DS PLM SUCCESS STORY

Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard

Overview
Challenge
Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Leading shipyard in souther China processes with the latest in 3D design,
wanted to improve efficiency of its Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard Co. Ltd., process management, and manufacturing
design and production processes and (GWS), part of the China State Shipbuilding technologies.
triumph in the competitive shipbuilding Corporation, is a state-owned company
market. based in southern China with 2200 Enhance efficiency and reduce costs
employees. GWS specializes in the DS PLM solutions provide a collaborative
Solution production of full container ship series, work environment where GWS engineers
The company selected CATIA and
dredger series, oil tankers, and multi- can efficiently design a ship’s plates,
ENOVIA VPLM for its 3D collaborative
purpose cargo ships. structural systems, and connections.
design and lifecycle management
The company has shifted from a 2D design
capabilities.
One of the challenges facing Chinese approach to one based on 3D. “DS PLM
Benefits shipbuilders such as GWS is the increase has enabled us to optimize our production
Guangzhou Wenchong shipyard has in raw material and energy prices from process, leading to shorter development
improved design efficiency and the beginning of a project to the moment lifecycles for our ships. This is the
accuracy by 15% and reduced the it is completed. Chinese shipbuilders value we bring to our customers,” said Lin
number of change order requests also face stiff competition from Asian Hongshan, Vice-General Engineer, GWS.
by 50%. competitors in Korea and Japan.
GWS increasingly produces ships, such
To meet these challenges, China’s shipyards as dredgers, for the Chinese domestic
recognized the need to turn to advanced market. Dredgers are usually ordered in
product lifecycle management (PLM) small quantity, sometimes just one ship
solutions to streamline engineering-to- at a time, which requires lead times as
“With CATIA, we’ve reduced piping production processes. Consequently, short as three to four months. This presents
system design from five months to GWS turned to Dassault Systèmes (DS) a serious challenge to GWS’ design and
three to four months. We’ve also to help it transform its development production teams.
improved efficiency and accuracy
by 15%, reduced change order
requests by 50%, and increased our
competitiveness on the market.”

Lin Hongshan
Vice-General Engineer, GWS
GWS chose CATIA’s ship design modules both piping and HVAC routing. Users can practices commonly used within a traditional
to streamline its design processes and define connections across disciplines, PDM system, in-work product structures,
meet specific shipbuilding requirements and these connections can be analyzed digital mockups and engineering BOMs
from initial concept to detail design. For and tracked within the PLM environment. are directly accessible in the ENOVIA
example, CATIA provides a set of tools “With CATIA we have reduced piping database to construction planners or
that enable structural designers to system design from five months to three customers before a design release,
efficiently complete their preliminary draft to four months,” said Lin Hongshan. providing valuable insights into on-going
before proceeding to detailed design. “We have also improved efficiency and project development and giving construction
Engineers can then complete the design accuracy by 15%, reduced change order planning a head start.
of the ship’s heavy structures with realistic requests by 50% and increased our
plating and stiffening elements. CATIA competitiveness on the market,” “Although this is just the beginning, we
also provides industry-specific features said Hongshan. have noticed improvements since we
to create hull-structure detailed parts. started using ENOVIA. This encouraging
The full integration between CATIA ENOVIA enhances collaboration and news confirms that we are moving in the
modules enables GWS to easily retrieve streamlines workflow right direction and we will continue to
design block information to perform The shipbuilding industry differs from expand the use of ENOVIA in the future.”
detailed design of the structure. other manufacturing industries in that said Hongshan.
projects require specialized technology
“In the past, we spent RMB300k (€30k) and can involve hundreds of designers
to create a mockup so that the client could collaborating together. “With data “For engineers, managers, and
visualize our design,” said Hongshan. increasing almost exponentially, it has customers to see a digital model and
“But now with 3D digital mock-ups, clients been a baffling problem for us to manage lifecycle simulation of a ship before
can pre-visualize our design virtually, product BOMs and design data,” production begins is not only an
which eliminates the need for physical said Hongshan. “To improve this situation, unforgettable experience, but essential
to eliminating misunderstandings
mockups. For engineers, managers we implemented ENOVIA VPLM to
and errors.”
and customers to see a digital model manage all our data on two of our new
and lifecycle simulation of a ship before ships. We also use ENOVIA to manage
Lin Hongshan
production begins is not only an the design data for the 2800TEU container Vice-General Engineer, GWS
unforgettable experience but essential to ships and large sized draggers.”
eliminating misunderstandings and errors.”
With ENOVIA VPLM, GWS is now able
In addition to hull structure design, GWS to create a master bill of materials (BOM)
uses CATIA to design ship fluid systems, for each ship under construction. The master
thanks to an array of dedicated tools for BOM is then broken down into ‘Project
piping and HVAC design. For instance, BOMs’ that detail all the parts for a particular
CATIA has specific functions for 2D- project so that data can be securely
diagrams that provide specifications for accessed in real-time. In contrast to

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