NAPA and NDES announce co-operation on system collaboration and engineering service business for shipbuilding

Helsinki, Finland –  July 19, 2017 

Co-operation begins with interfaces for NAPA Steel and NDES Beagle, linking early-stage design with production planning

NAPA, a leading global maritime software, services and data analysis provider, and NTT Data Engineering Systems (NDES), Japanese experts in maritime software development and engineering, today announced collaboration on ship design and manufacturing support systems and on the commercialization of engineering services that will streamline integration between early stage design and production planning.

NAPA and NDES will initially develop and commercialize interface modules that enable 3D data linkage between NAPA’s structural design software NAPA Steel [1] and NDES’s 3D ship structure viewing software Beagle [2]. NAPA Steel supports basic ship structural design, while Beagle supports production planning and design review using 3D models. With this interface, users will be able to take the 3D design data from NAPA Steel, created mainly for basic design purposes, and seamlessly create visualizations using Beagle – allowing production plan examinations to be conducted at early design stages.

It is currently possible to study production in Beagle using 3D data created with 3D-CAD tools at the production design stage. However, thanks to this collaboration, users will be able to conduct production reviews at the initial design stages (see the figure below), enabling significant production cost reductions by optimizing structural design and production schemes using NAPA product models earlier in the design stream.

NDES image
Both NAPA and NDES are convinced that this will facilitate smooth collaboration between design and manufacturing in shipbuilding process, and enable the incorporation of manufacturing considerations at the basic design stage, greatly reducing the total cost of ship design and manufacture.

NDES will also work on the commercialization of engineering services, such as design support and structural analysis service using NAPA Steel. NAPA will provide in-depth technical support to NDES at its investigations and preparations for commercialization.

Ilmo Kuutti, President of NAPA Group commented:
“NAPA is delighted to start this co-operation with NDES. NDES has a long history of strong expertise in the discipline of ship production design, whereas NAPA is in the leading position in ship initial and basic design. We believe that expanding the usage of NAPA product models to cover production planning, not just early stage design, will benefit ship designers by improving collaboration between different design departments.”

Atsushi Kinoshita, Representative Director and President of NDES commented:
“NAPA provides an excellent system for initial and basic ship design and has a large number of users all over the world. NAPA excels in the upstream design field while our expertise covers downstream production processes in shipbuilding. We, therefore, are confident that we can provide new possibilities to the shipbuilding through collaboration between our companies.”

[1] “NAPA Steel” is structural design software dedicated to 3D-based ship / marine structures developed and sold by NAPA, and has been rapidly expanding users in recent years with high praise around the world, especially in the design upstream.

[2] “Beagle” is a 3D ship structure viewing software developed and sold by NDES. It focuses on production review in fields such as assembly, painting, welding, and has acquired many users in Japan

About NAPA
In its nearly 30 years of operation, NAPA has become a global leader in software, services and data analysis for the maritime industry; providing best in class data-led solutions for safety, efficiency and productivity in both ship design and operations.

NAPA operates globally, with eleven offices across Asia, Europe and the Americas supported by its Helsinki headquarters. To date, NAPA has nearly 400 user organizations for its design solutions and over 2,500 installations onboard vessels. For more information, visit www.napa.fi

About NDES
NTT Data Engineering Systems Corporation (NDES) was founded in 1977 separating the information systems division of Hitachi Zosen Corporation, one of Japan’s biggest shipbuilders, and then became a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT DATA Corporation in 2006. NDES is a software development and system engineering company for various fields of manufacturing industries. Especially in the field of shipbuilding systems, it is one of the biggest venders in Japan. It provides total solutions based on its three pillars, which are “System Integration”, “Software” and “Services” for customers. For more information, visit www.nttd-es.co.jp