SMD – ROV chassis

The Problem

Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd (SMD) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of remote intervention equipment, operating in hazardous environments worldwide.

As the number one designer and manufacturer of work class and specialist subsea remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) worldwide, their products serve a diverse range of industry sectors including oil and gas, oceanographic, defence, salvage, telecoms, special projects and renewables markets.

Our relationship with SMD began with supplying a large number of loose, ancillary components for their ROV chassis. Due to our agile fabrication service we were able to supply a fast turnaround of parts, which enabled us to meet both their production schedule and their ad hoc demand.

When SMD’s business undertook an aggressive growth period and volumes scaled up, they began to explore their outsourcing strategy options for longer term production. As a result Universal Wolf was nominated as one of two key suppliers contracted to produce complete aluminium fabricated chassis.

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The Solution

To ensure we were able to provide the necessary resource to SMD to meet their increasing production demand, we set up a dedicated production area – implementing manufacturing jigs and fixtures to ensure repeatable product manufacture.

In order to produce the full ROV chassis framework, specific weld qualifications were required. We arranged training for all relevant employees to ensure they were equipped with the necessary skills and certification, in accordance with the industry weld standards needed for this type of product.

The Result

Through heavy investment in new equipment, production processes and quality control in addition to increasing the portfolio of qualifications held by our professional welders, we were able to ensure the quality of the ROV products lived up to strict subsea standards as well as SMD’s market leading vision.