WILH. WILHELMSEN HOLDING ASA Supplying standardised products for all types of welding processes was one of the founding concepts of Wilhelmsen Ships Service and has been a focus it held for many years. Even as the company's product offer grew to include safety products, chemicals and ships agency services, welding solutions remained a core business area.
For many years, Unitor welding equipment was a product range that customers bought again and again. But situations change: experienced crew migrate ashore and younger replacements come onboard, so we cannot assume that Unitor equipment has automatic recognition from all potential users.
The challenge for any product supplier in this situation is to ensure that those users have your brand close to their heart. At the same time we have to accept that buyers look as closely at the cost of ownership - and at potential savings - as they do at safety and operational compliance.
The strong link that the Unitor brand has with ship-owners and seafarers means we can fulfil all these needs while maintaining a central focus on safety. Recent developments in WSS welding products have been mainly focused on quality and safety of the welding machine range as we worked on direct customer feedback.
New features added to the welding machine range include a Total Protection function (TP) that automatically shuts down the machine to prevent damage due to voltage peaks or other failures in electricity supply. Another feature built in on all the welding machines is the VRD function (Voltage Reduction Device), promoting safe welding by reducing the open circuit voltage to less than 10V, preventing accidents due to electric chock during maintenance welding.
The next leg is compliance. For welding machines we operate in accordance to the strictest regulations we could find (Australian standard). Other equipment is produced in accordance mainly to ISO and EN. And for electrodes, production is done in accordance to the four big class societies (DNV-GL, ABS, LR and BV).
Competence is a challenge for owners and operators everywhere and our role is to provide whatever support they require - with the right equipment, the right electrodes, the right amperage on the welding machine, for whatever type of welding process they need to perform.
This also extends to training and support. The welding range consists of consistent products with documentation that spans over the different welding processes. This consistency, reliability and quality are vital because regardless of how good the products, equipment or documentation we bring onto a ship, the quality of welding will only get as good as the person who is performing it is.
We bring the safety and competence aspect into this most strongly through training. We already cooperate with established maritime training centres and also run our own welding schools - certifying, auditing and ensuring that the correct products and methods are used.
Training is an opportunity to share our knowledge and it also means reinforcing our internal education so that when our port sales engineers go onboard ships, they're able to train and support the crew. Sometimes that means trouble-shooting and sometimes it's just providing guidance because as any engineer will tell you, once you get on board, there are always more questions to answer.
Our teams experience potentially dangerous situations onboard vessels on a daily basis and to push the focus on safety up the agenda, WSS has established the Welding Safety Inspection offer. Inspections are carried out at an agreed time and port, with a full report provided to the client. This not only enables the vessel to stay in compliance but keeps equipment in good condition.
It seems obvious that the more familiar users are with the equipment, the safer they will be. It is also our contention that the better the quality and safety around onboard welding, the greater the operational cost effectiveness too.
At a recent workshop held for the WSS welding team we considered nine market drivers - application knowledge, quality, safety, availability, training, consumables, equipment, documentation and support - from the customer point of view. Our team responded that from their clients' point of view, the current priority item was cost control.
For example, good documentation can make a difference to cost control. Practical welding guidelines mean a good quality of job done. This means increased efficiency. And when the weld lasts longer, maintenance costs are reduced. Good documentation also increases safety through better instructions and improved procedures for the crew, meaning they will be in compliance to rules and regulations. The result is reduced chance of injury and less risk of reputational damage.
So we know cost control is a big focus for our customers and the better we articulate that our products are efficient and safe and can therefore drive cost savings, the more likely we are to be on the same page as them.
When we think about putting safety and quality first, the perception might be that costs will be higher. But across ship operations it is becoming well understood that being safer can also make you more efficient.
To share this message effectively means strengthening our links with superintendents, working with them on day to day welding requirements or during a dry-docking or ship repair project.
During a dry-docking it is important to ensure that standards don't change, if an owner is offered welding consumables or components by the shipyard. These might be cheaper at point of purchase but compatibility, lifespan and quality in service are the critical factors.
Thanks to the product availability we can leverage across our global network, we also have an opportunity to bundle welding services with WSS chemicals and safety products and in all cases, we can help customers meet the challenges of competence, quality and knowledge across their wider vessel requirements.
That helps to keep the vessel and the crew operating safely and efficiently and of course with greater cost control.
In the end, safety and efficiency comes back to the crew, their capability and the tools we put in their hands. Even a skilled and experienced welder will have trouble working with poor quality equipment. By supporting the crew and providing the training to help them perform high quality welding repairs under safe working conditions we can help improve competence, reduce accidents and prevent possible off-hire.
In a sea of compliance requirements, welding might be viewed as a potentially minor issue, but in terms of personal safety and the efficiency of ship operations, paying attention to safety, quality and cost control means the crew can have confidence they are doing it the right way.
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