Glasgow is building three mobile robotic welding rigs that inspect their own work as they go, fusing the city’s shipbuilding heritage with its ultrasound expertise. Traditional welding and inspection are separate, sequential steps. Defects are often found only at completion, forcing costly rework that wastes energy, time, and money. A shrinking, ageing skilled workforce and the need to reduce hazardous manual work also push toward automation. By embedding ultrasonic inspection directly into the welding process, the system aims to catch flaws in real time and deliver high-integrity structures right first time. If successful, the technology could cut weld process time by over 55%, overall weld cost by more than 50%, and man hours by 75%. That would transform how large-scale metal structures are built for energy, defence, and marine sectors—industries central to Glasgow’s economy and the UK’s net-zero transition. The three test-beds, housed by industrial partners, will validate the approach on next-generation components. A parallel STEM outreach programme will train a new generation of sensor-enabled automated welding engineers, addressing a critical skills gap. A Glasgow-based commercialisation vehicle aims to anchor the innovation locally while exporting it internationally.
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Glasgow has a well-known, proud heritage in shipbuilding, heavy-fabrication and welding, but also in ultrasound. Fusing these transformative innovations together, this proposal seeks to manufacture a prosperous future for Glasgow, driven by its heritage, enabled by its innovations. Internationally, the energy transition and security concerns force a rapid step-change in the productive, fast and efficient manufacture of high-integrity, large-scale, structures for the energy, defence, and marine sectors, key pillars of Glasgow's heritage and future. Traditionally, welding and inspection of high-integrity joints are separate, sequential, often manual processes in both manufacturing and repair. Ultimately, this reduces productivity, throughput, schedule certainty and increases rework if defects are only detected at completion, a challenge similarly found in modern additive manufacturing. Additionally, the energy required to re-heat then repair these structures significantly increases the commercial and environmental costs of manufacturing. Furthermore, a shrinking and ageing skilled workforce, along with a desire to reduce hazardous working, drives process automation. Automated in-process ultrasonic inspection during welding aims to deliver high-integrity structures right, first time, every time, overcoming current technical and process limitations. It offers significant reductions, estimated from current industrial data of: \> 55% in weld process time \> 50% in overall weld cost \> 75% in man hours This proposal seeks to accelerate and propel these recent Glasgow born innovations to industry at scale, delivering significant commercial, technical and schedule certainty benefits to industry at pace, ensuring Glasgow and the UK lead on future fabrication productivity, efficiency, revenue and program repatriation. Three, mobile, large-scale, reconfigurable, automated welding and additive manufacturing test-beds, shaped by industry, housed by industry, and pursuing impact for industry, introduce, validate and embed in-process inspection on next-generation high-value structures for multiple Glasgow based industrial collaborators across sectors. In parallel, an educational and STEM outreach offering will recruit and train the next-generation Industry 4.0 ready sensor-enabled automated welding engineers, addressing the significant current skills gap affecting these industries. Finally, a Glasgow based commercialisation vehicle will anchor the innovation in the region and enable translation of the technology internationally for societal and economic impact, whilst still ensuring Glasgow is at the centre and forefront of heavy-manufacturing innovation. This three-pronged approach, along with the innovation's significant technical, commercial, environmental and safety opportunities, re-ignite the Clyde's proud manufacturing history, fuse its future and anchor it as the international focal point in sustainable, productive, inclusive manufacturing.
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