Formation has now opened up a significant new export market, with the appointment of a new distributor in China and the sale of software systems to a number of leading Chinese ship design and construction organisations. In the coastal city of Shangdong, Maxsurf forms an important part of an ambitious transformation of the local shipyard by Singapore businessman Brian Chang. Mr Chang has completely refurbished and modernised the Yantai Raffles yard and its adjoining design facilities. The design office now features six state of the art workstations running a complete suite of Formation s design, analysis and construction software. The effect of these new processes and technology on the yard s output has been dramatic, with the previous low-tech barge production being superseded by new trawlers, patrol boats and ferries.
Plans are already on the drawing board for new high quality cruise vessels.
Mr Chang comments Maxsurf has proven to be an ideal part of our modernisation plan for our yard. Its flexibility, ease of use and ability to create complex hull shapes, has made it an indispensable tool for our design team . Inland on the Yangtse River at Wuhan, Wuhan 701 is one of the largest ship design bureaus in China with over 200 naval architects specialising in high-speed vessel design for domestic and international customers. They are the most recent adopters of Formation s CAD technology in China. The advanced 3D surface modelling functions and simulation capabilities of the software have significantly upgraded the technical infrastructure of the Wuhan 701 design team.