A consortium of industrial companies and academic institutions launched on January 1 an EU-funded project that seeks to enhance the productivity of shipbuilding through a focus on computational tools. The consortium aims to create a framework for data-driven shipbuilding by developing a new integrated platform that incorporates early and detailed ship design solutions, data management, and collaboration software.
The consortium consists of eight organizations from five countries representing different technologies and parts of the design and shipbuilding industry. The ambition is to achieve up to a 30 percent reduction in the time needed for engineering and up to 20 percent for assembly and construction at European shipyards. The platform will be built with the best EU shipbuilding expertise provided by the academic and industrial consortium participants and evaluated at two leading European shipyards.
Finland’s Cadmatic, which is responsible for leading the technical coordination of the four-year-long project, believes the ambitious project will facilitate the digital transformation of shipbuilding and provide a competitive advantage for EU shipbuilders through time savings in design and production stages
“It is very exciting to use our shipbuilding expertise to incorporate CAE/CAD/CAM and PLM elements in a single innovative and groundbreaking platform that will take shipbuilding efficiency to the next level,” says Ludmila Seppälä, Business Development Director at Cadmatic.
The project brief states that the platform solution will develop novel practices for human-centric knowledge management, data-driven AI design elements, intelligent technology, and an Industry 5.0 concept for shipbuilding. It will also support the growth of a European workforce that is highly skilled in the deployment and use of advanced computational tools in shipbuilding, particularly with respect to the integration of new technologies.
In addition to Cardmatic, PLM data management solution developer Contact Software from Germany, and SARC BV from The Netherlands are contributing to the technical expertise. The shipyards participating in the effort are Ulstein Group (Norway) and Astilleros Gondan (Spain). Three research institutes, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), Turku University (Finland), and NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands), are also participating.
The Smart European Shipbuilding project is being funded by Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation program. The EU is providing approximately €7 million ($7.5 million) for the project.