13. SHIPLYS (Ship Life Cycle Software Solutions) Concept for Ship Newbuilding and Retrofitting Bids

The SHIPLYS (Ship Life Cycle Software Solutions) (2016–2019) project was an EU funded HORIZON 2020 project in response to needs of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), of design offices and naval architects, shipbuilders and ship-owners who need to make improvements in order to survive in the highly competitive maritime world market. The improvements that this project focused on are at the early bidding/tendering stage, during which the ability to respond quickly with reliable cost estimates, and from a life cycle perspective, is increasingly important to remain competitive. Key tasks in the SHIPLYS project were: the development of software for rapid virtual prototyping of design and production, life cycle tools, a multi-criteria decision analysis tool (taking account of life cycle cost, environmental impact and risk based criteria) and a software platform with the ability to integrate the tools developed within the project and other tools (third-party or to be developed in the future). The software tools were developed to provide specific solutions to problems posed by three shipyards in the SHIPLYS consortium, with potential for generic application within the marine industry and across sectors. Apart from being guided by the shipyards within the consortium, the project had an advisory committee comprising experts from major stakeholders who provided periodic feedback during the project. This chapter describes key activities and software tools developed within the project, and is targeted towards industry stakeholders without prerequisite specialized knowledge of the topics discussed.