INDUSTRY MARINE BUSINESS
www.signwell.fi
test-driven development work,” Matilainen notes.
”We are testing the usability of systems to make the work of the ship operators as easy as possible. Testing new ideas
together with customers will speed up our
development process by screening out
unfeasible concepts quickly, and help us
develop workable solutions even further.”
HELSINKI SIGNIFICANT
IN R&D OPERATIONS
Helsinki was chosen as the site for the
new laboratory as ABB already has a lot
of marine design and R&D personnel in
Finland.
”We needed to build the laboratory
in an environment where new prototypes
can be constructed and new ideas tested
without delay. This made Helsinki a natural choice,” Matilainen explains.
ABB has maritime engineering units
also in Norway, China, Singapore, and Italy.
oratory’s hardware had been put together
modeling, in order to enable the testing
”The unit in Helsinki is responsible
and several applications were ready to run.
of systems intended for arctic conditions,”
for the automation R&D within the global
he mentions.
Marine and Ports business unit.”
The official opening of the laboratory was celebrated on October 7th,
2015.
TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
AND CO-CREATION
As the laboratory will mainly be uti-
Mr. Mikko Lepistö, Vice President
lised for the simulated testing of steer-
of software and automation operations
ing and automation systems, it will not
at ABB, confirms that the company’s Hel-
be equipped with an actual water tank.
sinki unit is particularly experienced in the
”The installation of the simulators
domain of R&D for software, automation
According to Mr. Matilainen, the new R&D
has been started. When finished, the lab
laboratory is the first step towards creat-
will be a true-to-life testing environment
”Our Helsinki unit has plenty of
ing a ship simulator which will utilise ABB
for machinery processes and operating of
know-how in this sector of ABB’s product
Marine’s automation solutions.
various kinds of maritime systems. Con-
portfolio and therefore has a big role in
sequently, it will be quite helpful in our
our R&D operations,” Lepistö points out. n
”The simulator will incorporate ice
systems, and Azipod® solutions.
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