Oshima to develop 3D design system

Oshima Shipbuilding in Japan will launch a project to develop a sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided “upstream” shipbuilding design system specifically geared for the primary process from basic planning to basic design following the conclusion of a newbuilding contract.

Two engineering firms, CIM Creation and SEA Systems, will be taking part in the project which will be funded by the Ship & Ocean Foundation (SOF). Oshima has also asked for the cooperation of Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK).

Ken Ito, an integrated ship design system specialist with CIM Creation, will serve as coordinator in the two-year project to be chaired by Hiroyuki Kajiwara, professor at Kyushu University.

In ship design drawing, much progress has so far been made in the application of 3D computer-aided design (CAD) systems for the so-called “downstream” design process from detailed design to production design. However, most “upstream” design systems made available so far are two-dimensional (2D). But 2D basic designs require specific professional knowledge to read and therefore the first job to be done by inexperienced design engineers is to learn to decipher shipbuilding drawings.

An Oshima official said that the project has been instigated by the desire “to provide young people joining us in the 21st century with design tools of the 21st century”. It is aimed to “step out of the present state where designing means ‘drawing’ and develop a tool that allows the process of ‘manufacturing’ to start from the stage of designing,” he added.