Column-and-boom stations are frequently discussed in terms of maximum reach or a model class. Those numbers matter, but they can create a false sense of simplicity. Booms do not carry only a torch. Depending on the process, they may carry a welding head, wire feeder, flux recovery, cross-slide, camera, seam-tracking hardware, cable package, service platform, and related brackets. Their duty also includes placing that package at the seam through the required lift and travel while the workpiece, support system, and operator access remain inside a workable envelope. Size a manipulator from the complete boom-end package and production envelope outward. Start with the seam, map the workpiece and station, then build…