Smart "Welding Experts" Make Their Debut: Steel Cage Processing Enters the Era of High-Efficiency Automation
2025/11/03 08:25
In a vast steel processing yard, there are very few workers. The only spectacular sight is robotic arms accurately transporting steel bars and all welding points "firing at full power" simultaneously. A 12-meter-long steel cage is "freshly produced" in just 40 minutes.
A 12-meter-long semi-finished steel bar is automatically fed in by a robotic arm, automatically "fits" with the reinforcement ring, and quickly rolls to adjust to the optimal angle. Immediately afterward, all welding points "fire at full power" at the same time. There are no traditional manual welders at the welding site—only two staff members are responsible for monitoring and labeling.
In a short 40 minutes, a steel cage that fully meets quality standards completes the entire process from main bar welding to stirrup welding.
This incredible scene is exactly the transformation brought about by the fully automatic steel cage welding workstation in the Liansu Expressway construction project.
01 Intelligent Innovation
The traditional steel cage processing method relies heavily on manual labor, and the problem of uneven quality has long plagued the engineering and construction industry.
According to data statistics, the traditional manual welding of a single steel cage requires the cooperation of 6 people, takes about 2 hours, and the missing welding rate is as high as 15%.
This traditional processing method is not only inefficient but also a bottleneck restricting the progress of bored piles.
"At that time, in response to the call of the Sulian Expressway Project Management Office to promote the application of new technologies and equipment, we searched the national market and finally chose this workstation," recalled Ma Qi, deputy chief engineer of the No. 1 Bid Project Department of the Liansu Expressway.
After entering the site in 2025, the No. 1 Bid Project Department invested a large sum of 1.6 million yuan to introduce the fully automatic steel cage welding workstation, determined to solve this long-standing problem.
02 Efficiency Leap
The introduction of the fully automatic steel cage welding workstation has completely changed the efficiency standard of steel processing.
This type of workstation realizes the integration of automatic main bar feeding, intelligent detection and positioning, and stirrup welding. The welding position, steel bar spacing, and fullness can all be accurately controlled.
"In the field of steel cage processing, our workstation is the most advanced at present!" Ma Qi introduced with pride.
The improvement in efficiency is tangible. Data provided by Ma Qi shows that since it was put into production in January 2025, the workstation has produced more than 400 sets of steel cages with a total length of 12,000 meters, which fully meets the on-site construction needs and even has a "surplus".
Steel processing is no longer a bottleneck restricting the progress of bored piles.
03 Innovations Blossom Everywhere
The innovation of steel cage welding technology is not limited to the Liansu Expressway project; all parts of the country are actively promoting the upgrading of this technology.
On February 21, 2025, the first set of intelligently produced steel cages in Hefei was successfully hoisted and lowered at Hetang Road Station of Hefei Rail Transit Line 8.
This marks the official implementation of the "intelligent" achievements in the steel processing process in Hefei's rail transit construction projects.
During the Spring Festival, this steel intelligent manufacturing base adhered to "non-stop work and non-stop production". In just 12 days, it produced 165 sets of steel cages, totaling 367.5 tons.
Earlier, in 2022, the "bored pile steel cage rotating welding machine" developed by the No. 15 Bid Project Department of Wuxi 312 National Highway under the Second Company of China Railway Fourth Bureau Group obtained an invention patent authorization from the German Patent and Trademark Office.
This technology is the first in China to apply resistance welding technology to steel cage manufacturing.
04 Patent-Driven Development
Under the wave of technological innovation, major enterprises have invested in R&D to promote the continuous progress of steel cage welding technology.
In March 2025, Jiangsu Jieda Transportation Engineering Group Co., Ltd. applied for a patent for a "rolling welding machine for automatic steel cage welding". This patent helps to significantly improve the strength and load-bearing capacity of welds and ensure the stability and safety of the steel cage structure.
Subsequently, in May, Shandong Zhongji Luyuan Machinery Co., Ltd. obtained a patent for an "adjustable rolling cage welding machine", which solved the problem of traditional equipment that "requires manual adjustment one by one, with cumbersome steps and difficulty in ensuring the consistent distance of each fixed pipe".
The emergence of these patented technologies has jointly promoted the development of steel cage welding equipment in a more intelligent, efficient, and precise direction.
05 Win-Win of Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement
The most direct benefit brought by automated equipment is the win-win situation of cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
In the Liansu Expressway project, Ma Qi calculated an account: "Now, in the process of processing steel cages, not a single welder is needed, and manual labor has been directly reduced by 60%."
The efficiency improvement is even more significant: "The steel cage processing cycle has been greatly shortened. Now we can produce 5 sets of steel cages a day, and the efficiency has at least doubled!"
The workstation can process and weld steel cages with a diameter of 1 meter to 2.5 meters, and it only takes 2 short hours to adjust the "specifications", which fully meets the high-quality and fast-paced needs of transportation engineering construction.
According to statistics, up to now, the workstation has not only helped shorten the "construction period" of the project section's pile foundation by 35% but also saved 320,000 yuan in costs.
Ma Qi stood in front of the automated workstation, his eyes full of confidence. Behind him, the robotic arms were operating in an orderly manner, and steel cages were being produced like a stream of water.
"The efficiency has at least doubled, and the manual labor has been reduced by more than half," he summarized. "This small workstation has solved a major problem in our construction."
From the Liansu Expressway to Hefei Metro, from Jiangsu Jieda to Shandong Luyuan, the intelligent transformation of steel cage welding is fully unfolding in China's infrastructure construction field.
This quiet revolution is constantly reshaping people's perception of traditional construction work.
