2018
Automated Titanium Welding for Aerospace (ISRO, Boeing, Rolls Royce, Safran)
Solved a 5-year-old titanium welding bottleneck by programming idle 6-axis robots to pass aerospace client specifications — work previously achievable by only 2 out of ~200 welders. Then deployed cobots so non-engineers could program new tasks independently.
The Challenge
Critical titanium aerospace components for ISRO, Boeing, Rolls Royce, and Safran could only be welded to specification by 2 senior welders out of a staff of roughly 200. This created a severe production bottleneck and single-point-of-failure risk that had gone unresolved for over five years. Meanwhile, 6-axis robotic arms sat unused on the factory floor.
The Approach
Developed offline parametric programming methods for the existing but unutilized 6-axis robots, enabling them to perform the precision titanium welds that had been locked to two individuals. The programmed robots successfully passed aerospace client quality requirements. As a next step, introduced collaborative robots (cobots) that non-engineers could program for new welding tasks without specialized robotics knowledge, eliminating the dependency on any single person — including myself.
The Results
Eliminated a 5-year production bottleneck: titanium welding capacity went from 2 people to automated robotic cells. Aerospace components for ISRO, Boeing, Rolls Royce, and Safran passed client specifications via robotic welding for the first time. Cobot deployment democratized robotic programming across the organization, enabling non-engineers to set up new tasks. Promoted from Design Technologist to Lead of Technology & Automation based on these results.