To Improve The Technical Efficiency Of Riveters

To improve the technical efficiency of riveters

People who are engaged in custom riveting and welding work know very well that just to discuss the plan with the customer, it often takes two full days of repeated running-in and discussion. However, when the actual work started to be implemented, the efficiency was far from keeping up.

In fact, whether it is from the perspective of the selection of process links or the communication and docking links, there are feasible methods in each link that can improve work efficiency.

Don’t choose blindly when it comes to riveting techniques

Pneumatic riveting, hydraulic riveting, and electric riveting, each of these methods is suitable for processing different plate thicknesses and material ranges. For aluminum parts in the aviation field, it is usually recommended to use pneumatic riveting.

For thicker steel parts in the automotive field, if they are operated hydraulically, they will be more stable and reliable. Before officially starting work, be sure to confirm the specific parameters of the material in advance. Never use a pneumatic riveting gun to forcefully process thicker plates, otherwise the efficiency will be directly reduced by half.

During 2025, an aviation parts manufacturing factory in the Yangtze River Delta region conducted a comparative test. For the same batch of titanium alloy parts, if the hydraulic riveting method was used, the processing time of a single part was reduced from the original fourteen minutes to nine minutes. In this way, it can produce nearly forty more pieces per day. As long as the production process is chosen correctly, the effect of increasing production capacity can be achieved even without increasing the number of personnel.

The process sequence is clearly arranged

A job like riveting and welding parts is simply not a matter of lining up from top to bottom and then doing it and then everything will be fine. You have to rivet the key load-bearing parts firmly first, and then go on to play with the decorative parts that just look good. If you do this, you can cut down the number of repeated disassembly and assembly by more than half.

There is a steel structure factory in Nantong, Jiangsu. After they adjusted the sequence of construction, the rework ratio of a single product dropped directly from the original 121% to as low as 3%.

When arranging the production process, the layout drawings in the factory and the action paths of the working positions must be combined into a comprehensive consideration. This can allow workers to reduce the number of unnecessary walks and bend less. This way, by the end of the day, the level of fatigue felt by everyone will be very different.

We can consider arranging the most physically demanding processes at the beginning of the day, that is, in the morning, because everyone is more energetic at this time, and by doing the work that requires fine operations in the afternoon, the entire production rhythm will naturally become smoother.

Tool quality is sufficient

Pneumatic rivet guns, hydraulic rivet guns, and electric rivet guns are really quite different in terms of price and efficiency. There is a company in Hangzhou that makes automobile sheet metal. During 2024, all the old manual rivet guns were replaced with electric rivet guns.

After this replacement, the daily production quantity of a single working position increased from the original 180 pieces per day to 320 pieces per day. Calculated in this way, it only took half a year to recover all the money spent on purchasing these equipment.

When choosing tools, you should not just blindly buy expensive products, you must also pay attention to the match between the tool and the plate. For example, when using a rivet gun to work with rivets of different diameters, if the accuracy deviates, the error range can even reach a few tenths of a millimeter.

It is recommended that everyone always keep a set of consumable materials. Never wait until you are halfway through the work and suddenly find that the rivets used are of the wrong type, causing the production line to be forced to stop and search for suitable goods.

Use auxiliary equipment

The automatic feeding device doesn't look like much, but it saves the time that workers need to bend down to pick up materials.

A shipbuilding factory in Yantai, Shandong Province, after installing a feeding production line, the pure manual labor time required by their riveting workers was reduced by two hours every day. Therefore, the communication cost of customized riveting welding is high, how to improve the efficiency The communication cost of customized riveting welding is high, how to improve the efficiency The communication cost of customized riveting welding is high, how to improve the technical efficiency of riveters, how to improve efficiency , and the degree of fatigue has also been significantly reduced. At the same time, the probability and proportion of errors have also been reduced.

Fixtures and molds are used to ensure product accuracy. Because the shape of the customized parts is very irregular, if you use a general-purpose clamp, it will be unstable. After the riveting is completed, the parts will become skewed as long as they are touched. Although investing thousands of dollars to customize a set of special molds may seem like an expense, doing so can save a lot of man-hours, which would have been used for repeated riveting and processing of scrapped workpieces.

Workers’ skills must continue to be sharpened

The job of riveter is not what we think. Once you learn the skills, you can get it once and for all. With new materials and new processes, a generation or round will be replaced roughly every two years.

By 2025, many factories have begun to use robots to assist in riveting operations. In this way, workers must learn to view relevant procedures and be able to adjust specific parameters. Moreover, the unit will conduct practical operational assessments every quarter. For those who do not meet the qualification standards, they will be asked to stop working and go back to receive supplementary training.

When it comes to training, don’t just focus on how to drive rivets. You need to understand the drawings first, be able to judge the amount of deformation, and choose rivet specifications. Once all these preparatory efforts are done, it will not be easy to rework later. There is a riveting and welding factory in Wuhu, Anhui Province, which has extended the training time for new employees from two weeks to five weeks. After new employees got started, the scrap rate dropped by 40%.

Communicate clearly with customers once

In the field of custom riveting and welding, the biggest hidden cost is actually the repeated revision of the plan. Therefore, before accepting an order, you must ask clearly about the details of the drawings, precision tolerance requirements, material selection, and how the surface is treated, and compile these contents into a list for the relevant personnel to sign for confirmation.

After a local foundry in Shanghai used this method, the average number of communication rounds on their side was reduced from 7 rounds in the past to 3 rounds.

Create a relatively simple change ledger. Every time a customer makes a change, record clearly what time it was, why such a change was made, and calculate how many man-hours were affected by the change. A general accounting will be done at the end of the month. Then it will be very clear to see which customers frequently propose modifications to their requirements and which production processes are most likely to cause wrangling, thereby providing a more solid reference for subsequent quotations and production planning arrangements.

In your production workshop, which part of the riveting step has become the key point that hinders development? Everyone is welcome to express your opinions in the comments. If this message is helpful to you, please like it and share it with your colleagues at work.