Company: HJHansen Recycling Group
Industry: Recycling & Scrap Metal
Location: Odense Harbor, Denmark
Cobot System: Universal Robots UR10e with SmoothTool
Tackling Wear and Tear in a Demanding Industry
At HJHansen Recycling Group, heavy machinery is essential for handling large volumes of iron and scrap metal. Central to this operation are the company’s powerful grabs, which lift, move, and transport scrap across Denmark and to international destinations.
Over time, however, the grab blades face extreme wear and tear. To keep operations running efficiently, HJHansen’s team spends significant time reinforcing these blades with hardfacing coatings — a maintenance task that is both time-intensive and physically demanding.
“We continuously maintain our grabs, and hardfacing the blades is an important part of making them last longer in such a tough environment,” explains Emil Bjerg, Technical Manager at HJHansen Recycling Group.
Why Cobot Welding?
Hardfacing is a repetitive and monotonous welding task that demands precision but does not fully utilize the creativity and expertise of skilled blacksmiths. That makes it a perfect fit for automation.
“The task of laying coating on a grab blade is good to use a robot for, because it is very monotonous work and there is a lot of the same. This way we can free up our skilled blacksmiths to focus on higher-value welding tasks,” Emil notes.
First Impressions with UR10e and SmoothTool
During the test, HJHansen’s blacksmiths worked with a UR10e cobot equipped with SmoothTool to automate hardfacing on grab blades. The results were promising:
- The weld quality was considered “a fine piece of craftsmanship” by HJHansen’s own blacksmiths.
- The user interface was praised for being relatively user-friendly, making setup straightforward.
- The potential for the cobot to continue working during downtime or breaks was highlighted as a key efficiency advantage.
“So far it looks positive. The blacksmiths themselves think it’s a fine piece of craftsmanship that the cobot makes,” Emil shares.
Looking Ahead
While the test was focused on hardfacing, HJHansen sees opportunities to apply cobot welding in other areas of their operations as well. With promising initial results, the company is now considering how collaborative welding robots might fit into their long-term maintenance and production strategy.
For Smooth Robotics, the project highlights how cobot welding can take over repetitive, heavy-duty tasks, freeing skilled workers to focus on the jobs where human craftsmanship adds the most value.
👉 Want to see how cobot welding can fit into your production? Book a meeting with Smooth Robotics to explore the possibilities.
