China Merchants Weihai Shipyard (CMI Weihai), formerly the Shandong Weihai Shipyard founded in 1951, is now a core shipbuilding enterprise under China Merchants Industry Holdings. In recent years, CMI Weihai has successfully transitioned from traditional bulk carrier manufacturing to the construction of high-end Ro-Pax vessels, car carriers, and luxury cruise ships, reporting revenue of RMB 3.7 billion in 2023 with orders booked through 2028.

However, high-end shipbuilding imposes extremely high demands on profile processing precision, efficiency, and flexibility. Traditional manual cutting suffers from low efficiency and inconsistent quality, making it difficult to support high-volume, high-precision production. To address these challenges, CMI Weihai partnered with DIG Automation Engineering (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. to deploy a smart profile cutting line within its Digital Green Smart Factory, achieving fully automated processing from warehousing and straightening to inkjet marking, robotic plasma cutting, and automatic sorting—establishing a benchmark case for intelligent shipbuilding in China.

Complex and diverse profiles: including multiple section types such as flat steel, bulb flats, equal and unequal angles, with lengths ranging from 4 m to 14 m and thicknesses from 5 mm to 80 mm;

Extremely tight precision tolerances: strict standards for cutting hole pitch deviation (±1 mm), end-cut perpendicularity (≤2 mm), and workpiece length accuracy (–2 mm to 0 mm);

Low efficiency of traditional methods: manual cutting and grinding are not only slow but also inconsistent, making it difficult to meet the daily requirement of 240 pieces of raw materials.

Smart warehousing and logistics: a 480-slot high-bay warehouse with stacker cranes and transfer trolleys, enabling automated inbound/outbound with single-cycle time ≤1.5 minutes.

Fully automatic straightening and inkjet marking: an 11-roll straightener capable of handling all HP100–HP240 bulb flats, achieving straightness <1 mm/m; ABB robots with UV inkjet printers and laser positioning systems for high-precision marking.

Dual-line robotic plasma cutting: two cutting lines featuring ±45° continuous variable bevel cutting capability.

Automatic sorting and unloading: short parts (0.5–3.5 m) automatically pushed into trays, while long parts (3.5–14 m) are handled by a gantry crane for sorting.

Digital management and control platform: integrated WMS, nesting software, and central control system, with interfaces to TRIBON/AM design software for seamless data-to-instruction conversion.

Capacity leap: two shifts per day process 240 pieces of raw materials, strongly supporting the annual target of 3 high-end Ro-Pax vessels and over 160 ship/offshore modification/repair projects.

Precision and quality improvement: robot repeatability of ±0.02 mm, cutting hole pitch deviation within ±1 mm, end-cut perpendicularity ≤2 mm, and workpiece length accuracy to –2~0 mm – all fundamentally ensuring high-end vessel construction quality.

Labor cost reduction: the line achieves "one-time feeding, fully automated processing," completely replacing traditional manual cutting, grinding, and sorting operations. Public reports indicate an overall 75% labor cost saving for the entire smart factory.

Environmental compliance: the dust collection system achieves ≥99.9% filtration efficiency, with particulate emissions <5 mg/m³ , meeting all applicable environmental standards.

CMI Weihai's transition to high-end manufacturing has placed systemic demands on production line intelligence, flexibility, and environmental sustainability. DIG Automation's smart profile cutting line has precisely answered these demands. CMI Weihai has highly praised the collaboration, positioning this line as a core component of "China's first full-process intelligent shipyard." The strong order backlog through 2028 further validates the value delivered.