The company held a completion ceremony at the Chilseo Industrial Complex in Haman, South Gyeongsang Province. About 70 people attended, including Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Choi Seong-an and representatives from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as well as shipowners and industry officials from ENI and MISC.
Piping, often described as a ship’s circulatory system, is produced through a spool fabrication process in which components such as elbows, tees and flanges are welded and assembled into a single unit based on design drawings.
Samsung Heavy Industries said it built a smart management system that integrates the entire process — from pipe design to automated logistics, high-precision machining and measurement, alignment and welding — and combined it with vision AI to implement an automated production system.
The PIPE ROBOFAB facility has a total floor area of 6,500 square meters and can produce about 100,000 pipe spools a year, the company said. It said shifting spool fabrication to advanced robotics is expected to shorten production time while ensuring consistent quality and safety.
“PIPE ROBOFAB is a site that has innovated the pipe spool process through the fusion of Samsung Heavy Industries’ skilled welding technology and 3X (AX·DX·RX) technology,” Choi said. “It will serve as an opportunity to upgrade the manufacturing competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry by one step.”
Choi Won-young, chairman of Samsung Heavy Industries’ labor-management council, said AI and automation are “an unavoidable major trend” across industries. He said labor and management will continue to communicate to support job stability for workers and a safer work environment as shipbuilding orders expand.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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