Marine Digital Thread
Ship lifecycle management
Streamline the execution of shipbuilding projects from design and construction to maintenance and repair with a connected, centralized data system that supports each stage of the shipbuilding process and ship lifecycle.
What is ship lifecycle management?
Ship lifecycle management refers to the comprehensive approach that encompasses the management and oversight of the entire ship lifespan. This ensures the ship’s safety, efficiency and compliance with regulations from beginning to end.
Effectively manage the lifecycle of your ship
Manual, spreadsheet-based processes for information sharing across stakeholders can create project delays and risks to quality. A digital ship lifecycle management solution can connect all shipbuilding information across the full vessel lifespan.
Shipbuilders expressing uncertainty
Rising energy costs and inflation have shipbuilders concerned about the current economic situation. Weather the ups and downs by taking control of the full ship lifecycle. (SMM Research)
Ships on order using alternative fuel sources
Sustainability targets and requirements are increasing the complexity of shipbuilding projects. Ship lifecycle management can help chart a path to decarbonization. (DNV Maritime Forecast)
Shipyards believe IMO targets won't be met
Shipbuilders perceive a reluctance to invest, even as the International Maritime Organization sets ambitious sustainability targets. Bring together all project information to increase agility and innovation. (SMM Research)
Digitally transform how you manage your ship lifespan
Seamlessly manage multiple bills of materials and ship configurations and empower supply chain cross-collaboration to manage critical changes efficiently. Explore our solution paths that can help you take control of every stage of the ship lifecycle:
Create a digital thread backbone by implementing a data management system that connects all vessel information, from design through manufacturing. This allows you to manage ship data across the different bills of materials and track different ship configurations. This data backbone also enables knowledge capture and reuse.
The digital thread backbone enables closed-loop change management. As the single source of truth across your global supply chain, it ensures that you can manage changes in real time, reducing the risk of key details being missed.
Connect siloed or disparate data and systems across the shipyard by creating customized apps and interfaces. Tailor them to your specific procedures and users.
Benefit from successful ship lifecycle management
Paper documentation
Shift to a fully digital shipyard that doesn't rely on paper drawings. Share and track information with ease by going digital. (Newport News Shipbuilding)
New designs put into production each year
Create a digital twin to manage and track configurations and variants. (Princess Yachts)
Cost savings
Speed up cycle times and reduce costs with ship lifecycle management. (Cox Marine)
Royal IHC
Shipbuilder uses NX and Teamcenter to streamline processes for developing highly complex bespoke vessels
Company:Royal IHC
Industry:Marine
Location:Kinderdijk, Netherlands
Siemens Software:NX, Solid Edge, Teamcenter
The exchange of data between the NX CAD and Teamcenter environments and the ERP environment enables all our divisions to open up the same drawings, the same specifications. Anyone with a question can open the system and find everything that is required to get their work done right.
Explore our resource library
Connect all your shipbuilding information with a centralized data backbone that supports each step of the shipbuilding process and the ship lifecycle.
Solutions to thoroughly manage your ship's lifespan
Product lifecycle management
Application development platform
Requirements engineering
Quality management
Supplier collaboration
Industrial internet of things
Frequently asked questions
A ship’s life cycle starts at the initial concept and design and continues through engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, ongoing maintenance and finally decommissioning at the end of its life.
In a digital environment, ship lifecycle management encompasses all the product information and processes through each stage of a ship’s lifecycle in one centralized “data backbone.” Ship lifecycle management software can:
- Control costs and improve process execution
- Enable safe and smooth collaboration among all stakeholders
- Reduce risk exposure by ensuring closed-loop change management
- Manage project information in a centralized environment
- Protect corporate knowledge by consolidating design and construction information in a single place
Secure data management, process enablement, bill-of-materials management, requirements management and change management are all important capabilities to ensure seamless collaboration and manage the complexity of the entire ship lifecycle.
Siemens ship lifecycle management tools are flexible and scalable and will work with established tools and processes. You won’t need to change your processes; rather, the data management capabilities will enable your teams to collaborate better and run more efficiently.
If the solution you choose is flexible in its configuration, you will likely experience a smoother implementation. It’s also important that you choose a trusted partner that provides excellent customer service. Finally, a cloud-based solution can simplify the process and speed up implementation, allowing you to experience ROI even faster.
Ship design and manufacturing are complex, so it's important to keep the bill of materials (BOM) structured and accurate. By centralizing multiple BOMs in one place, you loop information transfer across teams and the supply chain, displaying accurate, task-relevant and highly visual BOM data that connects design to manufacturing to operations.
Learn more
Watch
Video | BOM management for shipbuilders
Read
Ebook | The future of ship lifecycle management
White paper | Getting started with ship lifecycle management
Ebook | Reduce engineering time-wasters in shipbuilding
Listen
Podcast | The future of the marine industry is digital