"We highlighted concerns about handling heavy welding gas cylinders – Air Products listened and acted."

Improving safety and productivity at Allied Vehicles with the Integra® cylinder

Allied Vehicles is the UK’s leading supplier of adapted and special purpose vehicles. They supply purpose-built vehicles to a wide range of customers as well as offering an automative after-sales service. The company has an annual turnover of £134m and employs more than 560 people, the majority being based at the main manufacturing plant in Glasgow.

Challenge

As an outcome of a risk assessment conducted in the fabrication department at Allied Vehicles, concerns were raised by the workforce regarding handling and lifting large welding gas cylinders on to the back of the welding machines. The management quickly sought to resolve this situation and contacted Air Products for support. The welders were using pure Argon in conventional 50 litre cylinders for stainless steel welding. Allied Vehicles were keen to identify alternatives in the marketplace to eliminate the risk of injury, whilst maintaining their weld quality and productivity targets.

Solution

The Air Products account manager and welding specialist met with the Health and Safety manager at Allied Vehicles to fully understand the processes on site and the concerns. This meeting led to a welding gas demonstration in the fabrication department by the welding specialist. Air Products’ recommendation included moving to a two-part argon gas mixture to enhance the stainless steel weld quality, combined with the leading smaller, lighter Integra® cylinder.

Outcome

As the Integra® cylinder is 23% lighter and 29% shorter than conventional welding gas cylinders, the improvement in manual handling was instantly obvious. The more compact dimensions ensure a lower centre of gravity and, therefore, the risk of cylinder toppling is reduced. The simple demonstration ensured that the management’s primary objective, to reduce handling risks, was achieved.

Whilst the cylinder is smaller, there is a similar amount of gas in the Integra® cylinder as larger equivalents - it is simply more compressed. This means that there is no adverse impact on productivity, as no increase in cylinder changeovers. In fact, the click-on Integra® connector (Integra® Flow Optimiser) reduces changeover times by up to 30%.

In terms of quality, there was a visible improvement in the welds produced with Inomaxx® 2 welding gas. Spatter levels were significantly reduced, producing brighter, cleaner welds. In conclusion, all three of Allied Vehicles’ requirements had been met.

However, an additional benefit came in the form of cost saving. Despite a small increase in gas cost, the cylinder's integrated regulator and gas economiser (Integra® Flow Optimiser) ensured that gas consumption was reduced and equipment costs eliminated. All combined, this has resulted in significant lower welding costs for Allied Vehicles.