| | DECEMBER 20248CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONUse of new approaches requires shipbuilders, end users, and class to be satisfied that risks are understood and managed, writes Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. The use of new technologies is driving shipyard production into new, exciting, and sometimes unfamiliar frontiers, expanding across the use of technology such as AR/VR, 3D plan review, simulation, and modelling, digital twins and other tools. The increasing application of such digital processes, including the certification of new technologies, can be supported by class.The need to drive safety and quality as part of this technology revolution creates a demand among vessel designers and shipyards for validation and certification of digital processes. It also enables class and yards to better coordinate their workstreams, potentially changing the physical touchpoints during construction and providing the standards for data flows that support digital class and remote technology during a vessel's operational life.Qualification of technology during construction builds a set of standards and a framework that allows class to collect more of the key data that promotes not just next level efficiency but safety too. Fundamental to this approach is class guidance, which introduces the process of recognizing shipyards utilizing and incorporating smart technologies into their operational processes. Examples include the pioneering work by ABS and Seatrium integrating smart functions into the world's first smart LNG bunkering vessel FueLNG Bellina, equipped with Seatrium's proprietary AssetCare Digital Solution. The same philosophy powers a joint development project between ABS and Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd examining how remote surveys of vessels in service can be applied to surveys and inspections in the shipyard.To help more shipyards understand how to embrace smart technologies, the ABS guide, smart technologies for shipyards, lays out a smart technology certification framework, providing guidelines for shipyards to demonstrate the integration of qualified smart technology into their operational processes.Qualification Process OverviewOne of the challenges faced by industries undergoing digital transformation is that technologies often develop faster than the codes or regulations that govern them. In many cases, new technologies have little or no precedent in their target application and may drastically alter the way a certain process or activity has been done for decades. The lack of service history and successful real-world demonstrations raises questions about the technology's readiness, maturity, and safety. The qualification process addresses these concerns by demonstrating to potential end-users (and the industry as a whole) that all risks associated with the technology's implementation have been systematically reviewed and maturity has been verified.ABS' technology qualification process included in the smart technology guidance confirms the ability of a new or existing technology to perform its intended functions in accordance with defined performance requirements. The process starts with a comprehensive description of the technology to be qualified, followed by a screening of the technology to reveal the new or novel features that the qualification should focus on. The process is divided into five sequential stages that progressively qualify the technology from feasible to operational ACCELERATING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF SHIPYARDS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY QUALIFICATIONBy Patrick Ryan, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)Patrick Ryan
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