MACHINE BUILDING, FRAMEWORKS & SAFETY FEATURE


regardless of material thickness. And, as the process is cold, there is no risk of heat distortion. “Obviously, we have to remove oxide or


HAZ after we weld panels to form the hull, superstructure and internal fit-out, but we only have to do it once,” commented Griffon Hoverwork’s senior detail designer, Christopher Walden-Bevan.


WHAT IS WATERJET CUTTING? Over time, the waterjet machine has evolved into a highly accurate, efficient and cost- effective method of cutting a variety of materials. A high-pressure pump forces a mixture of water and fine abrasive garnet grit through a cutting nozzle at around 90,000psi, resulting in a powerful 0.28mm-wide cutting stream that will accurately slice through up to 250mm of ferrous and non-ferrous materials. It will also make short work of hard-to-cut exotic alloys and provides an especially safe way to cleanly cut carbon-fibre composites. Today’s machines will not only cut in two


dimensions, i.e. profiling flat parts, but also – thanks to five-axis CNC programming – three- dimensional forms may be sculpted from thick plate or blocks. What’s more, it may be used to create 3D parts more economically than costly processes such as milling or casting.


STAGING WORK PACKAGES Building a large hovercraft may take up to twelve months and Griffon Hoverwork wants cut parts supplied in staged work packages. In planning production, it breaks down supply required from ICEE into hundreds of work packages. In general, a package equals one person’s parts supply for a week. When the order book is at full capacity, work


package orders may be sent to ICEE on a weekly basis, comprising as many as ten packages. Each package may contain between a hundred


to a thousand components to be cut, depending on the build stage. As part of its service, the contractor supplies work packages for particular tasks in the factory, together with all associated documentation. This highly specific packaging and zoning approach makes it far easier for the customer to distribute in-bound supplies straight to the right areas of the factory, saving time and errors, and boosting productivity.


LLOYD’S REGISTER CHALLENGES The value of this comprehensive service is even greater where Griffon Hoverwork builds craft to Lloyd’s Register compliance standards. To qualify, each part cut requires precise marking by ICEE, clearly identifying it in relation to associated quality assurance documentation. Normally, the manufacturer specifies 3.1 grade


Building a large hovercraft may take up to twelve months and Griffon Hoverwork wants cut parts supplied in staged work packages


material, which means provenance certification is supplied by the rolling mill. Craft built to the high standards demanded by Lloyd’s Register require double certification, especially for the passenger market. This means documentation is not only provided by the rolling mill, but also from an independent standards authority, a far more demanding 3.2 level of compliance. In these cases, precise and reliable


documentation from the parts cutting contractor The Solent Flyer


is key to prove compliance and provide a traceability record. Thus Griffon Hoverwork will always be certain that: 1) a part is properly certified before building it into the vessel; and 2) can show written evidence later, should proof be demanded a certified material was used. For ICEE, pressure to ensure perfect


documentation and traceability for Lloyd’s Register purposes may be complicated further because the material required is often much thinner for a lightweight hovercraft than other marine vessels. Availability of this kind of material from approved mills is challenging and requires testing by an independent certifier to achieve 3.2 level ratification. “Managing all this reliably and consistently


speaks volumes for ICEE’s competence, expertise and ability to offer more than simply a panel cutting service,” said Walden-Bevan. “The combination of their help producing and documenting compliant work packages, plus their cold-cutting waterjet halving the cost of HAZ treatment, all adds up to big cost savings for us.”


ICEE Managed Services www.icee.co.uk


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