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“A shipbuilding-specifi c product like FORAN that doesn’t have a platform like Autodesk will struggle to keep up with advances in general CAD technologies.” – SSI CEO Darren Larkins “The test for FORAN is, is it compatible with Team Center, Siemens’ PLM product? It’s very popular with the military builders in the U.S.” – RADM Joe Carnevale (Ret), a senior defense advisor for Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), a national trade association representing over 120 U.S. shipyard facilities. ed. The shipyard is also one of three companies in the run- ning for the U.S. Coast Guard’s 11-vessel Offshore Patrol Cutter contract, which requires that the designs be done in ShipConstructor. Technically, Larkins is correct. Eastern is currently using FORAN on just one project – two models of a multipur- pose ship - and remains a committed user of ShipCon- structor. However, the company is in the process of ex- panding its design capabilities, and was looking for a more integrated package. After looking at three to four options, it chose FORAN, says Fernando L. Malabet, Naval Archi- tect & Marine Engineer, Vice President Engineering, at Eastern Shipbuilding. Malabet, who joined Eastern 2011, leads Eastern’s team of designers, naval architects, mechanical and electrical en- gineers, a group he has so far grown into the equivalent of a medium size engineering fi rm. “We did not elimi- nate ShipConstructor. It has a series of advantages here in America, such as the availability of designers and things like that. We are keeping it and working on several projects still with that. For, example, we made a decision recently with a smaller tug boat, where the design was done, that it was easier to proceed in ShipConstructor. According to Larkins, those advantages include Sup- port for open architecture, which keeps its data accessible, Connection to Autodesk, a greater user base, and potential pool of already trained workers. Beyond this, SSI’s Larkins insists that older shipbuilding technologies, like FORAN, are typically either script-based or a hybrid of scripting and CAD modeling. This works well with typical (tanker) structures, but can be a weakness when dealing with more complex or non-typical shapes. In terms of SQL Server support, Larkins maintains that Microsoft’s database is at least as capable as FORAN’s Ora- cle database, and is more commonly found in the shipyard environment. SSI also provides a single, centralized prod- uct data model. “Our database contains all the assembly, part and attribute data as well as the geometry model for the entire project.” Nonetheless, Eastern wanted FORAN “because we wanted software that was fully integrated because soon the naval architects here, me and some others, will be de- signing vessels,” Malabet explained. By fully integrated, it means that within a single system, FORAN can handle all the initial concept, the design process, in 3D, not 2D, and later on, the production process. “It’s one of the key things that made me decide to use FORAN,” says Mala- bet. “For example, when I design a vessel, I go in and put all the surfaces, bulkheads etc., and look at in 3D, using modeling software called Rhino. Excellent software – love it – but you cannot use it to develop structural drawings or review CAD, it’s cumbersome, so now you have to jump into AutoCAD. In FORAN I can do all that from a single system.” CAD/CAM SOFTWARE October 2014 26 MN MN Oct14 Layout 18-31.indd 26 9/18/2014 3:29:20 PM
