It takes Michael Welp almost ten minutes to cross the new dock hall at the shipyard in Papenburg. At more than half a kilometer long, it is the largest in the world. This is where the company builds luxury cruise ships. As Head of IT Production Planning and Control, Work Preparation and Quality Assurance, Welp is responsible for coordinating the work processes. As part of a modernization project, the shipyard was equipped with industrial PCs from Noax. The employees use them to log in with their company ID cards. "We need the computers for personnel time recording and to control and coordinate the individual work steps," explains Welp.

Shipbuilding is like a game with building blocks, where you put together a tower, a house or a model ship from many individual elements. First, steel plates of different sizes are cut out using a laser cutter.

At the numerous work stations, the employees weld them together to form so-called sections. Each steel plate is given a barcode and a number so that the men at the stations know exactly how to join the individual parts together. In technical terms, a section is the basic element, i.e. the building block from which the hull is assembled. Several sections form a block. In turn, the complete hull is created from several blocks.

The data for assembling the individual parts is supplied by the numerous industrial computers at the workstations. "In addition to time recording, the computers basically have two other functions," explains Welp: "The employees on site use them to call up all the work instructions. The computers also provide the operating data for work planning in the control center."

Reliable data for the control center

The assembly of sections and blocks is coordinated in the control station. Here, those responsible can see which employees are working at a particular station at a particular time, which activities need to be carried out, which work steps have already been completed and how long the individual employee has been working at the station. Precise information about the progress of production is of crucial importance, especially in such a gigantic project as the construction of a cruise ship.

Electronic data transfer

To log in to the station, each employee has a company ID card with a built-in transponder chip. The operating data is sent to the control station via WLAN, where it is collected and evaluated. This means that the employees in the control center are always aware of the current production status.

Before the company switched to electronic working time recording, the individual work steps were entered by hand on forms and filed in the foreman's office. "This method was not only time-consuming, but errors kept creeping in," explains Welp. "The error rate has been significantly reduced thanks to posting via industrial PC. Added to this is the increased transparency. The industrial PCs are the backbone of data communication in the shipyards. Compared to the past, the devices have improved operational reliability and reduced the error rate." Another advantage is the intuitive operation: "The touch computers with additional function keys are easy for our employees to use. We opted for a screen diagonal of 19 inches so that we can also clearly see plans and CAD models."

50 computers in use

Meyer Werft uses around 50 industrial PCs from the Steel and Compact series at the individual stations (the Steel S19 and Compact C15 industrial PCs were used). In order to document and coordinate the work steps, MES software consisting of the BDE,

control station and administration. The computers play a decisive role not only in the assembly of the steel structure, but also in the installation of the interior fittings. The basic structure of the interior fittings is the pipework, as power cables, ventilation and air extraction run through it,

heating and air conditioning systems, water supply and disposal as well as the cables for communication. To set themselves apart from the competition, shipping companies attach great importance to their own, company-specific profile, which is reflected in the interior fittings and furnishings. The piping is designed accordingly.

The industrial PCs supply the CNC data for cutting and bending the pipes to size and control the machines that carry out this work. For the control program for manufacturing the pipes, the shipyard uses 15-inch devices from the Compact series, which are characterized by their robustness and completely enclosed design. Interruptions to operations due to hardware problems would very quickly drive up costs. For this reason alone, Welp attaches great importance to robust hardware that runs stably even in harsh environmental conditions. In pipe construction in particular, it happens time and again that an employee hits the computer hard with a piece of steel.

By using the industrial computers in conjunction with the MES software and the CNC program, the shipyard can streamline its work processes and offer its employees more comfort - and this in a difficult, harsh industrial environment: the computers are particularly exposed to flying chips and sparks when building the sections. In addition, a lot of lubricants are used in the production of the pipes. These could easily penetrate a normal PC through the ventilation and damage it. However, the hardware is completely sealed. Although the robustness of the industrial PCs was the main reason for using the industrial computers from Noax, the energy efficiency of the PCs also played a role.

Author:
Michael Naumann is a freelance technical journalist from Munich.

The project requirements

Meyer Werft had set itself the following goals before introducing the computers:

• Data acquisition directly on site in the shipyard halls
• MES with the modules BDE, control center and administration
• Automated personnel time recording
• Streamlining of work processes
• Accurate documentation and improved control of individual work steps

The objectives resulted in the following requirements for the industrial PCs:

• Use in the shipyards with increased robustness requirements
• Completely enclosed design in accordance with protection class IP67
• Protection against dust, lubricants, flying sparks and metal chips
• Easy handling by employees
• Easy-to-read displays with touchscreen
• Maximum operational reliability under extremely demanding conditions

Focus on robustness

Robustness is clearly the focus of Noax's industrial computers. CEO Verena Schechner explains how the company achieves this and the expertise behind it.

Ms. Schechner, how can you guarantee the robustness of the devices?

In-house development plays a very important role here. We develop the entire industrial PC ourselves, from the all-in-one motherboard to the robust housings. In this way, we ensure that the device design is coordinated and that the IPCs reliably fulfill their function during operation.
During the entire development process, we attach great importance to the reliability and suitability of the components for long-term industrial use. We also pay attention to secure connections between the various components in order to withstand shock and vibration. This is because loose connections are often the number one cause of failure in other devices.

We also carry out numerous extreme tests, such as ball drop and ageing tests, and work closely with independent test laboratories. For example, we have the IP protection class against dust and water, such as IP65 or IP69K, tested and confirmed externally.

The industrial PCs are produced to customer specifications at our site in Ebersberg near Munich. Various tests are carried out during the entire production process, which are concluded with a 48-hour burn-in test.

I would also like to mention that we are ISO 9001:2008 certified. With the certification of our quality management and the regular inspection by TÜV Süd, we ensure that our processes and therefore our products meet the high quality requirements of our users.

"We ensure the quality and robustness of the industrial PCs with numerous extreme tests both internally and by independent and certified laboratories," explains Verena Schechner."

© noax

What criteria play a role in a robust and durable product? And how can they be influenced?

Temperature, humidity and thermal currents, for example, play an important role in the durability of a product. Temperature in particular is very important. Arrhenius' law, for example, states that the service life is halved if the temperature increases by 10°. This is precisely why we have developed a sophisticated energy management system and implemented it in our industrial PCs. The most important part of this is the microcontroller*), which monitors various voltages as well as the temperatures at important points in the industrial PC. This built-in intelligence enables the IPC to adjust its energy requirements if necessary.

Another feature offered by the MCU is the ability to activate the power-saving functions. This can be easily set directly on the industrial PC using the 'nSmart' tool.

How are the devices cooled?

Active temperature management protects our IPCs from overheating. In addition to the MCU, we rely on the use of low-energy and industrial components that are designed for 24/7 use and extreme temperatures. This allows us to dispense with external fans even in our sealed devices.