3D rendering of a black yacht on the water.

CAD for industry

Marine design and development

We work in close partnership with companies within specific industries to produce industry-specific design tools. Incorporating best practices, we help you find new ways to improve product performance and design.

On-demand webinar

Product visualization with digital twin for marine

Learn about visualization, virtual reality (VR) and rendering tools within Siemens NX that can reduce render time by up to 90%.

A high-definition NX rendering of a black yacht with light wood flooring on a blue ocean.

Ship design process

Design your future ships with next-generation ship design software. NX provides a focused environment for modeling ships' concepts, detail design and manufacturing output information.

Speed up your design projects with the flexibility to organize your ship data in multiple views and empower your designers to rapidly search, retrieve and work collaboratively on the end-to-end ship design process.

In the next-generation digital enterprise environment, shipbuilders require design and management systems that can effectively work with enormous amounts of data while enabling the efficient design of entire classes of ships. The benefit from an integrated design environment involving steel structure and outfitting design, along with a tightly integrated analysis set of tools, enables faster design-analysis iterations to deliver better ship designs quicker.

Ship basic structure design

Quickly model a preliminary macro view of the ship based on inputs from the concept design stage. The concept of a structural system supports early design stage analysis and the creation of reports and drawings required for approval by the classification societies. The basic design model is represented by plate and profile systems that are further split with seams into smaller subsystems. Rapidly define decks, and longitudinal and transverse bulkheads as part of the plate systems. Pillars, stiffeners and edge reinforcement can be defined as part of profile systems. Standard parts, brackets and cutouts can be added to the basic design model. Copy and mirror basic design objects to quickly model these structural systems.

The basic design structure model is topological and lightweight. Design changes are automatically and quickly propagated to these topologically connected structures and their class drawings.

A 3D NX CAD model of a mid section of of ship, without the outer hull plates, showing the steel plates and reinforcing structures inside the ship.

Ship design 3D model approach

Use our Ship General Arrangement (GA), a 3D model-based approach to quickly and accurately create a proposal for a new ship as part of the concept design phase. It creates a 3D model of the general arrangement of a ship and corresponding 2D drawings.

Initialize the general arrangement design process based on a configurable product structure, along with the definition of the concept grid model and the deck-based breakdown. Individual designers can detail each deck into room spaces with standard equipment, parts and accommodation-related items. Net and gross volume and surface area for each space are calculated. Main GA drawings, tank plans and door/window plan drawings can be associatively and quickly created along with tabular information. The 3D data created as part of GA design can drive basic steel structure design and generate marketing material like high-resolution images and walkthroughs.

A 3D NX CAD model of cargo ship hull.

Ship structure detail design

Directly model a detailed representation of the ship's structure based on concept design stage outputs, or transition the structural systems from a basic design model and then add the necessary secondary structural details. A parametric detail feature definition enables quick placement and modification of brackets, standard parts, openings, profile cutouts, clips and collars, chamfers, end cuts, corner cuts, edge cuts and flanged plates. Create structural pillars and apply insulation material to steel surfaces. A rule-driven command generates welds, automatically determining where welds are needed and defining their details.

The topologically connected detailed design model ensures quick propagation of design changes and can efficiently copy and mirror existing structural design—improving designer productivity. Data generated from detail design can create manufacturing and production planning outputs.

A 3D NX CAD model of a ship hull with with no deck plates and internal stell support structures shown in green.
On-demand webinar

Increase ship design efficiency with digital twin

Learn how to integrate disconnected and siloed mechanical, electrical and software teams for shipbuilding by using a comprehensive digital twin in a single, collaborative environment.

An evening, aerial view of multiple container ships at a port.
Case study

Sunseeker

A Sunseeker yacht on the water, with a couple on the ship's bow.
Case Study

Sunseeker creates a seamless yacht-building enterprise with Siemens Digital Industries Software portfolio, boosting yacht production rate 100 percent

Company:Sunseeker International

Industry:Marine

Location:Poole, United Kingdom

Siemens Software:NX, Teamcenter