For almost 40 years, Pendennis Shipyard (www.pendennis.com) has been building, refitting and restoring fully custom superyachts. Located on a 14-acre waterfront site in the idyllic town of Falmouth, Cornwall, they have continued to invest in both their facilities and staff which has led them to become one of the world leaders in the superyacht industry.
Pendennis employs over 550 staff covering a wide range of trades on site including machining, fabrication, electrical and joinery to name but a few. The 14-acre site includes a 150m dry dock that can be split into two dry docks each accommodating yachts up to 75m in length, two 90m construction halls, an enclosed non-tidal wet basin which covers an area of 7564m 2 along with an 800-tonne travel hoist to transport these luxury yachts between the facilities in a safe and efficient manner.
Pendennis has moved all their machining capability into one building, named The Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC). This facility, which is capable of machining a broad range of parts from 2mm diameter pins to features on an 8m long boom, has brought major benefits to the company. Jack Chuter, Workshop Manager, can now offer the opportunity to machine replacement parts for a vessel, which accounts for 60% of the throughput in the DMC. He can also liaise easily with surveyors and designers at the yard when it comes to designing new parts to ensure all the parts manufactured are functional and aesthetically pleasing, which accounts for the remaining 40% of the Centre’s machining work.
For several years, the workshop had only manual machines, but Jack soon realised that there was a requirement for CNC machines to improve efficiency and quality of the parts they were asked to manufacture. This foresight led to their first investment in an XYZ machine tool back in 2015 with an SMX 4000 bed mill. Jack comments “We didn’t feel that we wanted to jump straight into full on CNC machining at this point and so the SMX 4000, with its conversational programming as well as manual capability retention at a great price point, was a good place to start developing the workshop”.
The team of machinists immediately reaped the benefits of this machine, as it opened up the scope of the parts that could be produced in a reduced timeframe, but with greater accuracy than on the manual equipment. Pendennis then decided to purchase a large swing gap bed ProTURN SLX 555 x 1m CNC lathe a year later to complement the mill.
With the decision made to create The Digital Manufacturing Centre and the refit demand for the superyacht fleet showing no signs of slowing down, Pendennis has made further investments in machinery to increase their in-house capability. “The recent additions to our workshop of the XYZ 1100 HD vertical machining centre and the XYZ TC 400 slant bed turning centre have been driven by the demands being placed on us. Examples include reduced time frame to produce parts, or the ability to machine tougher materials that can withstand the rigors of the open seas. With the materials we work with covering everything from Aluminium and Phosphor Bronze through to 316 stainless, 17-4 Duplex and Nitronic 50-60, we needed to invest in machinery that tackles all these materials with ease. Allowing us to increase productivity by reducing cycle times was only one of our criteria, but just as important was the aim of becoming a multi-tasking team by leaving the machine unattended during production of parts with multiple tools” adds Jack. “The training and support from XYZ has been great since our original purchases, which is the reason we have gone back to them to increase our machining capacity.
For Pendennis, the XYZ 1100HD which has travels of 1100mm (X), 610mm (Y) along with 610mm (Z) offers the ideal machine when tackling the tough, sea resistant materials. Its hardened box section slideway construction is complemented with a BT40 spindle taper. Offering a spindle speed range going from 5 – 10,000 rpm, the 21kW (28hp) spindle motor provides the necessary power and speed to machine the broad range of materials used on a superyacht.
The XYZ TC400 was also an ideal choice for Pendennis due to its machining capacity and impressive spindle power. Providing a maximum turning diameter of 400mm and turning length of 600mm, along with offering a bar capacity of 78mm, it offers flexibility to turn one offs and larger batch sizes that the workshop are now seeing more and more of. With a 32kW (43 hp) spindle motor delivering a maximum rpm of 3300 this hardened box section slideway machine is already proving its worth.
The DMC employs three fully skilled machinists and two, soon to be three, apprentices who will benefit from the award-winning apprenticeship scheme at Pendennis. Jack states “we have a great blend of machines in our Digital Manufacturing Centre now. Having the manual lathes from XYZ is useful to us for very simple diameter work but it also allows us to get the apprentices started on their machining journey in year one. The ProtoTRAK controlled machines have their place in the manufacturing centre to produce one off and simpler type parts. We get the apprentices onto these machines in year two so that they gain experience in using CNC equipment but under controlled conditions. For the more complex parts and higher volumes, the Siemens controlled 1100HD and TC 400 have been a great addition. We use a mix of CadCam and shopfloor programming where the mills are 90% programmed through the Cam but all the turning work is programmed using the ProtoTRAK and Shopturn conversational software”.
This new investment in the XYZ machines alongside a CNC waterjet machine and a 5 axis CNC router into the Digital Manufacturing Centre has not only increased and improved the in-house capability of the Pendennis workshop but will also increase the appeal of working at this prestigious shipyard. With just under a third of the workforce having completed an apprenticeship at Pendennis, growing their own talent is proving to be an integral part of the success of the shipyard. Jack says “having the latest generation of XYZ machines to work on increases that appeal of working at the shipyard to young people. It’s a fantastic feeling to see the parts we machine fitted on a vessel even if some of the parts are not visible to the customers who own the yachts. The experience of working at Pendennis is different to working in a “normal” machine shop but, being a small part of the puzzle that is refitting a superyacht gives the whole workshop a sense of achievement. Manufacturing parts on the XYZ products may make our lives a little easier, but it is equally rewarding”.