Member Article

Hull of a good idea

A magnetic system allowing painters and engineers to work safely on the side of ships, oil rigs and cranes is to be developed in the North East.

The magnets are being developed by The Magnet Partnership, based in Redcar, and allow engineers using rope access systems to cling to the hull of ships when painting or carrying out maintenance work.

Funding for the project has come from Design Network North, and will allow the prototype idea to be designed for manufacture on a larger scale.

Chris Haritou of The Magnet Partnership said: “The new system allows anyone using rope access systems to fix themselves in place, saving time and radically improving safety for those working in these potentially dangerous environments.

“Without the system people working on big structures are vulnerable especially in high winds and bad weather.

“Our prototypes were developed for use by our engineers and mean we can carry out jobs much faster than anyone else. This funding means we can use professional designers to make it a more appealing product to customers around the world. We aim to have the finished product ready in under six months.”

Design Network North provides design advice and project management support to companies with new product ideas and design problems.

John Hetherington, Design Specialist at Design Network North, said: “This is the only system of its kind on the market and the potential for this product in the marine, oil and gas and diving industries is massive. For this reason we have chosen to support this project and I am sure the finished product will be a great success.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .