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CAD/CAM DESIGN “It’s not always the exact same process for every project. We may also model the vessel’s main piping arrangement, HVAC and electrical wire-ways as well. If we didn’t use the software, we would have to track all of the parts individually, and that would mean putting everything on a spreadsheet. Then when it came time to cut the part out of a piece of steel, we’d have to go ? nd it and place it on the part. We used to do this in the old days but it was very time-consuming.” – Jim Hyslop, RAL’s Project Development Manager in the 3D space as well as in the ship, and calculates where structor via a National Shipbuilding Research Program the center of gravity (CG) of the vessel is throughout the (NSRP) project in 2012 and NSRP research and devel- design phase via the MIM interface. opment on the program have continued since then. The

SSI’s CEO Darren Larkins explains: “One of the hard- NSRP is an industry-led U.S. Navy research and develop- est things to track and manage throughout the proposal, ment organization focused on reducing overall ? eet costs design, engineering and construction phases is the weight through various processes and technologies. Essentially of the project. It’s also one of the most important charac- BAS Engineering created a software application called Ful- teristics of a vessel. Virtually every requirement for a vessel; crum that, through this research project, became the inter- speed, fuel, ef? ciency, stability, how a vessel will operate in face between ShipConstructor and ShipWeight.

different sea states, etc., is affected signi? cantly by weight “This is exactly why we made our software open, so that and center of gravity.” other applications can easily get the data,” says Larkins.

So while ShipConstructor gives an accurate estimate of “Fulcrum automatically opens information from ShipCon- the weight of different parts of the ship, after they’re mod- structor and pushes it into ShipWeight. At any time, when elled, a third party application that works in conjunction you feel like a certain portion of your virtual ship is going to with ShipConstructor, helps to keep track of the weight be more accurate than your estimate, that’s when you push estimate both before and during the modelling process. the information over just for that one piece of the vessel.

ShipWeight is a software tool can be seamlessly integrated The goal is to incrementally provide better estimates, com- with the ShipConstructor products. parisons, and show you whether you’re on track or not.” “Even before you start creating a 3D model, ShipWeight The next iteration of ShipConstructor, released in No- allows you to start building in estimates on the structure, vember of 2015, continues to strengthen the integration piping, ballast system, etc.,” says Larkins. “As you create between the ShipConstructor’s Marine Information Mod- the 3D model for areas of the ship, accurate weights are el and other third party applications such as ShipWeight, fed from ShipConstructor to ShipWeight. Those accurate making engineering data even more accessible. This is via weights from the 3D model are compared to the estimates SSI’s relatively new product called EnterprisePlatform in ShipWeight and give an early warning for potential which allows end users – even those without working ex- weight and GC issues.” perience with ShipConstructor or any CAD tool – to eas- ily publish information in whatever format they need it.

ShipWeight & ShipConstructor: Anyone is able to open it, and, according to SSI, within

ShipWeight was developed by Norway’s BAS Engineer- less than an hour of training, know how to get informa- ing, a company that has over 15 years of experience with tion out of ShipConstructor. PublisherLT is the ? rst in the weight engineering in the ship and offshore oil industry. EnterprisePlatform line of products and it enable users to

The program was tested for its usability with ShipCon- gather, convert and manipulate information in a product

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