Integrated Ship Design and Its Role in Enhancing Ship Production

This paper focuses on an important trend that is increasing shipbuilding productivity: integrating the computer-aided ship design process. The ship design process increasingly is being performed with the help of computer programs, either individual programs that address single aspects of the design or integrated programs composed of modules that address a range of ship design aspects. In the case of integrated computer programs, the ship design process is enhanced through individual program modules sharing their results with each other, preferably from a common database. Modern integrated ship design programs not only improve the efficiency of ship design, they also improve the efficiency and ease of ship production, from lofting and numerical cutting to providing workshop drawings and production information.