Yantai raffles shipyard charting the future with Dassault Systemes PLM solutions

Singapore-headquartered Yantai Raffles Shipyard (YRS) Ltd. is a leading offshore and marine fabrication specialist. At its production facilities in Yantai, China, YRS specializes in the construction of marine and offshore projects that include jack-up drilling rigs, semi-submersible drilling rigs, pipe lay vessels, floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSO) and other prototype vessels, as well as luxury yachts. YRS is the largest rig builder in China, boasting state-of-the-art building facilities, including Taisun, the world’s largest crane. With the Shipbuilding and Energy industries enjoying double-digit growth worldwide, YRS is poised to increase sales and expand its market share. But like its competitors, the company is under pressure to deliver vessels faster and at a lower cost. To stay truly competitive, YRS needs to demonstrate consistency in innovation, product quality and customer service by optimizing its work processes and use of resources.

DS PLM for improved design, testing and manufacturing processes

YRS realized it needed to quickly move from 2D paper-based systems to a 3D-based model to stay ahead of the competition. It adopted CATIA for offshore structural designs and now has more than 50 users. "The use of CATIA and its intelligent templates for design allows YRS designers to work more efficiently and gives them the freedom to come up with more creative and innovative ideas," said Liu Hu, IT Manager, Yantai Raffles Shipyard.

CATIA's inherent information-sharing capabilities make it simple for suppliers and clients to review designs and update information. And with SIMULIA, engineers are able to conduct finite element analysis on the fly to determine structural weaknesses and quickly and seamlessly assess the impact of design changes made in CATIA. YRS uses DELMIA to enhance manufacturing efficiency by virtually simulating manufacturing processes in 3D. YRS engineers can accurately determine what resources are needed for each production scenario, identify the best procedures and the fastest way to fabricate vessels and pinpoint possible problems before they happen. But designing and building ships involves large volumes of data that are accessed, shared and managed by different parties in the lifecycle. ENOVIA VPLM ensures a smooth flow of information among the users by providing a central data repository. Its advanced relational design manages the knowledge captured in CATIA designs, automatically propagating any changes across hundreds of parts and communicating them to the relevant teams. YRS also uses the virtual assembly capabilities of DS Digital Mock Up (DMU) in CATIA and ENOVIA VPLM for simulation of assembly and human maintenance flow. "This helps us to ensure that the design can actually be assembled and maintained, a key factor given the limited space on offshore vessels," said Lan Gongying, PLM user, Yantai Raffles Shipyard.

Better engineering with DS PLM

DS PLM solutions also have empowered the company to build its own mega structure, a crane known as Taisun. After seven years to conceptualize and one year to build, Taisun has a lifting capacity of 20,000 metric tons - the equivalent of 10,000 cars in one lift. This manufacturing marvel would not have been possible without DS PLM solutions to simulate the entire design process and ensure it would meet the building requirements. Using CATIA for offshore structural design, DELMIA for crane production and simulation, and ENOVIA VPLM for creating digital 3D mock ups, YRS accelerated Taisun's building process, reducing design errors that could have driven up costs and significantly improving production efficiencies. YRS engineers used DS PLM solutions to evaluate, understand and solve many of the unique problems it faced in building a crane of such magnitude. "YRS was able to design Taisun in an unprecedented six months rather than the two years it would have taken without the use of PLM," Lan Gongying said. With Taisun, YRS will be able to build offshore structures up to70% faster and see increases in design productivity of as much as 30%. This will allow a savings of more than two million man hours on each semisubmersible built, as well as increase YRS's overall building capacity.

DS PLM solutions also have transformed the way YRS does business with third-party suppliers. ENOVIA has opened the lines of communication by making information easy to share and update. "Using ENOVIA VPLM to manage full 3D digital mock-ups and standardize product development processes, we were able to outsource work to the best partners and suppliers and ensure strict quality control, design precision and other mission-critical elements in the end-to-end process of planning, designing, building and project management," explains YRS Executive Chairman Brian Chang. "Moving forward, our PLM platform will be an integral part of our strategic plan to drive future business and become the 'Yard of Choice' for partners and clients." The benefits it has accrued from deploying DS PLM have motivated YRS to further expand its existing solution. It recently deployed DS ENOVIA MatrixOne, which will play a central role in managing the collaborative product development business and data processes of YRS and its partners.

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