infonet-economy

The aim of this chapter is to present a methodology for supporting the collaboration between the involved parties and for augmenting the final product with an always up to date digital file. The methodology is based on three support tools, which focus on the life cycle of small craft passenger vessels made of composite materials. The chapter concentrates on FRP (Fibreglass Reinforced Plastics) made vessels with length overall up to 30 m and total capacity up to 150 passengers, for the purposes of cruise ship liners disembarkation, scheduled routes or transportation of professional personnel to offshore sites. The collection of proposed tools consists of the “Vessel Meta-File”, a user-friendly, web-based, information rich, technical meta-file that acts as the main knowledge-base between the ship-yard, which is the constructor of the vessel, the classification society, which is the controlling body imposing the restrictions of the vessel and the end-user. The Vessel Meta-File enables the storage of information regarding all aspects of a vessel’s life cycle; from initial customer requirements, to drawings, material and equipment data, sea-trial reports to post-delivery survey and inspection reports. The Vessel Meta-File provides a collaborative platform for sharing such data among all involved actors across the vessel’s life-cycle, reducing costs involved in the design, production and maintenance phases. The proposed methodology introduces the use of two additional tools which can be used in conjunction to the Vessel Meta-File. First, a Dynamic Causal Context Model that describes the mechanisms and variable interactions between the Yard, the Classification Society and the end-user, and enables the three different parties to forecast trends in the behaviour of the small craft passenger vessels market and allow predictive actions and decisions such as the upgrade of a vessel to support and extend its life-cycle. Second, a “Vessel Configurator” system is also proposed to assist the transformation of the business and operational requirements derived from the Dynamic Causal Context Model to technical specifications that comply with current national flag or international regulations for the specific type of vessels.