Miller Marine uses Koike Aronson's Wel-Handy (Multi) to cut weld time.

Miller Marine assembles camels on site.

Bryan Miller, vice president of Miller Marine Inc. of Deltaville, Va., knew after the first camel was completed that the company had to find a way to produce them faster. After considering the problem, he decided to focus on reducing the time needed for welding. To do that economically, Miller installed a portable welding carriage system — a Wel-Handy (Multi) unit — from Koike Aronson Inc. (www.koike.com).

Camels are the bumpers or buffers that protect ships' hulls by keeping the vessels away from piers or quays. The products Miller Marine builds closely resemble the inside of a ship or barge and have many stiffener plates that run along the longitudinal line and bulkhead. The company's camels measure approximately 56-ft. long, by 58-ft. wide, by 7-ft. deep. Building each camel requires laying down thousands of feet of fillet welds to join stiffener plates — a labor-intensive and timeconsuming process.

Bryan knew the company had to automate, but he also believed full-scale automation was not possible because automation systems, such as robots, often are stationary. Miller needed a flexible automation system because the camels are built in sections then joined together in the final stages. Miller also needed a solution that would work in the narrow spacing between the stiffener plates. Typically the spaces between those plates are smaller than 23 in. and restrict the room for the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) guns and fluxcored wire used to weld them. Koike Aronson's Wel-Handy (Multi) offered a solution to Miller Marine's automation problem. The unit is a portable welding carriage system that helped Miller Marine to semiautomate its welding process. The unit also used welding equipment that Miller Marine had. "We were able to take the hand torch from the welder and mount it on the carriage. It was really that simple," Bryan Miller says. "We used the same welding settings but now the welder is able to concentrate on the actual weld without becoming fatigued." He adds that the most obvious increase in production was in the amount of weld that was done in a day. With the semi-automated system a welder who produced 110 ft. of weld a day now produces nearly 300 ft. of weld a day. Miller says his company also derived other benefits from the semi-automated system. He says the welds his company produces now are x-ray quality, and that heat distortion traceable to welding has been reduced.

The reduction in heat distortion has led to an improved fit-up for the assemblies. Miller estimates that his company has saved 56.4 percent in direct costs for gas and wire because its welds now are consistent and closer to the sizes required by code than welds that were produced by the hand. Spatter also has been reduced because the semi-automatic system maintains the proper stick out length for the entire weld. This reduces the amount of time needed to finish a weld. Miller says the carriage system has also helped his welders. "We found that it made our welders better welders," says Bryan Miller. "After they used the equipment, they better understood the welding process. They could see how the speed of the carriage and stick out affected the weld. When they went back to hand welding, they remembered how the portable welding carriage worked and they copied it," he says.