Samsung Heavy Industries said on the 16th it will begin full operation of Pipe RoboFab, the shipbuilding industry's first automated plant for producing piping spools.
Piping, which serves as the vessel's blood vessels, goes through a spool fabrication process in which elbows, tees and flanges are welded and assembled into a single unit according to design drawings.
Samsung Heavy Industries built a smart management system that integrates the entire process from piping design to automated logistics, high-precision machining and measurement, alignment, and welding, and combined it with vision artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create an automated production system.
Samsung Heavy Industries' Pipe RoboFab has a total floor area of 6,500 square meters and the capacity to produce about 100,000 piping spools a year. Samsung Heavy Industries said, "By shifting spool fabrication to advanced robotic technology, we can not only shorten schedules but also ensure uniform quality and safety."
At the completion ceremony held that day at the Chilseo Industrial Complex in Haman, South Gyeongsang, more than 70 people attended, including CEO Choi Sung-an of Samsung Heavy Industries; officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources; shipowners such as ENI and MISC; and industry representatives from Korea and abroad.
Chairperson Choi Won-young of the Samsung Heavy Industries labor-management council said, "AI and automation are an unavoidable, major trend across all industries, but with the expansion of shipbuilding workloads increasing jobs, labor and management will communicate smoothly to ensure job stability for on-site workers and a safe working environment."
Samsung Heavy Industries is pushing a transition to a smart shipyard through digital transformation that connects design, procurement and production across all divisions, based on the Engineering Data Hub (S-EDH) established in October last year. Pipe RoboFab is one of the achievements in which Samsung Heavy Industries' 3X (AX, DX, RX) transition has been fully introduced on the production floor.
Vice Chair and CEO Choi Sung-an of Samsung Heavy Industries said, "Pipe RoboFab is a site that has revolutionized the piping spool process through the fusion of Samsung Heavy Industries' skilled welding technology and 3X technologies," adding, "It will be a catalyst for upgrading the manufacturing competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry by one step."