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Corus Service Centre's innovative system of self-jigging ship kits, which has been granted Millennium Product status, has helped the organisers of the prestigious BT Global Challenge 2000 - 2001 yacht race signifcantly cut costs and build time. Designed for ship, boat and yacht builds, the system is based on a combination of Corus Service Centreapos;s unrivalled plate profiling capability and the advanced computer modelling facilities of ship design specialists J M Design. The race organisers, Sir Chay Blythapos;s Challenge Business International Ltd placed an order for 15 yacht kits, which incorporate the most advanced features to withstand the extremely demanding race conditions. The close tolerance stainless and mild steel profiles were supplied by Corus from its service centre in Leeds. Design data was e-mailed to the business from J M Design and used to programme the centreapos;s five sophisticated laser processing lines to ensure optimum material utilisation and precision. Each kit consisted of 510 components which were supplied fully developed with limber holes, stringers, slots, jig parts and fitting details. Automatic line and text marking ensured an efficient error free build. Kits are designed with each ship yardapos;s requirements in mind so that where there is a minimal amount of space, smaller kit pieces can be delivered in the correct build sequence. According to J M Design's Jim Moore, kits offer a huge range of advantages over traditional build methods: Kits eliminate the need for marking, cutting out and, in the case of self-jigging kits, setting up of the supplied parts. This means that build times can be reduced by 20%, with even greater reductions for repeat builds. This leads to subsequent reductions in labour costs, whilst the boat shape and quality are optimised. Two of the yachts which will take part in the round-the-world yacht race have been built in China. Kimis Yacht Company, based in Zuhahi, Southern China, constructed the 72ft steel yachts for the "The World's Toughest Yacht Race". This is the first time an identical fleet of yachts have been built in different locations around the world. Sir Chay Blyth, the Race Organiser and Managing Director of TCBI, said: "It has always been our intention to build some of the yachts outside of the UK. Their unique design will ensure that identical yachts will be built to uniform standards of quality anywhere in the world. The close tolerance kit profiles ensure a high degree of accuracy when the boats are assembled. The parts are so precise that they can be put together without a ruler. In order to ensure that these yachts are identical to those being built in the UK, an independent surveyor and a representative from TCBI visited Kimis Yacht Company on a monthly basis to carry out inspection surveys. | |
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