HD Hyundai and Siemens Digital Industries Software have opened a joint centre in Busan that the companies say will speed up the shipbuilding industry’s shift towards digital operations, combining Korean yard expertise with German engineering software.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the shipbuilding intermediate holding company within the HD Hyundai group, marked the launch of the Global Marine Centre on Tuesday with executives from both sides in attendance,...
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including HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering chief executive Kim Hyung-kwan and Siemens Digital Industries Software chief revenue officer Robert Jones.
The centre will bring together about 50 specialists from the two companies and is expected to focus on ship design, production planning, artificial intelligence platforms and product lifecycle management. According to the companies, it will act as a base for building what they describe as a next-generation marine platform, intended to connect design, manufacturing, supply-chain management, quality control and maintenance through digital tools.
The opening follows an agreement signed in July to develop that platform, and comes as shipbuilders around the world increasingly look to simulation, data analysis and automation to reduce costs and shorten development cycles. Siemens has separately described the wider collaboration as part of a broader push to create an AI-powered digital shipyard model that could be adapted for modern shipbuilding programmes, including efforts linked to the revitalisation of US shipbuilding.
HD Hyundai said the new centre would be used to advance the platform further and to develop a digital shipyard capable of simulating production lines and equipment operations before anything is built on site. The company added that the approach is designed to support a wider transition towards intelligent shipyards, where design and operations can be tested virtually to limit implementation risks.
To support the work, HD Hyundai is drawing on resources across the group. Its global research and development centre will help shape the platform’s technology strategy and core systems, while shipyards in Ulsan and Yeongam, operated by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho, will trial the platform’s performance and efficiency in real operating environments.
Kim said the system would improve productivity and competitiveness by allowing ship designs and production processes to be checked in a digital setting before they reach the yard. Jones said shipbuilding’s complexity made it a sector in which digital engineering could have a significant impact, and argued that the long-term partnership would help drive the industry’s transformation.
The Busan centre gives the two companies a dedicated location to turn those ambitions into working systems, and underlines how shipbuilders are increasingly treating software, data and simulation as central to future competitiveness rather than as support functions.
Source: Noah Wire Services
