From May 12th to 14th 2010, some users experience in FORAN and innovations and future developments of the System were shown in Seville, during the VI FORAN Users Meeting. Over 100 delegates from 15 countries had the opportunity to exchange impressions about the software in the unique atmosphere of the Andalusian city.
Luis Garcia, General Manager, Marine Business Unit of SENER, opened the act and Jorge Sendagorta, president of SENER, thanked delegates for attending, and emphasized that the user appreciations are very important for the new developments in FORAN.
During the FORUM, the following papers were presented:
Jose Esteban Perez, President of the Spanish Association of Naval Architects, presented: “The sea: technology and well-being”. His final message was the importance of the advanced technology for the future in the marine industry.
Alfonso Olmos and José Torres, from NAVANTIA, presented “Use of FBUILDS for automatically generating BOM of fabrication drawings”. He described the S80, the new submarine for the Spanish Army, developed in FORAN V60r2.0, and the advantage of using a CAD/CAM system based on a relational data base. One important advantage is the capability to obtain data in specific forms.
David Campbell, Babcock Marine, presented “Integration & assembly of the Queen Elizabeth Class at Babcock Marine”. FORAN is used widely across all engineering stages and disciplines with more than 100 users in the QEC aircraft carrier project. These uses include design, modelling, planning, dimension control and weights.
Virginia Marcos, SENER, presented “FVIEWER, a new approach to 3D virtual project review”. She made a demonstration of the new approach to the 3D virtual reality tool in FORAN. Between the advantages, a 64 bit system able to handle a huge amount of geometric data, based on a hierarchical structure and the possibility to use more than 4 GB of RAM.
Jim McLauchlan, BAE Systems, presented “Interfacing FORAN with business systems & manufacturing facilities”. He described the use of FORAN V60r2.0 in BAE, with over 300 users interacting with FORAN. One challenging interface developed in-house was that with the robotic bar cutting machine.
Gregorio Galán, Ghenova ingenieria, presented “Process continuous improvement: feedback from engineering”. A lot of effort is made in creating the 3D model of a ship and with a little additional effort FORAN enables engineers to obtain data which would allowshipyards to improve efficiency.
Carlos Malheiros Santos, Brazilian Navy, presented: “Ship 3D model and design DB reuse for warship operation and maintenance”. He discussed the use of the model data in the maintenance and operation of ships using a landing craft as the reference design in which FORAN had been used.
Raul Serrano, SENER, presented “FGA, general arrangement developed with FORAN”. He described the new tool that is used at early design states taking advantage of the reuse of information during all stages of the design. The 3D models created can be integrated with other analysis tools, like FEM tools.
Juan Arrospide, Astillero Rio Santiago, en Chile, presented “Automation of design tasks with FORAN”. He described the installations of the shipyard and the use of FORAN, which is being used in different projects from years, such as the new tank vessel and a tug, developed in FORAN V60.
J. Song, UFC, presented “Applications of FORAN in Chinese ship design”. He described the use of FORAN in a patrol vessel of 60m. He concluded that FORAN ensures the quality of the design and reduces man-hours.
Y Ananiev of the Severnoye Design Bureau, St. Petersburg, presented: “Practice of application of FORAN in SPDB”. He described his company, its facilities and commercial and naval ships designed. They have recently developed conceptual designs of LNG-carriers.
Carlos Gonzalez, SENER, presented “FNORM, new methods, enhanced functionality”. The new module will be available in FORAN V70 in place of NORM. FNORM has a new 2D kernel, an integrated GED editor and allows a hierarchical organisation of parametric standards.
Antonio Valderrama, SENER, presented: “FDEFIN, tools to facilitate import/ export functionality”. FORAN V70 will have a new way of managing outfitting standards, affecting their definition and their transfer, based in XML. Two new commands will give full access to all import and export capabilities.
Sergey Kokovin, of SMART Marine Ltd, presented “Experience of Vyborg Shipyard with FORAN Electrical design”. He explained how the FORAN Electrical Subsystem can be used effectively in projects using a third CAD/CAM system.
Rafael de Gongora, SENER, presented “FORAN V70 and beyond”. He reviewed SENER’s vision for V70. Amount the improvements, some of them are: Greater internationalisation and higher performance due to using 64 bits and 4GB RAM. New generation replication used by ORACLE, reducing the volume of data transfers with improvements in control and checking. A new General Arrangement module, FGA, working in 2D/3D. The new FNORM will give improved hull structure modelling. Other improvements include a new algorithm for curved plates; automatic generation of supports for sloping pipes; commercial HVAC cross sections available in calculations; importing/exporting of HVAC components; better management of penetrations; 3D models of equipment as external files; historical record of every cable modification. SENER will use advances in technology to provide a System that will enable better, faster, cheaper ships to be built.
The conference was closed by Luis Garcia who said we must be optimistic for the future. He hoped the new V70 system would be launched in November 2010. He thanked all those attending and contributing to the success of the conference.