Spot Welding Companies – Eight Questions You Need To Ask

Contracting with a spot welding company is basically entering a long-term relationship with them. Compatibility is key to a happy and successful relationship, especially if it’s between two large companies. The best way to measure the compatibility between you and a spot welding company is to ask them the right questions.

Below you will find a list of 8 questions to ask a spot welding company. These questions will elicit answers that will give you a good idea of whether they’re the right company to handle your company’s welding needs.

Why It’s Important To Find A Good Spot Welding Company

When it comes to welding, quality matters. A bad weld severely compromises the quality of the part, and that will reflect very poorly on your brand. Even if you find a company that makes great welds, there’s still the possibility that they’re prone to missing deadlines. That, too, will make your company look bad. What you want to do is to cover all of the bases, which you will do by asking all eight of the questions listed here.

1. How Do You Develop The Optimal Weld Schedule?

Before starting a job, the resistance welder is given a weld schedule. It’s basically a set of instructions and specifications laid out just for the job. A good weld schedule should have the following data:

• Specific machine settings
• Control settings
• Required tools
• Electrodes
• Forces
• Times
• Rates
• Any other pertinent data specific to the job

It is the spot welding company’s responsibility to develop a weld schedule for its welders. What you want to find out is how they develop an optimal weld schedule. Do they develop it via trial or error, or do they work off a set of parameters already in place?

2. What Is Your Typical Process For Recording And Confirming Each Weld?

By asking this question, you want to make sure that they have a good quality control procedure in place. Don’t accept anything less than a detailed answer. It’s important for you to know every step they take so you can decide if their quality control process is thorough enough for you. Remember that it’s your part they’re making. If their quality control procedure is lackluster, then you’ll end up with some poorly-welded parts that will reflect badly on your company.

3. What Are Your Typical Quality Control Procedures For Resistance Welds?

This is a good follow-up question to the previous one. They might answer your previous question with a generic procedure that applies to all types of welds. Now you want to know how they handle resistance welds specifically.

4. How Do You Identify Trouble In The Welding Process?

What metrics does the company use to identify trouble? At what point in the welding process do they start looking for mistakes? Their answer might give you an insight into how quick and efficient they are when it comes to identifying trouble.

5. Can You Give An Example Of A Recent Quality Control Issue Your Team Encountered?

Their answer will give you a lot of insight into how they handle emergencies and how seriously they take quality control procedures. You can also ask them how they found the issue, and ask them for a detailed description of how they solved it.

6. Do You Have Any Experience Welding to Our Specs?

The reason you’re looking to contract with a spot welding company is because you need parts that are welded to certain specs, right? So you definitely need to find a company that has enough experience welding to your specs to get it right each and every time. It might be okay if you find a company that has experience welding similar parts, though. You just don’t want to end up with a company that has never worked with your specs or anything similar before.

Since we’re talking about specs, it’s worth mentioning that it’s good practice to finalize the design and welding specs before contracting with the welding company. You need the company’s assurance that they can meet your needs before entering a long-term relationship with them.

7. What Are Your Practices For Managing Intellectual Properties?

The spot welding company you end up contracting with will have access to your intellectual property and perhaps trade secrets. That’s why it’s absolutely necessary to fully understand how the company handles their partners’ intellectual properties. Ask if they have procedures already in place that are designed to prevent intellectual property from leaking or being stolen. Don’t forget to ask them if they’re willing to provide a comprehensive written agreement outlining that you own any intellectual property you share with them and that there will be consequences if they happen to leak it or steal it.

8. Can You Give An Example Of A Supply Agreement You Have With Another Company?

This is a great way to see what your supply agreement will look like with the spot welding company if you decide to sign a contract with them. If they provide an example of one of their supply agreements, look it over and see if it’s thorough enough. Never, ever sign a bare-boned supply agreement. If the supply agreement includes the following necessary information, then it’s pretty ironclad:

• Detailed business requirements of both parties
• Any legal recourse that can be taken against the spot welding company in case of a breach
• A complete bill of materials
• Quality requirements
• Product warranty
• Contingency plans for missed deadlines

At Intran, we offer spot welding services. Read more about our spot welding services, and feel free to get in touch with us with any questions.