Planning ships with virtual reality
Our ship designers are already taking a stroll around the vessels of the future. We use our virtual reality system to inspect engine rooms, theatre halls, navigating bridges and staterooms, allowing us to review and discuss the design of the new facilities long before the keel is laid at the dock. Virtual reality is improving the quality of our construction processes, and we can also use the technology to show our customers how their new luxury liners will look in the future.
High-precision laser welding
MEYER WERFT uses 3 x 10 m steel sheets to build its impressive ocean liners. The sheets are processed at the MEYER WERFT laser centre, where they are welded together to create interior and exterior walls in a fully automated process. The openings for windows, doors and passages are cut out with the latest plasma technology – the entire process is controlled by computers. The lasers operate at a lower temperature to protect the material and prevent the steel from becoming stretched or deformed during the welding process. This also means we can work with relatively thin sheets to save material and money during construction and reduce fuel consumption during the ship’s operation. A cruise ship has around 1,000 kilometres of welded joints – 800 kilometres are welded by lasers, and the rest is done by hand. Our high-tech steelwork is performed by seven different systems at the largest laser centre in Europe.
Modern Piping Centre
Modern cruise ships require around 400 kilometres of piping – for water supplies, air conditioning units, extraction channels and even sprinkler systems. Our employees manufacture tens of thousands of pipes for each ship, delivering them to exactly the right place at the right time. This process is managed by the central service providers at our piping centre. The essential stages of the manufacturing process are performed by processing machines and welding robots, which receive all the necessary data directly from our design offices. A large part of the demand is covered by our fully automated systems to save time and money. The piping centre is also where the units are made. These are the complex, sometimes multi-storey modules that form the basis of our engine rooms. We will continue to develop our methodology in the future to make our production process even more efficient. After all, innovation is our standard.
