Energy-Efficient Through-Life Smart Design, Manufacturing and Operation of Ships in an Industry 4.0 Environment

Joo Hock Ang, Cindy Goh, Alfredo Alan Flores Saldivar and Yun Li
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Joo Hock Ang: Sembcorp Marine Ltd., Singapore 628054, Singapore
Cindy Goh: School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK
Alfredo Alan Flores Saldivar: School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK
Yun Li: School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Energy efficiency is an important factor in the marine industry to help reduce manufacturing and operational costs as well as the impact on the environment. In the face of global competition and cost-effectiveness, ship builders and operators today require a major overhaul in the entire ship design, manufacturing and operation process to achieve these goals. This paper highlights smart design, manufacturing and operation as the way forward in an industry 4.0 (i4) era from designing for better energy efficiency to more intelligent ships and smart operation through-life. The paper (i) draws parallels between ship design, manufacturing and operation processes, (ii) identifies key challenges facing such a temporal (lifecycle) as opposed to spatial (mass) products, (iii) proposes a closed-loop ship lifecycle framework and (iv) outlines potential future directions in smart design, manufacturing and operation of ships in an industry 4.0 value chain so as to achieve more energy-efficient vessels. Through computational intelligence and cyber-physical integration, we envision that industry 4.0 can revolutionise ship design, manufacturing and operations in a smart product through-life process in the near future.

Keywords: energy efficiency; industry 4.0 (i4); smart design; smart manufacturing; through-life design; cyber-physical systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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