Digital Twin of Shipbuilding Process in Shipyard 4.0

Abstract

Maximum digitalization is the current trend in industrial development. The digital industrial revolution has been underway for more than a dozen years. Industry 4.0 and the idea of digital twins (DT) are becoming the focus of virtually all industrial sectors. Some sectors are more predisposed to digitalization, while for others, the process is much more difficult. This mainly depends on the specific characteristics and susceptibility of a given industry, including the current degree of digitalization of companies, as well as the knowledge and mental readiness of employees. The individual characteristics of an industry are important. Shipbuilding is a traditional industry where the level of digitalization is still low. As a result, the efficiency of shipbuilding processes and the quality of ships built are not sufficiently controlled. The article addresses this problem, reviews work in the field of digitalization of shipbuilding processes, and identifies the needs and challenges in this area. The article proposes the concept of a DT system for the entire ship design and production process. Key areas of digitalization of the actual processes were defined, and a division was made into planning, monitoring, and process analysis activities. Special attention was paid to the area of dimensional quality control, and the dimensional quality management metasystem (DQMM) was introduced into the comprehensive DT system. The requirements were defined, and the limitations of the proposed solution were identified, taking into account a number of external factors, including the degree of readiness of the manufacturer—the shipyard. The developed DT system concept was tested using the example of the construction process of a simplified ship. Practical aspects of the implementation of the proposed solution, in particular, DQMM, were pointed out.