities in real time. This guarantees consistent production standards nationwide, Tate said.

“No production components are hand-welded anymore,” Adams said. “The consistency, quality, and speed improved significantly after installing the cobots. Previously, they had some quality issues with hand welding that led them to require automation. The flexibility of the cobots allows them to automate all their welding and get consistent parts.”

Having worked with the Cobot Welder for two years across these three facilities, Tate also has become one of the first operations to deploy Hirebotics’ new Cobot Painter. This system uses the same platform, role-based access, and operators with a new cobot also powered by the Beacon Pro platform.

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