Navantia’s two future coastal hydrographic vessels, commissioned by the Spanish Navy, will be born with their own ‘guardian angel’ thanks to Siemens digital twin technology. This kind of custodian makes it possible to detect faults and reveal aspects of improvement in digital environments, all of which can be transferred in the design and construction process to maintenance and future developments. In this way, any possible inefficiency in manufacturing can be avoided long before it manifests itself thanks to the virtualization of machines and their processes.
With that argument as a driving force, Siemens has expanded its technological agreement with Navantia to extend its Siemens Xcelerator industrial software in the construction of two new Coastal Hydrographic Vessels (BHC). At the same time, Siemens is in charge of training the operators who build the ship in order to close a virtuous circle that promises to set a trend in ship production. Among other considerations, the project is in a cutting-edge position in its sector, not only for being the first of these characteristics but for offering a comprehensive platform for the entire life cycle of a ship, from the first part to the simulation of its operation, as well as the production, commissioning of associated services.
From the technological point of view, it is pointed out that the new generation of ships – which are now taking shape in the Navy shipyards in the Bay of Cádiz – pursues two strategic objectives: increasing the quality of the process and reducing costs and delivery times. Faced with these challenges, Siemens proposes NX design software, together with the Teamcenter for product lifecycle management; he Simcenter, for the optimization of systems and vessels; and the Tecnomatix portfolio, for the simulation of processes and shipyards. Furthermore, in the future, the digital solution will be completed with the collection of plant data through Insights Hub, Siemens’ industrial IoT as a service solution.
The German group emphasizes that the use of digital twins multiplies the advantages in production by offering a virtual representation of a physical product or process, with unquestionable contributions to understanding and predicting the performance of its physical equivalent.
Likewise, the digital transformation of Navantia’s processes is accompanied by the training of the employee profiles necessary for the correct execution of this project. Specifically, the Navantia staff and the specialists linked to the value chain of this naval program have already received training through Siemens’ Marine Digital Twin programa unique initiative in the naval sector offered by the Naval Center of Excellence (Cesena) for Spain. In collaboration with the main naval clusters and associations, Cesena will launch a training program with courses on Marine Digital Twin starting in the first quarter of 2025.
The application of the Siemens According to the same sources, Siemens Xcelerator provides next-generation industrial AI capabilities to help drive digital transformation and sustainable with speed and scale, with interoperable and flexible developments.
The aforementioned vessels, which will generate work activity for 700 people for four years, will be 47 meters in length, a displacement of close to 900 tons and an autonomy of 3,000 million. The staff of each of them reaches thirty people, supported by state-of-the-art automation tools. According to the reference of the Council of Ministers of August 22, 2023, the Government authorized the Ministry of Defense to sign a contract with Navantia for the construction of the aforementioned BHC, for an estimated value of 158.6 million euros.
“The contracting of the design and construction of these two vessels is part of the modernization process of the Navy’s Hydrographic Flotilla necessary to update and enhance its capabilities in the fulfillment of missions regarding official nautical cartography of the State and specific military, that it has assigned in relation to the Spanish coasts and to provide support to the Naval Force in its operations”, as Moncloa sources explained a year and a half ago.
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