A UTOMATION, CONTROL & MEASUREMENT
Automated profiling IN THE WORLD OF STEEL CONSTRUCTION, A LOT OF WORK, INCLUDING HAND MARKING, CUTTING, AND GRINDING, IS MANUALLY EXECUTED TO PREPARE MATERIALS FOR FITTING AND WELDING. THIS TAKES LOTS OF TIME AND EFFORT. SSC STEEL SHAPE CUTTERS (SSC), A NEW COMPANY FOUNDED IN FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR, OFFERS A HELPING HAND WITH AUTOMATED PROFILING. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF SSC STEEL SHAPE CUTTERS.
The RPC1200, is a robot cell plasma cutter for profiling beams and hollow sections with a width of up to 1,200mm and plates with a width of up to 1,200mm and a maximum length of 3,000mm.
W
e talk with Managing Director of SSC, Peter Staat. “The founders of SSC, which both have a two-decade long background in offshore construction, noticed a lack of availability of automated profiling for the larger steel tubes, beams, and hollow sections. They saw this as a golden opportunity. For example, tools and equipment needed for the construction of offshore wind turbines are growing in size, requiring larger steel pipes and beams. Automated profiling is the perfect solution here.” The offshore wind market is currently on a high with increasing delivery times, and according to Mr Staat this is absolutely unacceptable for offshore wind contractors. “With our automated 3D profiling, we help
4 0 | O S I 2 0 2 1 | Volum e 14 | Issue 4
SSC.indd 40
construction companies to meet the offshore industry’s desire for extremely short delivery times.”
Surprised
“For the construction of offshore wind turbines,” he says, “a lot of steel-made tools are used such as grillages, pre-piling templates, upending tools, et cetera. They are often dedicatedly constructed for a specific project, meaning that new tools must be constructed for each offshore windfarm. When I started my job at SSC, I was surprised by the fact that contractors in the offshore industry are very demanding when it comes to delivery times. Everything needs to be supplied quickly and without
any delays, as time is money. Manual preparation takes a lot of time, especially when high quality and accuracy is required. Using automated machining enables high processing speeds, combined with high accuracy, and more or less without the need of further finishing.”
State of the art
The young company invested in two machines from HGG, a well-known Dutch manufacturer of CNC cutting machines. “Our two machines are really state of the art”, Mr Staat explains. “They are computercontrolled with a huge range, superb accuracy, and great efficiency. One machine, the SPC2500, is for oxyfuel and plasma
o ffs h o re -i n d u s tr y. e u
09-09-2021 13:23
