Objective:
This project will address what it takes to modernize accessibility to product data and improve user
experience with digital technology by deploying Product Data-as-a-Service (PDaaS) as the future planning yard product, including a product model digital twin that is fit for use in the chosen sustainment use cases in which the planning yard is a major participant.
Summary:
The Columbia Class Submarine (CLB) is the Navy’s chief priority, and, at this moment, a critical challenge to the program is how to sustain a ship whose design is model-based when all current Navy systems are drawing and document-based. Though the CLB class will be the first, all future US Navy ship designs are expected to be model-based. This project, in collaboration with NAVSEA’s Project Blue, will develop new tools and processes that address the challenges and opportunities presented by model-based design for sustainment of the fleet.
Key Deliverables / Benefits:
If the Navy is forced to rely on its current drawing-based systems to sustain the model-based CLB design, sustainment cost will be significantly higher than current and budgeted costs. This in-executable cost coupled with the complexity of the antiquated systems will result in extreme risk to the nation’s strategic deterrent mission as the CLB class will carry 70% of the total mission firepower. Moreover, the submarine fleet is already experiencing significant problems with the drawing-based systems. For instance, some drawings held onboard submarines today are out of date and authoritative repositories do not always reflect alterations conducted. Planning yards are backlogged and under-resourced such that it will take several years to catch up. Until new tools are deployed, red-line diagram received from installation teams, if anyone can find them, is the only source of properly executing safe tag-out isolations and workcontrols. Additionally, access to the current CLB piping and electrical diagram design software is cumbersome and slow. Without improvements to data access, the system will not be able to support the sustainment needs of the fleet and will become a very costly failure. These situations have eroded the end users’ trust in the data and place a time-consuming research burden on the individual maintenance activities to ensure accuracy. One of the guiding similarities of Project Blue and of this project is system longevity. Both projects are committed to developing solutions that will operate for the 60-year life of the ship. The avoidance of proprietary solutions at all levels is a key part of that strategy.
Point of Contact:
Maksim Vasilchenko | GD-Electric Boat | MVasilch@gdeb.com
Overview
Project Team:
- GD-Electric Boat, Boston Engineering LLC, NAVSEA PMS397L
March 2023 – February 2024
INDUSTRY INVESTMENT: $410K | NSRP INVESTMENT $410K
