Ben Sharples, Director of Malin Newbuild, stated
We are delighted to undertake this project with NMIS. It has been a privilege to collaborate, enabling our team to improve our measurement systems, providing benefits directly to our clients.
Background
The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) worked with Malin Fabrication to improve and streamline its measurement procedures for components larger than five metres. NMIS has made recent advances in large scale measurement innovation and is applying new and existing technologies to a wide variety of industry challenges.
Customer challenge
The Malin Group has a dedicated fabrication service offering based at its facilities at Westway in Renfrew. As the scale and range of projects increased, the need for measurement also grew, creating a bottleneck. Part verification following manufacturing is crucial for ensuring integrity, and errors or inaccuracies during the measurement process can cause significant delays in production and fulfilling orders.
How did NMIS help?
The NMIS Digital Team performed a short review of the manufacturing processes within the Malin Group to identify areas of potential improvement. The team used various measurement techniques to test the relative benefits of each system applied to different measurement tasks. This included equipment from NMIS technology partners, such as GOM UK and Hexagon Metrology and testing of large-scale measurement methods under development at NMIS.
A report was then compiled, which proposed using laser tracking and photogrammetry technologies to reduce measurement times and improve confidence in verification. Based on this, Malin and one of its suppliers could make an informed decision before investing in the appropriate measurement system.
Ben Sharples, Director of Malin Newbuild, stated
We are delighted to undertake this project with NMIS. It has been a privilege to collaborate, enabling our team to improve our measurement systems, providing benefits directly to our clients.
Business impact
Malin was able to present the technology review and results from testing to its customer to demonstrate the proactive measures taken to mitigate project risks that may have delayed the production schedule. This provided both Malin and its customer with greater confidence in the overall production process, increasing the likelihood of further work on the site for the next six-seven years, supporting up to 60 jobs.