Most of us have heard of major theme parks and attractions like LEGOLAND, Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds, or the London Eye, fewer are aware that the same central group of designers are behind them all. Merlin Magic Making (MMM), is the UK-based creative development arm of Merlin Entertainments, made up of a small, but highly talented team responsible for creating and producing the magic behind nearly 100 attractions across 21 countries. What sets MMM aside is that they not only design and develop hundreds of attractions world-wide, but also produce many of them onsite at Alton Towers in a relatively short period.
The in-house creative team strive to ensure that they are at the forefront of innovative thinking when it comes to designing and installing outstanding attractions for visitors. To remain at the cutting edge of the entertainment industry, the ability to produce unrivalled and unique content at speed is what sets the team apart. In order to remain market leaders, the team wanted to bring more automation into the business as finding skilled workers such as sculptures and carpenters was becoming more of a challenge. They needed a solution to provide the best possible experience in the shortest time whilst managing their intellectual property securely.
CNC Robotics worked with Merlin Magic Making to produce a fully integrated automated system that allows the designers to incorporate their designs into CAD & CAM and produce the exact replica every time. The PowerMill software tool allow the design and manufacturing teams totally flexibility and creativity for even the most complex and challenging of figure or amusement design.
The team uses the robotic system in its production of all models across the theme parks, the introduction of digital equipment has meant that errors have been eliminated, it has mechanised the whole production process and increased the delivery times. By building creative content at speed, it allows Merlin to stay ahead of competitors.
Edward Kirkham Merlin Magic Making
