E N G I N E E R I N G B U R E A U M Ü H L H O F F

NX brings big benefits to ship design and engineeringEngineering Bureau Mühlhoff, a pioneer in the use of 3D for ship design, uses NX to advancethe state of the art in Europe

www.siemens.com/plm

NX

Hull design is stuck in2D and wireframesAlthough many industrieshave adopted solid andsurface modeling, ship designis still predominantly donewith 2D and wireframerepresentations. FelixMühlhoff worked that wayfor many years. His company,Engineering Bureau Mühlhoff,designs and engineers hullsand superstructures for a number of ship builders in Holland as well as for companies in his native Germany. Mühlhoff designs and engineers hulls and superstructures for everything fromexpensive private motor yachts to commercial ships such as tankers, ferries and inland waterwaytransport vessels.

Mühlhoff initially used AutoCAD to create 2D drawings of hull contours. Later he added thededicated ship design program, Master Ship, for wireframe modeling. Eventually he moved intosurface modeling with Rhino in an attempt to speed the creation of hull shapes. This trio ofprograms was not integrated, however, and the time Mühlhoff hoped to save was lost in translatingfiles from one program to another. The errors introduced during translation took extra time tofix, and the quality of the surfaces was not as good as Mühlhoff wanted.

Advancing the state of the artThe desire to work faster and more accurately led Mühlhoff to consider moving to the type ofhigh-end modeling software he saw used in other industries. Knowing that accurate, easy-to-usesurface modeling was his most critical need, Mühlhoff evaluated two systems, Catia and NX. Hefound NX to be superior in both respects – accuracy and ease of use – and he purchased this

Issues:

Speed the design of complexship hulls

Improve the accuracy of hullshapes delivered to customers

Win new business

Approach:

Replace three standalonedesign programs with NX® software

Use NX’s integrated wireframe,surface and solid modelingcapabilities to design hulls

Tap NX’s visualization forcompelling sales presentations

Results:

Ship hull design time reducedby 25 to 45 percent

Highly accurate shapes ensurecustomer satisfaction

Ability to take on moreprojects with higher level ofinvolvement boosts revenues

Felix Mühlhoff wanted his business to provide a faster and more accurate way of designing shiphulls than conventional 2D and wireframe modeling.

Siemens PLM Software

NX

Solutions/Services

NX

Client’s primary business

Engineering Bureau Mühlhoffspecializes in the design of ship

hulls for yachts as well ascommercial vessels.

info@shipdesign-muehlhoff.dewww.shipdesign-muehlhoff.de

Client location

Kleve,Germany

“If more companies knew howwell NX is suited to theshipbuilding industry, they would make the same decision I made and upgrade to NX.The speed and accuracy I gainfrom this integrated solutioncould be of great benefit to the entire industry.”

Felix MühlhoffOwnerEngineering Bureau Mühlhoff

solution for his business. The ease of use he perceived turned outto be real. He was able to design a ship within weeks of installingthe new software, without any formal training.

Now when Mühlhoff takes on a new project, he typically receivesAutoCAD data from the customer. Although he could import thatdata into NX, he finds it easier and faster to recreate the geometryin NX. After drawing the 2D curves in NX, Mühlhoff then appliessurfaces to create the shape of the hull. The surfaces he creates inthis manner are highly accurate since there is no file translationfrom program to program. This process is also much faster sinceMühlhoff works exclusively in a single environment. NX lets him moveseamlessly between 2D, wireframe, surface and solid representations.

Time saved, business grows A key benefit of NX is that it now takes Mühlhoff significantly lesstime to design ships than previously, when he used the three-program approach. On one project, a new inland waterway vesselfor Damen Shipyards of Holland, Mühlhoff designed a hull inapproximately 45 percent of the time he would have neededpreviously. What accounts for the time savings? In part, it was theease of working within a single, integrated design environment andrapidly (and accurately) moving between the different represen-tations. More importantly, it was the accuracy of the NX approach.“When I work in NX, I start with accurate 2D curves,” Mühlhoffexplains. “When I apply surfaces to them, the surfaces are alsoaccurate so I don’t spend time changing things later. That is wheremuch of the time savings comes from – from getting the designright the first time.”

On another project, a 55-meter motorized yacht being built by Amels, Mühlhoff performed some verycomplex modeling in the design of that superstructure. He estimates that NX afforded him a 25 percenttime savings on that project. Overall, Engineering Bureau Mühlhoff experiences between 25 to 45percent reductions in the time needed for hull and superstructure design. This increases revenues bymaking it possible to take on additional work. Also, now that Mühlhoff has NX, he’s doing higher-qualitywork, acting more as a partner with his customers. This also contributes to an increase in revenues.

Currently, Mühlhoff’s deliverable is still a wireframe model since his customers have not yet moved tomore advanced design technology. Mühlhoff’s experiences with NX may be helping to change that. Notonly do his customers benefit from the new capabilities he delivers with NX, they see impressive visualexamples of what NX can do in their industry. Mühlhoff has used the integrated visualization capabilitiesof NX to create beautiful images of his work. He uses these as sales tools to help expand his business.At the same time, this pioneer of 3D is showing his customers a powerful solution that can benefittheir businesses as well.

ContactSiemens PLM SoftwareAmericas 800 498 5351Europe 44 (0) 1276 702000Asia-Pacific 852 2230 3333www.siemens.com/plm

© 2008 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All rights reserved. Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG.Teamcenter, NX, Solid Edge, Tecnomatix, Parasolid, Femap, I-deas, JT, Velocity Series, Geolus and the Signs of Innovation trade dress are trademarks orregistered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other logos,trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks used herein are the property of their respective holders. 3/08