The conference participants shared their vision of current trends and market problems, exchanged experience in organizing efficient welding production in a rapidly changing world. One of the main questions that worried all participants was the topic of how important the role of a person in the welding process is and whether welding will be fully robotized.

The conference was divided into three main sections for discussion: "Transport industry and mechanical engineering", "Power engineering", "Education". In addition, a live demonstration of Kemppi welding equipment and the most modern personal protective equipment was held on the basis of “Astraweld”.

The online conference was opened by Mikko Hautala, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Finland to Russia. He stated that today Finland is the largest foreign investor in the Russian economy: more than 900 Finnish companies operate in Russia today. He also noted that Kemppi Russia is not only developing its commercial potential in Russia, but is setting itself and successfully implementing the task of organizing events that benefit the entire welding industry and the industry as a whole. And the main condition for the implementation of this task is to increase the level of knowledge and professional skills in the industry.

Ou Ville Vuori, Managing Director of Kemppi, identified three main trends influencing the successful development of the welding industry: the driving force of innovation, which contributes to the emergence of hybrid or completely new welding methods, the lack of qualified personnel and industry regulation, which largely determines the further development of the welding industry in Russia and the world .

- As in all fields of industry, the welding industry is characterized by a price war where there is no industry regulation, while markets with industry regulation in the field of welding show an increasing role of research and development, Ville Vuori said.

Robert Urazov, Director General of the Union "Young Professionals of Wordskills Russia", paid special attention to welding robotization in his speech. He noted that this trend is now clearly visible in the market. At the same time, he also noted that the “perpendicular” trend of customizing welding processes is developing no less actively in those places where “non-standard operations, deviation from standards, decision-making regarding a particular production operation are required.” And the requirements for a person as a specialist in the field of welding, especially for his engineering skills, are significantly increased.

- Now is the time to change the existing approaches and processes in welding. The future has already come. It is now that such advanced topics as automation, robotization, digitalization, online management are being introduced. In order to transform welding production and introduce advanced tools, the changes must be complex, organizational, technical and methodological, - said Evgenia Dmitrieva, General Director of Kemppi Russia, in her speech.

Other conference speakers also shared their vision of the market and current industry trends, including representatives of “RSK “MIG” JSC, KUKA Russia, SRO Association “NAKS” and many others. Heads of companies and leading specialists of the welding industry told how this field is developing and operating, in what direction changes are taking place. During the discussion, the structure of the future of the welding industry and its main trends were outlined, among which the following were highlighted in particular:

• automation, robotization and digitalization of process control of standard types of welding and some stages of sales transition to online, training and communication between the manufacturer and the consumer,
• increasing the requirements for the qualification of welders due to the increase in the high-tech welding equipment,
• manual welding customization,
• strengthening industry regulation of welding processes in terms of quality and safety requirements and protection of welding processes.

All materials of the recent online conference “The future of welding has already come” are available at http://kemppi.eveon.events. Among the materials you can also find an analysis of market changes in a pandemic. Access to the materials will be open until July 20, 2020.