Lorch South Pacific has launched its next-generation welding cobots, offering manufacturers a smart solution to Australia’s skilled labour shortages and rising demands for precision and quality.
As the regional arm of German manufacturer Lorch Schweißtechnik GMBH, Lorch South Pacific provides high-quality arc welding solutions across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. The Australian-based subsidiary offers advanced MIG, TIG, and electrode welding systems, refined since the founding of its German parent company in 1957. Lorch South Pacific helps deliver optimised products with European precision, durability, and energy efficiency alongside local support, training, and service.
“It’s premium quality and German-engineered technology that’s locally backed and supported,” said managing director of Lorch South Pacific, David Wilton.
In line with its mission, the company has launched a new range of welding collaborative robots (cobots) that integrate Lorch’s power source, welding equipment, and Cobotronic software with the UR10e cobot from Universal Robots (UR). Wilton insisted that Australia’s high-mix, low-volume manufacturing model presents an environment where these “cobots come into their own”.
“Cobots fit our industry well because they allow lower-skilled operators to achieve high-quality welding results,” he said. “You don’t need a robotic engineer to run a cobot system – a good welder can manage multiple cobots and still be hands-on in the workshop.”
These user-friendly robotic welding systems are a response to key industry trends. While fewer people are entering the welding trade, customer expectations are becoming more demanding and precise.
“Welding automation is certainly a growing sector, and I think it’s being driven by a clear shortage of welders,” said Wilton. “There’s also increasing pressure on quality requirements – more consistency, more guarantees of quality and integrity.
“We’re not going to stop welding – we just have to find new ways to do it, and automation is a key solution.”
While Wilton emphasised that more automation is vital to the future of Australia’s welding industry, he noted that as a nation, Australia has fallen well behind in welding technology adoption when compared to other regions around the world.
“Across Australia, we’re miles behind in adopting cobots, industrial robotics and automation in general. It’s sad because we’ve got so much capability, but something is holding us back,” he said.
To overcome this reality and adapt to the growing role of automation technologies within the industry, Wilton believes businesses must be proactive in their investments and decision-making. This requires looking beyond a reliance on third-party investment to make a move.
“It seems like companies are more likely to move forward with automation if there’s a government grant involved,” said Wilton. “That mindset – only investing when the funding comes from elsewhere – isn’t really the way it should be.”
Differentiating a product of the future
In line with this proactive attitude, Lorch’s welding cobots present a trusted way for Australian manufacturers – particularly small to medium-sized enterprises – to address workforce and quality challenges. This trust emanates from the Cobot line’s fully integrated and proven systems built on a relationship that dates back over a decade.
“Over ten years ago, the owner of Lorch Schweißtechnik identified cobot systems as a game changer for the world,” said Wilton. “From here, the owner aligned the company with Universal Robots with a high-end alliance in the welding space to co-develop the best fully integrated welding solutions.
“Lorch knows welding and automation, and UR knows cobot technology. When those two come together, you get a fully integrated, best in class welding systems.”
With the two companies working closely together to achieve the best possible integrated solutions comes the elimination of a middleman. This differs from many cobot systems, which Wilton said are put together from various parties with numerous operating systems.
“The key is to align with a strong brand and make sure there’s local backup and support,” said Wilton. “It’s not about today – it’s five years from now. When something goes wrong with the Cobot, who do you call that’s going to repair it in 24 hours? That’s what matters.”
Translating integration into versatile performance
Lorch’s welding cobot system has numerous features that help deliver high-quality, flexible, and safe automated welding. These include plug-and-play integration, intuitive programming through Cobotronic software, and compatibility with MIG-MAG and TIG processes. The systems also have advanced capabilities including arc seam tracking, seam pilot lasers, fume extraction, multi-pass welding, customisable linear slide tables, and integrated turntables. A large part of enhancing welding performance and quality, however, comes from Lorch’s power source.
“What you’ve got with Lorch is a German-made, advanced digital waveform control technology machine that’s at the highest possible level for manual welding,” said Wilton. “The welding quality and performance are at the highest level of weld integrity, with all the advanced capabilities you’d expect from a high-tech power source.”
Lorch’s cobot system also has a wide range of configuration options to ensure that businesses can tailor it to specific application needs and volumes. The cobot’s core purpose is to be a flexible and easily programmable way to handle different kinds of small to medium production runs. This makes it well suited to typical Australian manufacturing processes, with systems such as industrial robots more suited to high-volume production, as seen in the automotive industry.
“A small to medium enterprise is generally broad in what it does, and that’s exactly where cobot fits,” said Wilton. “These businesses aren’t building hundreds of thousands of parts – they’re doing a job one month and something completely different next month.
“Using advanced features like through-the-arc seam tracking and seam pilot, the system can produce a premium quality result and is very easy to set up and program.”
The systems also include unique, proprietary welding processes – like SpeedUp – designed for out-of-position welding and SpeedPulse XT for high speed Pulse welding.
“With the SpeedUp process, you don’t need sophisticated jigs, fixtures or tooling – you can weld vertically up, out of position and SpeedPulse XT is for high-speed Pulse welding delivering premium, high productivity welding,” said Wilton. “That kind of process delivers real cost savings across the entire system.”
Given that these are complex systems, Lorch offers training and ongoing support for companies that may find implementing cobot welding daunting or challenging. This is facilitated by a strictly trained and accredited distribution network that provides an initial three-day training program upon installation and delivery of the machines, alongside ongoing training.
“We’re very selective in picking capable people. They’ve been trained either in Germany or Australia,” said Wilton. “We’ve got dealers in pretty much every Australian state who can set up systems and demonstrate.”
So far, Wilton said the majority of the cobot systems sold in Australia have ended up in general fabrication and some into the defence sector, something he noted as a large validation of the quality and performance Lorch offers.
Facilitating further innovation
Building on its high-performance welding equipment, Lorch has also undergone an exciting acquisition by billion-dollar Japanese conglomerate Daihen Corporation. Wilton believes the acquisition is a “match made in heaven”, bringing together the best in industrial robotics and welding power source technology.
“Daihen Corporation is the biggest industrial welding robot producer and supplier in the world,” he said. “Now you’ve got dozens of high-level R&D engineering teams in Japan and Germany that are working together to develop the next generation of industrial welding automation systems.”
Backed by German engineering, local support, and a growing global partnership, Lorch South Pacific continues to help Australian manufacturers embrace the future of welding automation. With a clear focus on integrated welding cobots, the company’s technology presents a solution to rising quality demands and a shrinking skilled workforce.
“In the cobot space, Lorch is the real deal,” said Wilton. “There’s not much we can’t do in this space, and we will continue to push the boundaries.”
If your interested in talking further about cobot welding and would like to arrange a visit from one of Lorch’s Cobot partners to see how they can drive your shop floor productivity, reach out to david.wilton@lorch.eu
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