INDUSTRY NEWS
1500
new jobs in the UK
SKANSKA, one of the UK’s leading construction companies, is planning to create around 1,500 jobs in the UK during the next two to three years. These will be required to complete major rail, water, building and roads contracts won by the company, which is looking forward to a period of planned growth and expansion. To fuel this growth, Skanska
will be increasing its workforce in a range of sectors. In particular, there will be a focus on construction and infrastructure contracts, including commercial building in London and projects for health and pharmaceutical clients, as well as across the road, rail, utilities and energy sectors. Skanska has been involved in
several high-profile projects, including building 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin) in London, the widening of the M25, infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic Park and constructing Britain’s greenest public building, the Brent Civic Centre.
10KW FIBRE LASER ROBOTWELDER
A ROBOT FIBRE laser weld cell using what is believed to be the UK’s largest commercially-operated power source, 10kW, has been installed at Graham Engineering Limited (GEL) in Nelson, Lancashire. The system has been integrated by Cyber-Weld Limited using a FANUC six-axis robot at its heart. The fibre laser weld cell has increased production capacity and provided important additional capabilities. Stuart Fraser, Production Director, GEL, explained: “We
realised our future business would be welding material thicknesses of between 6mm and 12mm, meaning an 8kW requirement. However, as the system was being specified, a new job came up requiring a 15mm single- pass weld so we decided on the extra 2kW and specified a 10kW Ytterbium fibre-laser. Using the FANUC robot with the fibre laser makes it very straightforward to deploy wire feed; having the wire feed option is imperative as some jobs require a filler to finish the weld. “Currently, we’re using just the one new system with the
power source but we plan to install three more FANUC robots to be integrated by Cyber-Weld Ltd.We can use two welding heads simultaneously if required, for instance when welding the channels of a ‘T’ section, but the main method of operation will be to use the power source in one cell at a time.Welding in one cell will take place while the others are being assembled and set up, which generally takes as much time as the welding process.” The FANUC robot has full co-ordinated motion control
over all nine axes allowing high quality continuous welding of large components, such as the lid sealing flange of waste containment boxes. The M710-iC robot is capable of maintaining repeatability of programmed path at speed while carrying the 15kg Precitec optical laser
FLOOD DAMAGE TRACK REPAIR
AFTER THE SEVERE damage inflicted on the Devon coastal rails in the UK this February, over 300 railway workers have been working around the clock to repair and restore the rails to their former glory. The crucial rail link between Devon and the rest of the South, including London, was out of operation for 56 days but
has now been fully repaired, allowing most train services to operate as normal. The extensive rail repairs included relaying over 700m of track and ballast to cater for a temporary signalling system which required 13 miles of new cable. The repairs were made all the more difficult by the fact that the sea wall also needed replacing. It was initially replaced with 18 shipping containers welded together and filled with concrete – though this was just a temporary measure while the repairs took place. The replacement sea wall used over
8
6000 tonnes of concrete and 150 tonnes of steel. All in all, a four-mile stretch of
railway required an array of rail welding repairs while Dawlish train station underwent serious repairs after being massively impacted by the February storms.
This could not have been done without the ‘army’ of railway engineers, the fire and rescue service, the army and all the other people that assisted in repairing the rails and the connection between Devon and the South of England.
delivery unit with gas flow tubes and wire for hybrid welding capability. “From our decision to project manage in-house, and
with the support of Cyber-Weld, we have made a significant saving of 72 per cent over the cost of original proposals and a system tailored around GEL’s specific requirements. Current investment has totalled around £1m," concluded Stuart Fraser. Capacity has increased at GEL with a 6mm penetration
weld taking half the time. Business has already increased as a result of the investment. Currently the welding cell is being used by Technology Strategy Board-funded projects including TWI in Cambridge and a European project run by the European Federation forWelding, Joining and Cutting (EWF) in Portugal.
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