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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] The shipbuilding industry, which is suffering from severe manpower shortages, is expanding the introduction of robots.
The role of robots is expanding throughout the construction process, from welding, which is the basis and core of ship construction, to bending, wire placement, and underwater hull cleaning.
According to industry sources on the 5th, Samsung Heavy Industries recently developed a laser high-speed welding robot optimized for the production of cargo windows for LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers. The newly developed welding robot is up to five times faster than conventional plasma arc welding (PAW), which is expected to increase the construction production efficiency of LNG carriers.
As it became increasingly difficult to secure skilled welding workers, Samsung Heavy Industries has been developing high-speed welding robots since 2021, paying attention to "robot welders" as an alternative. The company expects that the welding robot developed this time will be a key technology to maintain Samsung Heavy Industries' competitiveness in building cargo windows.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Hanwha Ocean are also actively utilizing robot welders. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has been introducing robots into all-direction welding such as horizontal, vertical and rotation through continuous improvement since the introduction of cooperative robots in the large assembly process in 2018 for the first time in the industry. In the shipyard of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, a robot weighing 13㎏ performs precise welding work in a narrow space inside the hull beyond human reach. In particular, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries introduced an additional welding robot this year and increased its operation to about 40 units.
In the case of Hanwha Ocean, it developed a cooperative robot to weld ship piping coordinators earlier this year and put it into the field. The robot, which was completed after dozens of revisions since 2019 when it was suffering from financial difficulties, allows workers to do precise work near the robot without a separate safety fence or safety sensor. Hanwha Ocean expects that preparation time will be reduced by 60% due to welding robots.
In addition to welding, shipbuilders are using robots throughout the ship's construction process. An underwater hull cleaning robot that cleans the bottom of the hull of a submerged ship, a wire laying robot that automatically installs wires, and curved molding robots that automatically form the outer surface of curved surfaces are increasing work efficiency on behalf of humans.
The introduction of robots in the ship construction process is expected to expand in the future.
AlphaBIZ 김지선(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
