Building a super-intelligent shipyard! Hyundai Heavy Industries joins forces with a big data giant

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is accelerating the digital shipbuilding project, aiming to become the world's leading smart shipyard by 2030.

On September 21, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group announced that the company had officially signed a contract with US software service provider Palantir Technologies (PLTR) to introduce Palantir's enterprise big data platform "Foundry" to all its shipbuilding subsidiaries, including Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the shipbuilding business holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, and its three shipbuilding subsidiaries: Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group stated that through the application of the "Foundry" platform, it aims to achieve the Digital Twin goal throughout the entire process from ship design and construction to delivery.

In March this year, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, celebrating its 50th anniversary, officially released its 2030 Vision (VISION2030), announcing that by 2030 it will become a "super-class shipbuilding and marine enterprise leading the environmentally friendly and digital era." It plans to implement its digitalized shipbuilding future strategy FOS (Future of Shipyard) before 2030; its shipbuilding subsidiary, Hyundai Heavy Industries, plans to transform into the world's first smart shipyard before 2030. To build a shipbuilding enterprise capable of intelligent operation management that connects the entire process from ship design and construction to delivery in real-time, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group decided to accelerate the introduction of Palantir Technologies' big data platform.

Previously, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group and Palantir Technologies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in January this year aimed at building a big data platform and establishing a joint venture. The two parties will collaborate to build big data platforms within key subsidiaries of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, including shipbuilding, marine, energy, and industrial machinery. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group will provide its subsidiaries' engineering expertise and operational experience, while Palantir Technologies will provide its software and R&D human resources, with plans to establish a joint venture later to embark on the big data solutions business.

According to this MOU, after the completion of the big data platform construction in various subsidiaries of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, the two parties plan to establish a professional joint venture company for developing and selling big data platform services. Based on the achievements accumulated so far, they will promote the commercialization of big data solutions from platform construction to operation.

A Hyundai Heavy Industries Group official stated: "By signing this official agreement to introduce the 'Foundry' platform, we will enhance data reliability and utilization in the group's shipbuilding and marine sectors, maximizing business efficiency. In the future, a data-centric business culture will be established not only in production processes but also across all areas, including top management decision-making, R&D, design, construction, and delivery."

It is reported that Hyundai Heavy Industries Group will actively promote "FOS" in three stages, accelerating the transformation of its shipbuilding subsidiaries into smart shipyards. The first stage, by 2023, aims to build a "visible shipyard"; the second stage, by 2026, aims to build an "interconnected, predictable, and optimal shipyard"; and the third stage, by 2030, aims to build a "smart autonomous shipyard." According to Hyundai Heavy Industries Group's plan, by 2030, each shipbuilding subsidiary will be transformed into a shipyard where all processes from ship design and construction to delivery are validated through simulation (CPS) to reduce unnecessary engineering delays and inventory, utilizing the latest smart technologies and robots to minimize human intervention. By then, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group aims to achieve goals such as a 30% increase in production efficiency, a 30% reduction in production time, and zero waste.

In addition, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is also exploring expanding the application of the "Foundry" platform to its subsidiaries in the energy and industrial machinery sectors, such as Hyundai Construction Equipment Co. and Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems.

  Palantir Technologies is a global leading big data platform specialist company co-founded by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and others from PayPal. Headquartered in Palo Alto, its main clients include government agencies led by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and global enterprises and financial institutions represented by Airbus.

Palantir Technologies is hailed as Silicon Valley's most mysterious big data unicorn company, joining the "billion-dollar club" within a few years and becoming one of the world's highest-valued startups. If Google is the hegemon of internet big data, then Palantir's goal is to become the future hegemon of enterprise-level big data, and Palantir's vision is to be the Google of the enterprise and government sectors.

It is understood that Palantir's big data technology and products were specifically developed to meet the needs of large enterprises and government agencies. Therefore, Palantir develops only two versions of its platform-level big data products: Palantir Gotham (serving government and military clients) and Palantir Metropolis (serving financial, legal, and other clients). While Google, Amazon, and Facebook are extending their business reach into traditional industries with their existing big data technology advantages. (Wang Chu)