Choose The Right MIG Welding Wire To Boost Your Bottom Line

A shop should never skimp on filler materials. But, unfortunately, welding wire is one place where some shops try, unsuccessfully, to economize. It is a new year, and everyone is planning ahead for a more profitable year. If your shop does a lot of MIG welding, you may be considering switching to less expensive wire to help boost profits. Sadly, this can prove a false economy, and in the worst case, could even cost you more than sticking with better quality product. If you are looking for ways to save money this year, here are some important considerations:

The True Costs Of Cheap Wire

• Manpower – If you are like most shops, you probably spend around five percent of your welding budget on actually purchasing wire. The lion’s share of the budget goes to overhead and labor. Switching to inferior wire can result in more pre and post weld operations, which eat up your labor productivity and add wear and tear to your machinery.
• Quality Assurance And Waste –Welding with inferior wire often produces more failed welds, and increases your waste. The less consistent your welds are, the more diligent and time-consuming your quality inspections have to be. Even in a robotic welding shop, low-quality wire takes its toll, because imperfections in the wire can lead to imperfect welds that require human re-work.
• Your Reputation Is On The Line – Shipping defective product damages your company’s reputation for producing consistently high-quality products. Managing unsatisfied customers and shipping replacement product is costly, but even more costly are the customers who “go away mad” without saying a word to you. Rest assured, they will have plenty of words for other potential customers.

Ways To Achieve Genuine Economy

• Get It Right The First Time – Higher quality welding wire tends to perform better, even in less-than-ideal conditions. Your staff can spend less time on prep work and re-work when they are using premium welding wire.
• Consistent Diameter – When you choose welding wire from a premium manufacturer, you know you are getting consistent diameter, down to the last few microns, because it is inspected and verified with a laser micrometer. Variation in wire diameter can cause arcing, if the wire has an undersized section. It can cause wear and tear on your tips, if the wire has a “fat” section. Save your equipment, save money.
• Chemical Consistency – As with diameter, variations in the chemical consistency of your wire can wreak havoc on efficiency and equipment. Quality wire includes quality assurance.
• Is Bulk Best? – If you are running a high volume shop with robotic welding, bulk purchasing makes sense, and will save you money. If you are producing more moderate volume, you may be unnecessarily tying up capital and floor space to buy and store bulk wire. A good guideline is to buy what your shop can use up in 30 to 40 days.

Get Expert Advice

When you call Josef Gas, you will be speaking to a representative who is an experienced welder, so you can rest assured that when you ask for advice, it will be sound. In more than 40 years in business, we have built relationships with generations of customers because we understand that your success is our success. Call us today at 416-658-1212 or request a free quote online.