Overview
Harvest: Finishing the Ship Product Models (2001-358)
Project Team:
- STEP Tools
- General Dynamics Electric Boat
- Product Data Services
June 2001 - May 2003
NSRP ASE Investment: $318K
Industry Investment: $398K
Objective:
Complete the international standardization of the shipbuilding Application Protocols (Aps): AP-215 Ship Arrangements, AP-216 Ship Moulded Forms on AP-218 Ship Structures.
Summary:
The Harvest project sought to complete the international standardization of the shipbuilding Standards for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP) Application Protocols: AP-215 (Ship Arrangements), AP-216 (Ship Moulded Forms), and AP-218 (Ship Structures).
Completion of the shipbuilding STEP APs allowed the U.S. shipbuilding industry (and the Navy) to harvestā the investment it has made in the development of product models for ships.
The primary goal of the final approval process was to ensure the viability and completeness of the standard. This included validation of information requirements, implementation considerations and harmonization with other STEP and related standards.
These models provide the shipbuilding industry new options for collaboration, for transferring data between different systems and different versions of the same system and for managing data across the product life cycle.
It has been shown that International Standards for Product Data can reduce the cost of preparing and sharing drawings by 75%, reduce the cost of data preparation for machine tools by 35% and increase the speed of machining by 50%.
The Harvest project has estimated that these savings should translate into $8.8M per year for a medium-sized shipyard producing four ships per year.
The results of the Harvest project are being transferred to the shipyards and the Navy by implementing STEP data translators for the CAD/CAM systems used by the industry. Prototype translators for AP-216 and AP-218 have been developed by the Integrated Shipbuilding Environment project team.
Key Deliverables:
Final ReportĀ –Ā Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Point of Contact:
Dr. Martin Hardwick; STEP Tools, Inc.