In 2025, ALMA strengthens its position as an expert in industrial robotics software for cutting & welding

Published on the 26/05/2025

Why has ALMA decided to accelerate its strategy in robotic software solutions?

ALMA has always been forward-thinking in anticipating major industrial shifts. Today, the adoption of robotics is advancing rapidly across all sectors. According to several studies, the market for industrial welding robots was $10.36 billion in 2024 and should grow to $16.44 billion by 2033, growing about 5.3% each year (from Business Research Insights). These figures clearly highlight a strong trend: automation has become indispensable.

With 45 years of expertise in CAD/CAM solutions, we have unique mastery of challenges such as managing assemblies, handling complex geometries, optimizing trajectories, and conducting advanced simulations. This expertise enables us to develop innovative solutions in industrial robotics. Thanks to our highly automated Offline Programming (OLP) approach, we’ve demonstrated that using cutting and welding robots can be cost-effective, even for small productions.

In response to this growing demand, we’ve decided to strengthen our position as experts to support both integrators and end-users. Today, we are investing the necessary resources to showcase our full expertise and meet the needs of an industry undergoing significant transformation.

Why is it important to embrace automation through robotics in 2025, even for industrial SMEs?

In 2025, adopting automation with industrial robots is no longer optional but a strategic necessity, even for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Robots, combined with high-performance software solutions, provide a unique mix of precision, productivity, and reliability. This is essential to meet the market’s growing demands, such as shorter production timelines and cost competitiveness.

Moreover, in specialized fields like welding, industrial SMEs face structural challenges, including a shortage of skilled labor. By integrating robots into their processes, these workshops can overcome these hurdles, ensure operational continuity, and enhance product quality.

Adopting robotics now means staying ahead of market trends, reducing costs in the medium term, and securing long-term competitiveness—regardless of the industry.

In the market of robotics software, how does ALMA stand out?

The industrial robotics software market includes manufacturer-specific software designed to work with their robots, as well as more generalist third-party solutions. ALMA’s offering stands out in several key ways, differentiating us both in the functional capabilities of our software and in the values that define us as a company.

On the functional side, we are specialists—not generalists—with 45 years of expertise in cutting and welding. This specialization allows us to handle all types of metal parts, including small productions and complex shapes. Managing such complexity requires a level of expertise that not all providers possess. Unlike standardized solutions from other players, ALMA delivers tailored answers for unique production needs, such as small series and intricate assemblies. Our smart software solutions and automated processes make this possible.

About our corporate values, our cooperative model and core values set us apart from other software providers, offering significant benefits to robotic system integrators and industrial companies. One distinctive aspect of ALMA is that we are one of the few remaining independent CAD/CAM and robotics software providers—and it will stay that way. This independence is safeguarded by our cooperative business structure. At a time when corporate acquisitions are commonplace, our partners can trust that their collaboration with us does not fuel a competing conglomerate.

By choosing ALMA, our partners gain a trusted, specialized, and independent ally for their robotic software needs.

You’ve decided to strengthen your collaboration with robotics integrators. What does that mean?

Robotics integrators, especially those working in welding, are key partners for us. Our collaboration is truly a win-win partnership. Together, we bring real value to the end customers.

We already work with several integrators in France and internationally. To expand our partner network, we’ve grown our robotics support and R&D teams to be fully equipped to support them. We now have the experience needed to work effectively with integrators and respond quickly whenever they need us.

What are the main features of your solution dedicated to robotic welding?

To develop our software solution for welding, Almacam Weld, we focused on two major challenges faced by end users: first, the growing difficulty in finding skilled welders; second, the hesitation or difficulty in using robots for small production runs or complex parts like mechanized welded assemblies with many weld beads.

Almacam Weld is a robot Offline Programming solution that helps overcome these obstacles. Users can simulate, program, and optimize their welding operations using a digital twin of their robotic cells, all without interrupting production. Our algorithms calculate the most efficient paths to reduce errors, avoid collisions, improve weld quality, and minimize downtime. Users can also synchronize multiple robots or positioners—all automatically. This results in a huge productivity boost.

What about AI in your robotics solutions?

That’s the big question right now! To be trendy, many software providers talk about AI without clearly explaining what it really brings to end users in their daily work.

At ALMA, of course we’re interested in these new technologies, and we didn’t wait for AI to become a buzzword to start tapping into the potential of so-called Artificial Intelligence algorithms.

To be clear, if you need to perform a specific task—like applying a particular welding constraint—AI isn’t really necessary. But if you need to estimate costs that depend on many parameters and the condition of a machine, then an AI approach makes sense.

Our innovations have always been developed in-house by algorithm experts and engineers who keep a close eye on technological advances. Since ALMA’s founding, we have been—and continue to be—pioneers in our field. Artificial Intelligence is obviously one of the areas we explore to find new ways to solve complex problems or optimize existing processes. That said, we remain humble and pragmatic about the real benefits of this technology, which is often seen as magical and capable of solving everything.