New ship design tool reduces lead time up to 50%

An international ship design company and a Dutch software company have joined forces to create a software program to optimize the hull design process, making it up to two times faster.

C-Job Naval Architects, an independent ship design company, and VIKTOR, leading application development platform for engineers, have worked together on the ACD Resistance Module, a tool that will benefit shipowners during the ship design process.

Roy de Winter, R&D Engineer at C-Job Naval Architects, says “In the early phases of design, engineers must make decisions that can have an irreversible influence on later design stages. Therefore, it is beneficial to make these decisions in a data driven way. An optimization process is difficult and labor-intensive work, but is essential for a reliable and efficient result. Together with the VIKTOR platform, we were able to create a tool, the ACD resistance module, that automates this process and reduces building and operational costs.”

The ACD resistance module optimizes a ship’s hull based on its resistance, which in turn will result in superior building costs (CAPEX) and operational costs (OPEX) for shipowners. Together, this creates a ship design that ensures the highest quality design is delivered in the shortest amount of time. By using the tool during this process, the chance of having to make changes later in the process based on key-decisions made earlier in the design is reduced to almost zero, allowing for a smoother process during the whole ship design.

The two companies were a perfect match for the creation of this tool. With C-Job's experience in R&D, data science, and coding, the company knew exactly what input was needed. As a software company with engineering DNA, VIKTOR helped them bring C-Job's vision to life with their team of developing engineers that offer expertise and co-development throughout the process of turning the idea into a usable tool with Python.

Roy continues “Working together with VIKTOR, we were able to build an easy-to-use tool that combines all our knowledge into a one-stop cloud-based solution for our engineers. The creation of the tool could not have happened without VIKTOR, they were essential to making the ACD Resistance Module what it is today.”

Wouter Riedijk, CEO and co-founder of VIKTOR, says “We strive to never stop exploring new ideas and technologies and were excited to collaborate with C-Job on a solution that helps unlock engineering potential to an exponential degree. Through the VIKTOR interface, engineers can turn any idea into a cloud-based, interactive, user-friendly, that is accessible to anyone.”

The ACD Resistance Module continues to build on previous work by C-Job, namely the accelerated concept design framework. This framework uses simulation software in combination with in-house developed algorithms to generate optimized concept designs. The ACD Resistance Module uses the latest algorithms created by C-Job. Roy de Winter explains “Multiple algorithms were created and then added to C-Job’s ‘toolbox’ of optimization algorithms. These algorithms allow for complex design problems to be optimized in significantly less time.”

The ACD Resistance Module operates via the VIKTOR platform which offers a user-friendly interface where multiple users can work on projects. VIKTOR takes care of the UI, while C-Job's domain knowledge is running behind the scenes.

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