Development of a Welding Protocol for Automated Shipyard Manufacturing Systems

Abstract

Robotic manufacturing systems have provided improvements in productivity and quality in the automotive and semiconductor industries. Shipbuilding, however, is a one-of-a-kind manufacturing process and as such embodies a completely different set of problems than the mass production environment. The planning for robotics applications in shipbuilding must be done for each unique component and, therefore, must be done efficiently to achieve the benefits of automation. This will require a close relationship between computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), and the manufacturing systems used on the waterfront. One of the major efforts to be performed is the integration of these processes through the timely presentation of information. One of the tools that can be used to integrate these processes is the Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP). This paper will identify the relevant components of a STEP applications protocol (AP) for welding which can be applied to shipbuilding and outline the efforts required to bring it into existence.