The IT landscapes in the maritime industry are characterized by the fact that special shipbuilding applications are often used for initial, basic and detail design as well as for production preparation. Although they enabled the specialist departments to carry out their work particularly efficiently, they require powerful integrations from an entrepreneurial point of view in order to be able to use the digital information throughout the process. Consistent processes and information flows are the prerequisite for building a digital ship model that can accompany the entire ship life cycle.

The development of proprietary interfaces is not only time-consuming and cost-intensive, but also complicates the exchange of existing applications or the rapid integration of new ones. Based on the proven OpenPDM technology, which is used by many companies for the integration of different enterprise systems, data migration and cross-company collaboration, PROSTEP has therefore created an extension of this integration platform specially designed for the maritime industry. An essential component of this platform are standards-based connectors that simplify both the horizontal integration between different authoring systems and their vertical integration into the enterprise systems which manage the product structures (PDM, PLM, ERP, etc.).

OpenPDM SHIP enables data exchange between special shipbuilding applications such as NAPA, AVEVA Marine, CADMATIC or ShipConstructor and mechanical CAD systems such as CATIA or NX. The latter are often used for the construction of complex interiors, e.g. for public areas in cruise ships or large yachts. When transferring information from mechanical to shipbuilding specific CAD applications and vice versa, the integration platform maps the different data models to each other. This allows companies to use the CAD tool of their choice for any task in the ship development process without losing valuable information during conversion and data exchange.

On the other hand, OpenPDM SHIP supports the creation of complex CAx process chains with arbitrary synchronization points from initial design in NAPA or NAPA Steel to basic and detail design in AVEVA Marine or CADMATIC to production preparation, for which some shipyards use the NESTIX software. The challenge with CAx integration is that the coherent ship geometry for the subsequent processes and systems must be broken down into manufacturable components and transferred with the production-relevant information. The integration platform supports this process and enables the consistent use of digital information in all phases of the ship development process.

OpenPDM SHIP also provides connectors to common PDM/PLM and ERP systems (3D Experience, ARAS Innovator, Teamcenter, SAP, Windchill, etc.) to merge CAx data from different source systems into a digital ship model and control this model through the ship life cycle. The vertical integration of the authoring systems into the data and process management environment is a prerequisite for comprehensible ship development processes and consistent management of all information generated. At the same time, the integration platform offers the possibility to link the digital ship model for Digital Twin applications with the real operating data.

OpenPDM SHIP is now available and will be continuously expanded with new integrations. In cooperation with SSI and SSI’s European sales partner NDAR (Nick Danese Advanced Research), PROSTEP is currently developing an OpenPDM SHIP connector for the SSI Enterprise platform. It is the basis for exchanging CAD models between NAPA Steel and the Autodesk-based ship development platform ShipConstructor and for importing the ShipConstructor data into common PDM/PLM systems.