Flat panel line

A flat panel line is the automated production line that fabricates the large flat steel panels of a ship’s bottom, sides, and decks. Plates are joined edge to edge by one-side automatic welding into a panel, the panel is marked and cut, then stiffeners and web frames are placed and welded by gantry or robotic welders, ending as a stiffened flat sub-block ready for block assembly. It is the highest-throughput, most automated stage in a modern yard, where flat structure (the bulk of a tanker or bulk carrier) is built fastest. Curved shell goes a different route; the flat panel line handles only developable flat work.