Skilled hours are scarce, and most aren't arc time

20%

Arc-on time in a typical manual cell that assembles, tacks and welds1

The Fabricator (The WELDER), 2014, updated 2024

320,500

New welding professionals the US will need by 20292

AWS Foundation, 2025

42%

Of press brake bending time spent on setup, in a worked example3

The Fabricator, 2001

77%

On-time delivery among FMA benchmark shops in 2021, down from 87%4

FMA survey via The Fabricator, 2022

01 · STATION TIME

See where every station's hours go

Arc time, beam-on and bend time, against setup, loading and waiting. Manual cells run about 20% arc-on.1

A weld bay: one welder welding a frame, one grinding behind a welding curtain, and an inspector at a finished assembly — Generated · CAM-04 · Weld bay13:20

Welding: arc time against everything else

Fit-up, tacking, grinding, moving parts and waiting for review.

Zone W1, shift 1 · example dataArc on 22%

Arc onFit-upGrindingMoving partsWaiting

A fiber laser cutter with a cut sheet on the shuttle table and an operator picking parts into a bin while the next sheet waits — Generated · CAM-01 · Laser L109:12

Laser: beam-on against load and unload

Pallet waiting, part sorting and skeleton removal.

Laser L1, shift 1 · example dataBeam on 58%

Beam onLoad and unloadWaiting

Two press brakes: an operator bending a part at brake A while two people change tooling at brake B — Generated · CAM-02 · Brakes10:40

Press brake: setup against bend time

Tool changes, first-part checks and waiting on blanks, per job.

Brake B, one job · example dataSetup 42%

SetupBending

Also seenRobot weld cellsSawsPunchesPlasma tablesTube lasersShot blast reloadsPaint lines

Queue time by stationWhere jobs wait between stations, by shift and day.

Actual vs quoted hoursHours by station for each job, ready for the next quote.

The station that holds the restThe real bottleneck, not the assumed one.

02 · MATERIAL FLOW AND WIP

Find the parts that wait, and the stations they starve

Excess WIP brings delivery problems.5 The camera sees carts that sit, crane waits and stations out of material.

A structural steel bay: an overhead crane lifting beams, a forklift parked at its charger, and an operator at a band saw — CAM-06 · Bay 2 · crane and saw11:05

A WIP staging area with parts on pallets in marked lanes, a worker pushing a cart and a forklift in the aisle — CAM-11 · Staging lanes A to D11:05

Crane and forklift waitsWho waited for a lift, and how long.

WIP age by staging laneHow long each pallet has sat.

Stations starved for materialIdle time caused upstream, not at the station.

Start with the cameras you have

Built for job shops and OEM fab departments: 94% of US fabricated-metal companies have fewer than 100 employees.6 A feasibility check comes first.

STEP 1

Connect your cameras

Your existing cameras over RTSP or your NVR, plus one where a station needs it.

STEP 2

We build the detection

Agnify's engineers map your stations and build and test the detection on your footage.

STEP 3

Run the floor on it

Dashboards, alerts with the clip, and exports next to your ERP.

Results by station, or by operator using your shift assignments. No facial recognition; faces blurred in clips on request.

Meet us at FABTECH, or start with a feasibility check

At FABTECH, Oct 21-23? Book 15 minutes at the show. Or send the form for a free check on your own footage. We reply within one business day.

Tell us what you runThe stations, shifts and cameras you have today.
Send a few hours of footage, or camera accessPick the stations you most want to understand.
Get a written resultWhat we can measure, how reliably, and what the first report would show.

Questions about cameras, privacy or IT? Read the FAQ

Or email info@agnify.ai

See where the hours go in your fab shop