Hitachi Zosen Corporation Ariake Works has recently developed and put into practical use a fully automated assembly line with robots performing everything from joining curved shell plates to welding longitudinal members. This is the first stage in investment by the company for full automation of three-dimensional curved hull block welding. The new line features the latest automatic equipment, including three sets of NC universal jig surface tables for supporting curved blocks, two gantry type one-side welding robots for connecting curved shell plates, and one line welder for fillet welds on longitudinal members.
To ensure work safety, high productivity and high quality of work, the optimum curved block assembly posture can be simulated prior to assembly by a computer system called PHI-JIG (see Figure 1), which makes extensive use of the product model (so called PHI).
