Case Study

Merlin Magic
Making

Most of us have heard of major theme parks and attractions like Legoland, Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds, fewer are aware of the group of designers are behind them. Merlin Magic Making is the UK-based creative development arm of Merlin Entertainments, a small but highly talented team responsible for creating and producing the magic behind nearly 100 attractions across 21 countries.

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The in-house creative team strive to remain at the forefront of innovative thinking when it comes to designing and installing outstanding attractions for visitors. To stay at the cutting edge of the entertainment industry, the ability to produce unrivalled and unique content at speed is what sets the team apart. To remain market leaders, the team wanted to bring more automation into the business, as finding skilled workers such as sculptors and carpenters was becoming more of a challenge. They needed a solution that delivered the best possible experience in the shortest time, while managing their intellectual property securely.

CNC Robotics worked with Merlin Magic Making to produce a fully integrated automated system, allowing designers to incorporate their designs into CAD/CAM and produce the exact replica every time. The PowerMill software tool gives the design and manufacturing teams total flexibility and creativity, even for the most complex and challenging figure or amusement designs.

The team uses the robotic system in production across all models for the theme parks. The introduction of digital equipment has eliminated errors, mechanised the whole production process, and increased delivery times, allowing Merlin to build creative content at speed and stay ahead of competitors. "It enhances our whole business… totally mechanised the whole of our production and the way we deliver a product. If we hadn't moved with the times, we would be out of business because we couldn't compete."— Edward Kirkham, Merlin Magic Making.