How AGCO Unlocked Its Full Potential With the Deltaweld® System

Kevan Kokkonen
Corporate Account Manager

 

AGCO, a world-renowned manufacturer of tractors and agricultural equipment based in Jackson, Minnesota, has been an industry leader for decades. Its customers are hardworking farmers who expect machines that will outlive them, requiring high-quality and durable welds no matter the product.

Across the agricultural industry, stainless steel is increasingly being sourced as a material mandatory in manufactured products due to its durable yet lightweight properties compared with thicker metals. With this shift in material specifications come challenges that many manufacturers haven’t previously faced.

AGCO was planning to launch a new product that would require welding thin stainless steel, which revealed some challenges with welds for the operation. Issues the team faced included warping, bending and inconsistencies in quality — leading to part fit-up issues, decreased structural integrity and lost production time. To compensate, some operators had taken to using their own parameters to tackle the same welds, with some using settings that maximized deposition rates and others using settings that slowed them down.

Weld spatter was a problem too. With sometimes inefficient parameters being set, there was a large amount of unnecessary spatter, leading to more post-weld cleaning. These steps added to the overall production time, causing delays and inefficiencies, and ultimately highlighted the need for a standardized approach to welding to improve consistency, quality and throughput while also solving for stainless-steel-related issues.

Given the customers’ and their own high standards, AGCO recognized that it was going to be critical to dig into and address these challenges — and doing so led to the realization that their existing tools weren’t going to cut it.

AGCO Partnered With Miller 

Over the past 25 years, AGCO has worked with Miller on custom programming and field testing numerous products. Given the long-standing partnership, they decided to reach out to the Miller team to ask for help.

Jeff Van Muyden, area manager of the AGCO weld department, recalls, “The first thing Miller did was ask a few questions about the problems we were having, and then they sent a team out. They took samples back to their facility and helped us come up with weld settings that would work for us."

Miller’s proposed solutions included implementing standardized weld parameters and investing in a new welder, a Deltaweld® system, which would turn out to be more transformative for their team and their work than AGCO had hoped or expected.

The Deltaweld system, when paired with the Intellx™ Elite feeder, comes equipped with a host of features, including advanced processes like Versa-Pulse™ and a welding software and technology called Insight Centerpoint™. Miller recommended Versa-Pulse for AGCO because it controls the focal area of the heat, providing a tighter arc that helps prevent stainless steel warping and burn-through due to low heat input, creates higher-quality parts and mitigates rework, all while facilitating faster travel speeds. Given the varied level of operator experience, Miller’s recommendation included AGCO continuing to leverage Centerpoint as a user-friendly guide for each weld. Centerpoint shows operators exactly how and where to fit-up the part and in what sequence to weld, along with automatically setting the parameters and showing the operator how to jig up the part, improving weld consistency, ensuring no welds are missed and maximizing operator efficiency.

AGCO took Miller’s suggestions into consideration and into the shop, where they conducted a blind test against the competition and ultimately concluded it was time to make a move to the Deltaweld system.

How Deltaweld Unlocked Potential

Since making the switch, AGCO has been able to leverage the Deltaweld system to unlock tremendous upside in its stainless steel work — while also creating growth opportunities for the employees and the operation as whole.

The Deltaweld system also enhances the capabilities of AGCO’s skilled operators, who leverage the Centerpoint weld data monitoring for visual guidance and automated settings that support consistent, high-quality welds. The technology is especially helpful when onboarding new team members or tackling complex parts.

These improvements have been noticed and celebrated by operators and managers alike. AGCO welder Chris Marfechuk emphasized how much time Centerpoint saves him, as well as his teammates. “Seeing it on a picture on a computer screen, we're able to see how the part is supposed to go in the jig, and that helps a lot, especially when we have newer welders come in. We can just say, look at how it's set up in Centerpoint, and they can go from there."

Marfechuk also appreciates how the Deltaweld’s advanced processes minimize cleanup. “I find Versa-Pulse leaves a lot less weld spatter. Welds come out cleaner, which saves me time in the long run, and it just makes it look a lot better."

Deformation is down too, and travel speeds are up, thanks to the minimal heat input that comes with Versa-Pulse, with Van Muyden noting, “It helps us control the heat input. Helps us with a little bit of our travel speed, so we weld a little bit faster on thinner gauge material without running the risk of deformation at the end."

Management is happy that they use Centerpoint to automatically adjust parameters and Versa-Pulse to minimize heat input, with components manufacturing lead Jeffrey Wright saying, “The investment in the Deltaweld was worth it. You get fewer weld defects in parts and reduced setup time thanks to the intuitive interface and automated parameter adjustments. The weld quality meets our high standards and supports the durability our customers expect."

Miller’s Steady Support in the Transition and Beyond

From the initial stages of outreach when the stainless steel problem was identified to the after-purchase support, the AGCO team hasn’t looked back. Miller has maintained its role as a steadfast partner to the company and been available to assist every step of the way, from troubleshooting to manually updating the Deltaweld system’s software when firmware upgrades are needed.

The Deltaweld system has proven to be reliable in the demanding environment, and Miller representatives are always ready to lend a hand. According to Van Muyden, “They’re just a phone call away. It's one of the most reliable machines that I've personally seen, and I've been in this business for over 20 years.” The partnership has supported AGCO’s dedication in upholding its industry-leading reputation for producing durable and high-quality equipment.

Increased Productivity Into the Future

The implementation of a Deltaweld system along with the Intellx Elite feeder has transformed AGCO’s manufacturing process, with Versa-Pulse and Centerpoint helping them conquer the challenges of welding stainless steel and improve the efficiency of production. The combination of faster setup, fewer weld defects, less downtime and improved consistency has been pivotal in maintaining AGCO’s reputation for producing durable, high-quality equipment for those who matter most to them — the farmers.