Jonathan Taylor, VP Marine at Expleo, shines a light on key issues that threaten to impact delivery in the marine industry, ranging from digitalisation, operational efficiency and cybersecurity to supply chain complexity and skills shortages.
For engineering leaders in the naval industry, success has never come without effort. The product life cycle is notoriously tough, due to its complex, tightly regulated and resource-intensive processes. Of course, this challenging environment is also the reason that leaders are drawn to the industry and why delivering successfully is so satisfying.
And the challenges won’t ease any time soon. Urgent demands around digitalisation, cybersecurity, skills shortages and compliance are adding more pressure on decision-makers in marine engineering.
Amid this wave of new challenges faced by firms, there are three pressing questions that engineering leaders are looking to answer.
1. How can I speed up and simplify our design processes?
The attraction of simplifying design processes is evident. You can drive down costs, reduce time to market, and free up internal resources.
Easier said than done. In a highly regulated industry like marine, the design phase is slowed down by the sheer number of stakeholders and the volume of approvals processes. And it’s further hindered by complex workflows and a heavy reliance on manual tasks conducted by siloed teams. Combined, this can lead to complex processes, risk of human errors, and frustrating inefficiencies.
So, what’s the remedy? Automation in the design stage can eradicate the need for repetitive, manual processes — freeing up people for more high-value work. Given the talent shortages in the industry, this boost to operational efficiency can make a sizeable impact on programme success.
Navigating success
The right digital tools can significantly reduce the need for manual input during the design phase. For instance, AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can automate multiple aspects of the design process, leading to increase process efficiency, fewer errors, and substantial cost savings.
In addition, introducing model-based approaches (such as digital twins and MBSE) can help you run different engineering processes in parallel. This further decrease product development time while reducing costs and reworks.
2. How can I make my systems more secure?
As vessels become increasingly connected and digitalised, cyber-attacks remain an ever-present threat to the marine industry. It’s now a case of when – not if – systems will come under attack from enemy states and rogue hacker groups.
Alongside the real risk to life, there is a severe cost implication, with the average toll of a cyber-attack in the maritime industry swelling to $550,000 – a rise of 200% since 2022 alone[1].
Growing in sophistication, these hostile forces look to target any number of IT and platform system infrastructures, from communications and workstations to propulsion and classified data . To minimise these risks, cybersecurity initiatives need to be prioritised at the very start of the product lifecycle.
Moreover, cybersecurity regulations are evolving rapidly as innovative technologies and new threats emerge. Staying up to date with these complex and changing standards throughout the life cycle of a defence project is critical to ensuring full accreditation on completion.
‘Secure-by-design’ from day one
Comprehensive cybersecurity requires embracing a ‘secure-by-design’ approach. This means focusing on areas like data risk and governance from the outset— while ensuring systems comply with current industry regulations and can adapt as the landscape changes. Cyber-attack simulations also have a critical role to play early on.
By revealing potential system vulnerabilities, simulated assaults can provide insights that inform security-led design decisions. Further along the process, AI can also be used to analyse, detect, and predict potential cyber-attacks with enhanced accuracy.
Navigating success
Expleo is helping embed cybersecurity during the design phase in the defence sector for a major UK defence comms provider — meeting the latest NATO and ISO compliance requirements. These cutting-edge systems will enter service in the next few years, building a resilient system that has the flexibility to adapt to new regulatory requirements cost-effectively.
3. How can I train new staff to make sure our designs are consistently compliant?
UK industry faces an expected shortfall of one million engineers by 2030[2]. Marine engineering needs to protect and recruit its share in a fierce employment market, not helped by a lack of awareness around career opportunities. In fact, just 30% of Gen Z and Millennials associate maritime with engineering[3] .
Organisations in marine are having to recruit from further afield, including other industries. But this brings a problem. How do you get non-specialists up to speed if you lack enough experienced professionals to train them in the first place?
Given the complexities of marine design compliance, a lack of support not only slows down development, but it can also increase non-conformities and stifle long-term progress.
GenAI-based tools can now assist with training in complex industrial environments, including design. Acting like a self-learning assistant, they can sift through training materials to answer queries and help engineers identify the relevant specifications quickly and ensure it is up to standard.
In addition to aiding development, GenAI tools can help reduce design errors and save new employees from having to wade through pages of dense technical information.
Navigating success
Expleo recently helped an industrial manufacturer to use GenAI to accelerate the development of new quality inspectors, reducing training time by up to 40%. We developed a GenAI coach that acts as a virtual assistant, trained on thousands of pages of technical materials. Trainee quality inspectors can now receive 24/7 real-time training support on a chat interface. Operational efficiency has gone by up to 60%, while our client is significantly improving its ability to cross skill engineers.
Talk to Expleo
These challenges are too large to be solved alone. At Expleo, we’re experts in digital and engineering. So we can get you straight to what works — solving challenges that may have once seemed beyond you. With our experience in marine, we also know how to develop niche solutions that are specific to the demands of your sector.
Ready to see how we can help with your latest challenges?
[1] Source: HFW and CyberOwl report, 2023.
[2] Source: Stonehaven research, 2023
[3] Source: Stonehaven research, 2023
