HD Hyundai has partnered with Siemens Digital Industries to establish an integrated platform for managing the entire shipbuilding process as a single data flow to help ensure consistency across all its global shipyard facilities.
The scope of the integrated digital platform is expected to extend across a range of vessel types, including commercial vessels and specialised ships, with application on an operational vessel expected for 2028. Key areas of application include structured management of equipment and component data, digital model-based performance analysis, lifecycle-oriented maintenance engineering and technical support frameworks for overseas shipbuilding projects.
The planned platform will utilise the Siemens Xcelerator platform as part of the foundation for HD Hyundai’s Future of Shipyard project, a future-oriented shipyard that it aims to complete by 2030. The project forms part of HD Hyundai’s ongoing efforts to address data discontinuities that have existed across ship design and production processes and to establish a more structured, digitally enabled shipbuilding environment.
HD Hyundai’s Integrated Platform for Ship Design-Production Consistency project will deliver a consistent digital thread of key data from design through production. Design and production will be connected in real time through a unified data backbone, significantly reducing inefficiencies and errors caused by data discontinuities between processes.
Within this unified digital environment, standardised data flows and system interoperability will connect key domains including CAD, PLM, digital manufacturing, automation and simulation, enabling major shipyard activities such as planning, construction, expansion and modification to be reviewed in a virtual environment prior to on-site implementation.
“The selection of Siemens Xcelerator represents an important milestone in advancing HD KSOE’s digital shipbuilding strategy,” said Taejin Lee, exec VP and head of digital innovation office at HD Hyundai. “By establishing an integrated digital platform that ensures consistency from design through production, we aim to address long-standing data discontinuity challenges and create a more structured and collaborative shipbuilding environment. This initiative will strengthen our ability to execute increasingly complex projects while enhancing efficiency, quality and competitiveness across our global shipyard operations.”
“Since 2022, Siemens’ collaboration with HD Hyundai has been focused on the future of shipbuilding and the development of next-generation digital design and production platforms,” said Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens Digital Industries Software.
“Siemens Xcelerator and our comprehensive digital twin technologies are well-positioned to support a unified digital thread across design, engineering and production. We look forward to helping HD Hyundai establish a scalable, open and future-ready manufacturing innovation platform that supports sustainable growth and operational excellence.”
HD Hyundai also plans to expand the application of model-based engineering practices and improve collaboration efficiency across organizations and functional teams. In particular, block assembly, welding information, piping, and electrical data will be managed in an integrated 3D model, improving design accuracy, optimizing production planning, and standardising shop-floor operations.
Additionally, HD Hyundai is working on building photorealistic digital representations of ships and shipyard sites within the Industrial Metaverse. This involves the use of AI trained in a virtual learning environment with synthetic and industrial data. The result is the interactive visualization and physics-based modeling of complex production environments, all powered by Siemens’ digital twin technology.
