Panel line

A panel line is the automated or semi-automated production line that builds stiffened steel panels, the flat and lightly curved structure that makes up most of a ship’s hull, by joining plates, marking and cutting, then welding on stiffeners and web frames. It is the throughput core of a modern yard: plate goes in at one end and a finished stiffened sub-block comes out the other, with one-side welding and gantry or robotic welders doing the bulk of the joints. Flat panel lines handle developable structure; curved-panel lines handle shell. High panel-line accuracy is what lets blocks fit at erection without rework.