By Liu Zhiliang

Artificial intelligence (AI) is developing rapidly, and all intelligent development modes have been applied in various industries, with no exception of the shipbuilding industry. Improving the industry productivity and quality and overall level of China’s shipbuilding industry through intelligent manufacturing has become an important development direction of China’s shipbuilding industry.

As a major shipbuilding province,Shandong Province has attached importance to the role of intelligent manufacturing in promoting the shipbuilding industry in further realizing structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading. A leading official of the Shandong Defence Science and Technology Office said that with intelligent manufacturing, Shandong Province will promote key ship enterprises to gradually build production facilities and management system of intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing.Improving intelligent manufacturing level of ship enterprises is expected to pave the way for setting up modern shipbuilding model, improving development quality and realizing old and new energy conversion of the shipbuilding industry.

Intelligent manufacturing on the way

As a major shipbuilding province,Shandong Province key ship enterprises take vigorously drive intelligent manufacturing, rapidly improve shipbuilding quality and efficiency,reducing cost and resource energy depleting as an effective means to enhancing core competitiveness, and accelerate catching up with the advanced on the path to grasping intelligent manufacturing opportunity. Last June,Qingdao North Shipyard and Shanghai Jiaotong University, CSIC No.716 Research Institute and Chongqing Changjiang Coating Equipment Co Ltd signed the ship block intelligent coating workshop research project cooperation framework agreement, to carry out cooperation on intelligent coating technology of structural surface and unstructural surface at ship block stage,gave full play to integrated advantages of industry, university, research and users,disseminated the application of intelligent coating in the shipbuilding industry to fill domestic gap in marine coating intelligent technology.

To improve overall productivity and narrow down gap with international advanced shipyards such Japan and Korea,Penglai Hongbai Jinglu Shipbuilding Co and No.11 Institute signed the ERP System Cooperation Agreement, on the basis of extensively introducing Korean ERP system informatization management,further built “network-entity” integrated architecture, used intelligent technology as link to realize intelligentization of all links in the production process in a bid to reach good quality product, meticulous management and efficient service.

Yantai CIMC Raffles Ocean Engineering Co Ltd with its powerful R&D capability worked with CIMC Marine Engineering Design and Research Institute Co Ltd as well as CIMC controlled overseas well-known design companies Norwegian BE and Swedish BT, formed China-Europe interactive R&D innovation pattern, led industrialization with informatization,improved overall performance of offshore engineering equipment, support intelligent manufacturing, realized intelligent cut-through from design to production links and built the innovative system of“building platform with platform”.CIMC Raffles Ocean Engineering developed “CIMC Ocean Engineering 2025” program to speed up intelligent manufacturing. In “CIMC Ocean Engineering 2025”, CIMC Raffles Ocean Engineering will build intelligent ocean platform supported by database, support the system to realize intelligent design and building by relying on the design and building system of the database and operation and maintenance of big data,support the platform functional extension,robot, big data acquisition and crosssector share with system intelligentization and digit, and finally achieve intelligent offshore platform.

Overcome shortcomings in multi-pronged fashion

Unquestionably, expediting new generation IT and advanced shipbuilding technology integration and improving intelligentization development is an important drive for Shandong shipbuilding industry to realize big-strong conversion and also an important move to build Shandong shipbuilding industry new competitive advantages. In order to further overcome intelligent manufacturing shortcomings and narrow down gap with domestic and overseas intelligent manufacturing, on one hand, Shandong ship enterprises improve intelligentization development by strengthening cooperation with “exobrain”; on the other hand,Shandong Province has actively launched various polices and provided special fund support to improve corporate intelligentization development.

According to the strategic cooperation agreement signed between the Shandong Defence Science and Technology Office and No.11 Institute,No.11 Institute will provide consulting service and technical support for Shandong key ship enterprises in terms of intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing, research findings will be applied in Shandong ship enterprises,also granting Shandong enterprises preferential policies in technology and product. Shandong Defence Science and Technology Office will establish contact and communication mechanism with No.11 Institute, regularly and irregularly organize shipbuilding industry development workshops to pool wisdom and solve difficulties and problems in intelligent manufacturing progradation by Shandong ship enterprises. In addition, Jinglu Shipyard and Weihai Zhonghaiyuan Ship Technology Co Ltd each signed strategic agreement with No.11 Institute in a bid to improve corporate intelligentization development.

In 2017, “Implementation opinions on Shandong shipbuilding industry deepening structural adjustment and speeding up transformation and upgrading” launched by Shandong Province pledged to vigorously propel production digitalization, networking and intelligentization changes, accelerate intelligent manufacturing of offshore engineering equipment intermediate products, take intelligent manufacturing as main direction for Shandong shipbuilding industry to strengthen management, reduce cost, increase efficiency and improve product quality, energetically promote the application of digitization, networking and intelligentization technology in marine and offshore engineering equipment and marine equipment design and manufacturing. At the same time, take intelligent welding technology, coating and installation as the sally point, expedite intelligent manufacturing equipment development, and establish Shandong shipbuilding enterprise intelligent manufacturing project database.Shipbuilding enterprises on the national“White List” should comprehensively set up meticulous manufacturing system, remarkably improve automation,digitization and intelligentization and complete a group of intelligent workshops,intelligent warehouses and intelligent production lines.

Meanwhile, Shandong Province gives full play to important role of major special projects in promoting intelligent manufacturing. In conjunction with organizing the implementation of 11 major special projects including 7th generation deepwater drilling platform,deepsea space station, offshore structure installation and removal engineering ship,Shandong Province will further improve“Shandong intelligent manufacturing model” led by independent R&D and design, relying on major project integrated innovation and featuring industry-university-research-user coordinated innovation. The province will guide universities, research institutions,enterprises and users to jointly apply for undertaking national high-technology ship and offshore engineering equipment R&D projects and boost innovative resource element aggregation and innovative capability improvement.

Moreover, Shandong Shipbuilding Industry Association adopts various measures to push ahead intelligent manufacturing, e.g., conducting“Internet+” upgrading renovation and network integration to traditional shipbuilding industry, comprehensively propel green manufacturing, accelerate green manufacturing system construction,and establish safe shipbuilding technology specifications and standards.In future, Shandong Shipbuilding Industry Association will go on with smart ship manufacturing activities,assess advanced schemes, individuals and enterprises, explore the development of technical body standard, strive to assist members in improving technology and achieving industrial transformation and upgrading and old and new energy conversion.★