Order Received for Largest-Ever All-Electric Tube Bending Machine

Unison (Scarborough, UK) won an order from BAE Systems Surface Ships for a large tube-bending machine to support ongoing projects, including the construction of the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers. Capable of handling tube and pipe diameters up to 175 mm (approximately 7 in), the machine is expected to be the largest all-electric tube-bender ever built.

Aircraft carriers require hundreds of km of tubing and piping for on-board services, and this new bending machine will enable BAE Systems to fabricate the shaped tube parts required. The performance and flexibility of the all-electric, servomotor-powered bending technology pioneered by Unison is ideal for the highly customized shipbuilding production environment, where many component parts are fabricated in very small batches – and often in quantities of just one.

"The sheer scale of engineering operations required to build an aircraft carrier is breathtaking, and to have our machinery selected to help with the task is a tremendous accolade?, said Unison managing director Alan Pickering. ?We are very proud to be associated with what will undoubtedly be, for many years, the UK's largest naval engineering project."

Regarding the Queen Elizabeth Class, the contract to build the two new Aircraft Carriers for the Royal Navy ? HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, was signed on July 3, 2008. The carriers will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed for the UK and represent a step change in Joint Capability. They will enable the delivery of increased strategic effect and influence around the world, at a time and place of the UK?s choosing, and will be a key component of the improved expeditionary capabilities needed to confront the diverse range of threats in today?s security environment.

BAE Systems chose Unison as its tube bending automation supplier because of the cost savings potential of an all-electric machine architecture. The company was the first to build a servomotor-based bending machine, and the closed-loop precision of this form of motion control means that setting-up the machine for new bending tasks is achieved by software, and may be recalled on demand for repeat operations. BAE Systems' machine will also incorporate a laser measurement module, to measure the accuracy of bend angles dynamically and automatically compensate for any errors. This advanced technique overcomes the common problem of having to scrap material because of variations in the 'springback' characteristics between different batches of materials.

Together, these technical advantages will allow BAE Systems to improve capability, capacity and efficiency.

Energy saving was a further significant factor in securing the order. These machines only consume a significant amount of energy when they are actually performing a bend ? whereas a conventional hydraulically powered bender typically consumes energy continuously, in order to maintain the system's hydraulic fluid at high pressure.

The manufacturer has a significant track record in the naval shipbuilding market segment: the company's clients include BAE Systems? submarine solutions division ? builder of the UK's Astute-class submarines ? and the U.S. aircraft carrier supplier Northrop Grumman Newport News.

This will be the second 175 mm diameter all-electric tube bending machine that Unison has manufactured. BAE Systems' bending machine will be built at company?s factory in Scarborough and will be delivered at the end of the first quarter of 2010 to the BAE Systems facility in Scotstoun, Glasgow.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Unison, Olympian Trading Estate, Cayton Low Road, Scarborough, YO11 3BT, UK, www.unisonltd.com.