Southeast Asia’s First 5G Shipyard Equipped with
Digital Twin Capabilities
From Construction Stage
To Operations Stage
40%
improvement in field engineers’ efficiency
50%
reduction in man hours required for on-site quality inspection
Project Background
With over a century of experience, Keppel Shipyard is a trusted partner for repairing, converting and upgrading a diverse range of vessels by the industry globally.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created disruptions in shipyards’ daily operations around the world, such as physical inspections, site and vessel surveys and audits. This creates opportunities for innovation to ensure business continuity and continuous improvement.
Keppel has identified several objectives as part of its Digital Transformation strategy. This includes:
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enhancing the efficiency of remote operations for its tech-enabled workforce
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improving safety standards aided with the latest technology.
Solution
After several user research sessions, a Digital Twin solution has been deployed at the shipyard to optimize the various phases of Keppel’s business operations.
While compatible with 4G, the system performance is also enhanced with the 5G infrastructure, making it one of the first three commercial 5G projects in Singapore and the first 5G shipyard in Southeast Asia’s maritime industry.
1. Design and Construction Stage
At the Design and Construction Stage, the Digital Twin allows workers such as engineers, clients, and classification societies in various regions to conduct remote virtual walkthroughs, perform pre-construction feasibility assessments simultaneously, validate correct specifications for construction, and identify potential engineering design issues as early as possible.
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This helps mitigate pre-construction risks. The solution is useful in facilitating collaboration across different yards and locations (i.e. Southeast Asia, North Asia, Europe, South America) where various vessel components are being constructed.
2. Operation Stage
At the Operations Stage, Digital Twin is used for remote monitoring. Various conventionally segregated systems are integrated into the Digital Twin for visualization and analytics in order to achieve more integrated operations.
For example, real-time IoT sensor data regarding machine performance or environment temperature has been fed into the Digital Twin via the 5G network and presented via a Web browser on PC at the command center, and such live data is also streamed and augmented into the real physical space via the Mixed Reality smart glasses the field engineers wear onsite.
When in doubt, field engineers can capture and stream live data to their main office to receive real-time remote guidance via live communication functions the Digital Twin has. In short, the Digital Twin functions as a common platform for field engineers and office-based support to troubleshoot and rectify issues during operations.
The Digital Twin solution has successfully reduced the time in tasks which require remote operational collaborations such as inspections, surveys and audits, as well as self-guided machine maintenance. It has also reduced the time needed for engineers to assess sites with safety hazards while ensuring operations efficiency.
As a result, Keppel achieved 40% improvement in field engineers’ efficiency, and 50% reduction in man hours required for on-site quality inspection.