In the beginning of 2020, steel construction company Oostingh staalbouw BV started working on the ambitious project of remanufacturing the roof the AFAS Stadium, home of football club AZ in Alkmaar, The Netherlands.

The tubular structure with high complexity was designed out of steel pipes. Oostingh Staalbouw BV had to work with pipes with various connections and diameters, that required a considerable amount of complex cutting and welding procedures. Oostingh Staalbouw BV chose to outsource the pipe cutting to HGG Profiling Contractors. With the variety in pipe shapes and diameters, the fit-up would have been a challenge if HGG Profiling Contractors wouldn’t have advised Oostingh Staalbouw BV to apply scribing to the pipes.

 

What is scribing?

Scribing is a method of marking with a scribing pen where footprints and numbers of the connecting parts are ‘scribed’ on the pipe in order to realize fast and easy fit-up, without the risk of human error in measuring and positioning. In a previous project called The Edge in Amsterdam, Oostingh Staalbouw BV chose to let HGG Profiling Contractors apply scribing to their pipes. With that experience still fresh in their minds, it was not even the question if they would apply scribing again: “When you apply scribing, you know it’s a 100% correct” KeesJan Nieuwenhuis stated.

Oostingh used tools made in the software language C-Sharp and automation applications like Grasshopper to automatically configure the 3D architectural model in Tekla Structures. The Tekla Structures model was sent to HGG Profiling Contractors directly, where the pipes were cut to size and scribed at the correct locations perfectly.

It was not even the question if we were going to use it again, you know it is 100% correct.

“Where HGG really helped us out is making the production process as easy as possible” Manager of engineering Kees Oudshoorn says. Because of the implemented scribing on the pipes, the need to measure and mark by hand is removed. This resulted in huge time savings in production, fitting, welding and construction.

“When you’ve used scribing before it is not even a question if you’ll use it again. You know that it fits and the chance of failures is almost zero” Director KeesJan Nieuwenhuis added.

 

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