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to innovate. In the early 1990s, all prod- ucts were re-written to move from the DOS operating environment to Windows. Further, the products have undergone con- tinuous improvement, taking advantage of increased computing power available in PCs, and more advanced programming tools. Finally, ASC has further proved its commitment to making the vessel design and construction process easier by inte- grating with third party software. Today, the Autoship CADCAM suite is as follows: • Autoship - for surface modeling. The Autoship program uses Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) mathemat- ics, the high-end CAD standard for sur- face modeling. Autopower - for resistance and pow- ering prediction. Twelve independent resistance and propulsion methods for variety of hull forms are offered. Autohydro - for stability and strength calculations. The program performs dam- age and intact stability analyses on a 3D model of the vessel. The program input can either be an Autoship-generated model, or a table of offsets. Autostructure - for internal structure design. This is a group of programs con- sisting of: Project Manager - for project management, Autostructure - for design work, and Report Manager - for report generation. Autostructure is built on top of the Microsoft SQL Server database Autoplate - for plate design and expansion. The program performs plate expansion calculations for both devel- opable and non-developable plates. It helps in the layout and forming of the shell plating. It is based on a modern pro- prietary expansion algorithm. Production Manager - for nesting and stock management. The foundation of Production Manager is the Autostructure database. Parts for nesting are read from the database; nestings and inventories are stored in it. Production Manager exports nesting drawings and tables into Auto- CAD. Third Party Integration In today's shipyard, there are many dif- ferent software packages in use. The indi- vidual software alone may improve effi- ciencies within a given department, how- ever the real benefit of these disparate packages can only be realized through meaningful data transfers between these systems. Ultimately, the supply chain will still experience bottlenecks if these links 26 • MarineNews January, 2005 Vessel Design Autoplate Autopower 4420 14th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107 Tel: 206.789.3880 Toll Free: 1.800.762.0165 www.northern-lights.com info@northern-lights.com Northern Lights Generators Lugger Propulsion Engines A755 Reliability. Durability. Simplicity. Northern Lights has provided efficient power generation in the commercial marine industry for over four decades. For reliability, durability and simplicity the choice is clear: Northern Lights generator sets. UIup M1066H 155 - 185 kW Visit us at the PVA MariTrends Conference Booth 204. Circle 243 on Reader Service Card MN JAN05 3 (25-40).qxd 1/6/2005 11:48 AM Page 26