The challenge
GB MEC provides metal carpentry and motor assembly services to shipyards for yachts, covering all moving components including certified watertight hatch doors, automatic stern doors, and side-boarding ladders. The company must source a wide range of CNC-machined parts with a huge variety of tolerances, materials, and coatings on a strict timeline. Many of these parts must also withstand a tremendous amount of force transference and harsh environmental conditions.
How we helped
With the help of our quote builder, GB MEC was able to obtain instant pricing for their various CNC machining needs. Additionally, the platform's built-in DFM analysis proved to be a valuable tool in enhancing the ease of production and cost-efficiency without sacrificing quality.
Online manufacturing platform drives competitive advantage for traditional marine business
Founded in Italy in 2016, GB MEC offers a wide range of metal carpentry and motor assembly services to global yacht companies. Marine metal carpentry is a demanding field, in which parts must meet exact specifications – think tolerances, materials, and coatings – to properly function in harsh, seafaring conditions.
When designing and creating watertight hatch doors, side-boarding ladders, and other critical parts and components, GB MEC needs a huge variety of metal parts with surface finishes that meet ever-changing customer demands on strict deadlines.
This proved difficult, according to Claudio Martinelli, a senior design engineer at GB MEC. Like most traditional businesses, GB MEC relied on local manufacturers to source custom parts. Often, the manufacturers were unable to produce the exact parts GB MEC needed within the required timeframe, leading to wasted time and financial losses. However, since adopting the platform a year ago, GB MEC's experience has been transformed.
“Having one supplier capable of supplying us with all of it and also being so fast at quoting was really what we were looking for,” Martinelli says.
“Thanks to the network's comprehensive service, we can focus on other topics within that project while they were preparing and delivering our parts. With one order – and with an impressively short time invested in the procurement process – we had everything we needed.”
The results were immediately apparent. With their proprietary Design for Manufacturing (DFM) software, potential design issues are identified before production begins, reducing costs and avoiding delays. Soon, GB MEC began receiving deliveries of specialised CNC-machined parts manufactured with us, which sees turnaround times of as few as five days. Bolstered by precise, competitive quotes and aided by Italian-speaking representatives, Martinelli and his team are now able to work more effectively and efficiently – and to stay ahead of the curve competitively in a market that, by nature, is always on the move.
“The support is constant, and every detail is taken into consideration,” Martinelli says. “No matter what doubt we have, their point of contact always resolves it in less than one business day. Without them, probably we wouldn’t manage to meet many deadlines, which would cause us serious trouble and significantly increase operational costs.”
