Embarking on innovative digital ship construction with HD Hyundai and Siemens

Today’s shipbuilding industry stands at a critical inflection point. How does a traditionally manual, specialized industry embrace modern digital ship construction capabilities – like integrated workstreams, digital twins and artificial intelligence – to speed technological advances, time to market and cost savings?

HD Hyundai, the world’s largest global shipyard, has always been on the cutting edge of technology to make better ships, faster. Now the company is planning an ambitious “Future of the Shipyard” project that it aims to complete by 2030. The project forms part of HD Hyundai’s ongoing efforts to address data discontinuities that have existed across ship design and production processes and to establish a more structured, digitally enabled shipbuilding environment.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (DH KSOE), the intermediary holding company of HD Hyundai, has selected Siemens as a preferred partner in this endeavor. Siemens will establish an integrated platform, managing the entire shipbuilding process as a single data flow. The goal is to ensure consistency across all HD Hyundai’s global shipyard facilities.    

Taking a lead in solving challenges that shipbuilders face

With this project, HD Hyundai and Siemens will demonstrate how to solve challenges that are common to many shipbuilders around the globe, both large and small – challenges that can be overcome through adoption of digital technologies.

• Data discontinuity and fragmentation: Traditional shipyards rely on manual data transfers between siloed departments, which can lead to errors and inefficiencies. Shipyards can experience information loss during handoffs between engineering and manufacturing, and lack of integration between design and production systems. These issues can all lead to rework and longer vessel construction times.  
• Increasing project complexity: Many modern vessels are increasingly complex and require more sophisticated systems integration. In addition, there’s a growing demand for specialized ships, alternative fuels, lower emissions and remote capabilities. These requirements call for more advanced simulation and validation before the first panel is even welded.
• Competition, workforce and efficiency pressures: Every shipyard is under pressure to improve quality and reduce build times to earn their place in a competitive global market, especially in the face of rising material and labor costs. As the workforce ages and ages out, companies must attract a younger workforce with skills not only in traditional manufacturing but also with complex, evolving technologies. By implementing standardizations across multiple shipyard locations, companies can better control costs and train workforces.

Siemens’ digital shipbuilding solutions create a unified shipyard

Siemens Xcelerator, the open digital business platform, helps shipbuilders create a unified digital thread, from design through production. Real-time connection between design and manufacturing helps standardize data flows and create a comprehensive digital twin of the entire vessel. In this virtual environment, teams can plan, construct, expand and modify each vessel and conduct performance analysis and optimization.

“The selection of Siemens Xcelerator represents an important milestone in advancing HD KSOE’s digital shipbuilding strategy. By establishing an integrated digital platform that ensures consistency from design through production, we aim to address long-standing data discontinuity challenges and create a more structured and collaborative shipbuilding environment.”
^{-Taejin Lee, executive vice president and head of Digital Innovation Office, HD Hyundai}

Heading to the next great horizon of digital ship construction

HD Hyundai aims to strengthen collaboration between engineering and manufacturing functions and to support stable execution of increasingly complex shipbuilding projects. Leveraging Siemens Xcelerator, this “Integrated Platform for Ship Design-Production Consistency” project will deliver a consistent digital thread of key data from design through production. Design and production will be connected in real time through a unified data backbone, significantly reducing inefficiencies and errors caused by data discontinuities between processes.

Within this unified digital environment, standardized data flows and system interoperability will connect key domains including computer-aided design (CAD), product lifecycle management (PLM), digital manufacturing, automation and simulation, enabling major shipyard activities such as planning, construction, expansion and modification to be reviewed in a virtual environment prior to on-site implementation.

HD Hyundai also plans to expand the application of model-based engineering practices and improve collaboration efficiency across organizations and functional teams. Block assembly, welding information, piping, and electrical data will be managed in an integrated 3D model, improving design accuracy, optimizing production planning, and standardizing shop-floor operations.

The scope of the integrated digital platform is expected to extend across a range of vessel types, including commercial vessels and specialized ships. Key areas of application include structured management of equipment and component data, digital model-based performance analysis, lifecycle-oriented maintenance engineering and technical support frameworks for overseas shipbuilding projects.

Since 2022, Siemens’ collaboration with HD Hyundai has been focused on the future of shipbuilding and the development of next-generation digital design and production platforms. We look forward to helping HD Hyundai establish a scalable, open and future-ready manufacturing innovation platform that supports sustainable growth and operational excellence.” 
^{-Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens Digital Industries Software}

Piloting Siemens’ new Digital Twin Composer software

Additionally, HD Hyundai is working on building an Industrial Metaverse-based digital representation of ships and shipyard sites, implementing “physical artificial intelligence (AI)” technology that can be used even in complex production environments by applying reinforcement learning using synthetic data and industrial intelligence in a virtual learning environment. HD Hyundai will be one of the first companies to pilot Siemens’ Digital Twin Composer software, which was just announced last month at CES.  

Is a digital shipyard on your radar?

The partnership between HD Hyundai and Siemens expects to demonstrate how a comprehensive digital platform can address core Marine industry challenges. Improved collaboration between engineering and manufacturing teams, stable execution of complex projects, and better control and consistency can help strengthen shipyards’ competitiveness in a tight global market.

From design and engineering to construction to service, Siemens Xcelerator software helps shipbuilders and operators throughout the complete vessel lifecycle. Learn more about our solutions for the Marine industry.