Page 35: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2004)

65»' Anniversary Edition available that developed information for surface definition, piece part design and development of code to automatically drive Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) torches that cut steel. Some of this software also included features to do various analyses, especially stability.

The larger shipyards rapidly adopted these integrated systems throughout the 70s.

The late 80s saw the emergence of several hull surface definition programs for PCs, as small computers with graph- ic capability became readily available.

Small shipyards adopted PC-DOS based processes, which interfaced specialized surface definition programs, off-the- shelf Computer Aided Drafting soft- ware, mainly AutoCAD, and stand alone

CNC code generators.

One typical such interfaced process was used at Munson Manufacturing of

Edmonds, Wash., a builder of small alu- minum workboats. In 1991, Munson used Baseline, for preliminary hull sur- face definition. The files were then transferred to ShipCAM, for detailed fairing, definition of developable sur- faces, plate expansions and other lofting functions. This data was then trans- ferred to AutoCAD for part detailing in 2D and to GHS for stability and flota- tion analysis. Structural, weight and mechanical analyses were performed with spreadsheets. Files of the parts nested together on a "burn sheet" were transferred by modem to Farwest Steel, for cutting. Shortly after, a truck with the CNC plasma cut parts arrived, ready to be erected. As a result, delivery times and labor costs were reduced.

The next challenge was to change shipyard practices to best take advan- tage of the new tools. The Coast Guard

Yard, in Curtis Bay, Md.. was a typical example of reengineering shipbuilding processes to take advantage of

CAD/CAM. The Yard also used

Albacore Research, Ltd.'s ShipCAM. It had been some years since their last new construction project, when they were awarded a run of 27 49BUSLs (small buoy tenders). The Yard was also the first federal organization to be ISO 9001 certified. Thus, when the Yard imple- mented a production CAD/CAM system it was systematically integrated into the production process, through the use of

Maritime Activity «,„

Reports makes its ..J „c debut as the mar- - itime industry's ... information source.

Total Quality Management techniques, looking for changes and streamlining processes. This proved to be another important advance, though one enabled by technology, rather than an advance in technology itself.

The lesson from this is that

CAD/CAM in particular and computers in general afford significant opportuni- ties for improvement, and the wider one looks for improvements, the more opportunities. The precision offered by

CAD/CAM has been especially impor- tant in modular construction, because it' the parts are exactly defined and guaran- teed to fit, they can be made anywhere and outfitted ahead of time. Other opportunities include concurrent engi- neering, palletization and group technol- ogy. improved techniques for control- ling and scheduling work and better

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August 2004 35