A good order book and need for higher capacity in the dock were the reasons for STX France purchasing more welding automation for their shipyard's panel welding.
STX France is one of the top cruise ship and navy ship builders in the world. In the highly competitive market of shipbuilding, STX France needed to modernise its panel welding machinery and also have more efficient and productive equipment for the shipyard. It needed more capacity, better quality and faster performance assisted by new technology.
STX France decided to turn to Pemamek after a competitive offering round, and purchased PEMA Integrated One-sided Laser-Hybrid Welding and Milling Station with extensive conveyor solution for welding deck plates together. To secure fast and reliable delivery of the welding line, STX France included in their order also installation, training and commissioning of the complete solution.
STX France project manager Florent Camaret said: "For us, this clearly puts PEMA in a special position, because PEMA's heavy duty laser-hybrid welding solution and the milling station were a unique proof of their technology and enhanced with a great reputation on shipbuilding business.
"We have a need for welding also heavier thicknesses and we need a solid quality, and PEMA could provide us this technology."
To improve productivity and quality, STX France is now able to reduce man hours by having less re-work like fairing, no double work needed. The quality of deck panels improves, that makes block manufacturing easier due to less deformation on panels.
The challenge
The shipyard has a good order book and a need for higher capacity and also better quality. They target for less rework after welding, since panels require a lot of fairing afterwards to get rid of deformations. That takes time and resources.
The solution
A PEMA Laser-Hybrid Welding System together with integrated heavy duty milling process ensures minimized distortion for the deck panels. The purchased system is capable to feed their existing panel lines and that required also a special conveyor solution to be adapted.
Results
STX France gets with PEMA Welding Solution minimized distortion on butt-welded panels, less re-work like fairing and fewer man hours.
Normally laser-hybrid welding process is used for thinner materials but we are welding also heavier thicknesses with one pass assisted by PEMA technology. Conveyors surrounding the station are tailor-made for this specific customer case considering existing systems.
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