Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said on Monday it will adopt three-dimensional (3D) digital drawings for its entire ship design and construction process starting in October to become the world’s first shipyard without paper drawings, according to KED Global.
Using AI and digital twin technologies, the South Korean shipbuilder will go paperless for all shipbuilding projects from drawing to inspection in its transition to an intelligent and autonomous shipyard.
A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real-world physical product or system for simulation, integration, testing and maintenance.
Traditional paper drawings tend to cause cost overruns and process delays due to frequent design changes, damage to the drawings or misinterpretation by shipbuilding workers.
However, digital drawings enable users to check the ship block structure and function without difficulty. They will also improve production efficiency and preventing quality deterioration by allowing for real-time and accurate communication during the design and production process.
Switching to digital drawings, Samsung Heavy expects to reduce costs equivalent to 600,000 sheets of paper used for ship drawings annually and cut labor-related costs by 45% in terms of employees involved in designing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier and its installation.
To ensure a smooth transition to a digital work environment, it will provide 3,000 tablet PCs to its employees by next year and continuously upgrade the devices' performance.