Welding technology bound to improve ship building
One area in which construction provides much concern for ship manufacturers is in the final construction stage of ship blocks and other areas, especially with regards to interior sections. Currently manual labour is needed, but this proves expensive and provides human labour with uncomfortable and unhealthy working conditions. Presently, automated welding devices cannot access certain areas or are unable to manoeuvre these spaces properly to conduct suitable welding processes. Tecnomare's development of a mobile robotic unit addresses this current shortcoming. Not only is their mobile welding system capable of accessing these areas, but it also improves productivity by a factor of 3.6. Increasing a welder's arc time, produces better quality welds, as well as reducing assembly lead times in dry dock or slipways by 10%. In addition to the above mentioned improvements, the technology developed as an industrial prototype, will boast a lightweight manipulator, advanced vision systems for accurate assessment of welding areas, a remote control console to allow welding supervision from outside the welding areas, and a mobile platform for repositioning the welding equipment. Given these advantages, the European ship building industry takes a vital step forward in reducing production bottleneck areas, lessening the ergonomically adverse effects on human labour and upgrading production levels.
