CAD/CAM systems have been around in the shipbuilding industry for quite a long time ? since the early 1960s. Per-Olof Nilsson, vice president of research for Tribon Solutions, told The Motor Ship that the first thing they did was produce control for flame cutters using paper tapes. However, things have come along way since those early days and now systems are fully integrated with flame cutters and profile cutters used to produce stiffeners supplied with information by direct link from the CAD/CAM system. The same goes for pipe bending.
Nilsson explains that the level of technology is as high in the shipbuilding industry as in other sectors, such as mechanical engineering. It?s just that as shipbuilding is such a small part of the business for cad system manufacturers, such as IBM, CATIA and AutoCAD, most of them use the aerospace or car industries to showcase their products.
Nilsson says that while some companies have claimed that they now have the first real 3D model available, Tribon has had this technology from the early 1970s and that implementation within the shipbuilding industry is comparable to that in other sectors. "The shipbuilding industry is by no means lagging behind," explains Nilsson.
The 3D model is certainly a step forward and is now being utilised on the shop floor where workers can easily bring up an object locally and familiarise themselves with its layout and check any clearances, something that cannot always be easily done with a drawing as it relies on the worker being able to visualise what the object looks like in the real world.
The next step is virtual reality, which is available now as a bolt on to Tribon and any 3D model, says Nilsson. This is not just used to show potential shipowners around their new cruise ships but is also used for safety reasons, explains Magnus Feldt, Tribon?s marketing director. The model also allows owners to check that service and maintenance can be carried out without difficulty: "It makes sure the design is OK," says Feldt. Although it is possible to use this system with a virtual reality headset, Nilsson says that this is usually reserved for the games area and in the shipbuilding industry it is more common just to use an ordinary computer screen.
Shipbuilders are starting to use 3D models to show the various propulsion options and layouts available to the owner. NASSCO recently utilised the technology when it brought a number of admirals into a conference room to show them the various propulsion options available for a ship it was building for the US Navy.
One of the main aims of CAD programmers is to analyse the shipbuilding process and improve the CAD/CAM interface to automate design as much as possible and Tribon is no different in this respect. Much of the design work is traditionally rule based, whether it is class rules, or local rules when designing vessels such as FPSOs.
"Customers in Japan can detail design most major parts of a large vessel in one week," says Nilsson. This used to take 10 designers a month. "We?re digging our own grave," jokes Feldt. However, like in most software
development
, if you?re not evolving ? you?re dead and if Tribon didn?t do it, another company would have.
Nilsson says that there are other areas that have big potential, such as supporting planning and material acquisition, which is part of the design and manufacturing process. "Automation can bring down man hours and the cost of a vessel," explains Nilsson.
Continued
development
Tribon is also looking to continue
development
into the naval and offshore sectors. Our way of working is to start in a certain segment and gain feedback and include that information, says Nilsson. M2 was a big breakthrough for the naval market and as Korea, Japan and China are all capable of designing and building offshore vessels, it is encouraging Tribon to become better ? not that it isn?t already used in this sector ? but not to the same extent. "Keppel Fels is one of our users," explains Nilsson. The offshore industry has special requirements of the CAD/CAM system, such as the design and handling of truss structures, which Nilsson admits is not ideal today. He explains that the CAD system also needs to support the quality inspection process for welds, not in the same way as in the shipbuilding industry. However, between 60 and 70 developers are working continuously on improving the system. "That?s the only thing they are doing," says Nilsson.
The future
The Internet is making the sharing of information a lot easier and Tribon is keen to promote distribution of designs over the internet. However, this needs superb security, which is what the developer claims to have. "Users can take advantage of all available information in ship models," says Feldt. Although there are thousands of Tribon 3D models the number of competitors? models are very low, says Nilsson. The next natural step is to have Tribon 3D models onboard ships for maintenance purposes.
Verolme Botlek recently used a 3D model to speed up the repair process as it allowed the yard to prepare many days before the ship arrived. This is something that could be improved upon, with all ships carrying copies of their 3D models. Although there could be some problems over intellectual property rights, shipyards could market the models to sell to shipowners on delivery. Some shipowners are already demanding this as part of the contract.
The CAD/CAM system has also been made future proof as Blohm + Voss found out when it switched to laser cutting and welding. "All we had to do was change a number of parameters," says Nilsson. This was to account for the reduced shrinkage and deformation encountered using these processes. The handling of bevels and edge preparation also had to be altered. "All things that are set up by parameters in Tribon," explains Nilsson.
And the future? Nilsson told The Motor Ship that the use of robots will increase in the shipbuilding industry. As salaries in countries such as Korea and China increase, "they will have to apply robot techniques," says Nilsson. The next big release for Tribon will come early next year with its M3. n
