Copyright (c) 2012 Morel Hudson
London Based Cruise Company Crown River is a tourist operator ferrying passengers along the Thames. With thousands of passengers each year the company needs to ensure that they maintain a comfortable and enjoyable sailing experience for their guests.
One of their most up to date passenger boats the MV Sarpedon built in 2001 required extra seating capacity to satisfy passenger demand. The 'MV Sarpedon' has an open top deck that required cost effective low maintenance seating for 150 people. The seating needed to withstand the extremes of the Northern Hemisphere weather, the rigors of high traffic passenger volumes, exposure to seawater and sea salt spray. Moreover, any new seating had to be comfortable in order to maximise the passenger experience and to assist in the growth of the business through word of mouth recommendations being a very important source of new business.
The specifications for the seating were reasonably straightforward and on the surface any number of companies would be able to satisfy the needs. Hence, local companies were thought to be able to provide the necessary seating at the right price. This turned out to be not quite correct as global searches revealed an innovative and highly experienced aluminium seating company in Sydney Australia.
Dealing with a company so far away provided challenges that needed to be overcome as it provided challenges for the supplier in Sydney in satisfying a client in London. Issues for both parties included time differences so communication was potentially a problem with eleven hour time differences, the specifications for the seats also required some engineering solutions to modify the standard aluminium seats in order to meet the exact requirements of installation of aluminium bench seats on a boat.
As with all projects the challenges only make the process more interesting and all challenges were met with strong solutions ensuring the aluminium seats were able to be manufactured and shipped and installed to specifications.
The process involved canvassing the shipping companies for the best freight deal so that the project did not fall over on shipping delays and additional project costs. A sample seats was air-freighted it to the client for inspection and site installation assessment. By flat-packing the seats shipping to London with sea-freight there was a cost effective solution.
Production for the order was planned allowing for the 60 days at sea. The goods arrived on a "just in time" schedule that fitted in with the refurbishment timetable of the Sarpedon The aluminium seat supplied was ideal but with the location of the onboard fuel tanks there was a need to modify the seat as standard legs could not be used on one end of the seat to bolt through the floor.
Email was found to be the most effective communication tool ensuring nothing was missed in the process and all communication was recorded allowing for checking of all details that were communicated through the process. Also the utilisation of CAD drawing software meant that all the required aluminium seating and installation fixtures and fittings were accurately manufactured and shipped on time without delay. Thanks to computers most of the communication and engineering took place with email using digital photos and CAD drawings. The entire project from start to finish had only one phone call.
We received photos of the boat and where the seats were to be located. We agreed we could employ the existing structure on the side of the boat to bolt the seat to. By using our CAD Drawing system we developed a custom bracket (these had to be right and left handed with a 4 deg angle).
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Morel Hudson provides marketing services for small business and writes articles for many clients including BAB Aluminium. For further information on aluminium seats for workplaces please contact Brian Blowes at http://www.babaluminium.com.au
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