Process & Technology

Flexibility & Innovation

Thanks to its unique dedication to a frame of principles, IHC Dredgers remains competitive to low wage countries by offering total solutions to reasonable cost. Our primary process simultaneously and pliant:

  • realises client requirements that come up in the course of the design
  • absorbs delivery time delays of major construction parts 
  • ensures optimal production results
  • incorporates growing insights and innovations during building

Engineering and manufacturing are closely interwoven. This method of working is a challenge for the planning, the well-thought-out use of the facilities, the means to control the whole process and software interfaces ... and, last but not least, our people.


An example: building the Vox Máxima

The largest dredger ever built in the Netherlands required extraordinary measures in the fields of construction, logistics and planning for the more than 10,000 tons of steel in relation to the delivery schedule. Without any problem this challenge was answered by smart solutions. Enjoy the movie, it tells more than many words!




Planning of complex vessels

Planning within IHC Dredgers is supported by ERP and the huge experience of the people. The method of working concentrates on short lines, just in time delivery of main parts, a flexible poule of very experienced workers and the adequate control of the contribution of an average of 5 IHC Merwede business units and hundreds of suppliers.

Thanks to this method the targets set out above can be obtained. Even changes in the sequence of the construction and commissioning of large parts of the vessel can be initiated in the course of the building process without problems.

The whole is subject to continuous improvement projects, which incorporate in the primary process flow the lessons of every vessel built . Repetitive failures are 'not done' in the IHC Dredgers culture.


Development of facilities

IHC Dredgers invests in the future. Machinery and process flow have already been fine tuned precisely. For example, the panel line works in cells that do similar kinds of work in pseudo-serial activities. Then panels are transported to the integrated section hall - which restricts transportation to a few meters. And from the section hall to the slipway requires also minimum tranportation with integrated cranes and/or electric lorries. Further improvements have already been initiated ant results are expected to be implemented in 2011, viz:

  • a brand new panelline with robot street for handling and welding
  • integration of the CAD-, steel cutting and robot software
  • research for innovative welding methods

People

A large part of our performance is due to the qualified and experienced people who work at us - some of them even for three generations. They are supported by the right tools, machinery, software, safety protocols and other directives. Our specialists can boast a profound knowledge of the process and the vessels ever built, and creatively use this knowledge in current projects. They are sufficiently capable to flexibly integrate the contributions of colleague IHC units and other suppliers - and melt it all together to again a high-quality vessel time and again. 

News & Events

Successful naming and launch ceremony for MIONDO by IHC Merwede

IHC Merwede has successfully named and launched the stationary cutter suction dredger,...Read more ...

IHC Merwede increases revenue and profit

Increased revenue of € 1.05 billion (2010: € 1.01 billion)Higher EBITDA: € 161 million...Read more ...

IHC Merwede steps forward in Asia with new Singapore office

IHC Merwede, the global market leader for efficient dredging and mining vessels and...Read more ...