Two years after the co-operation agreement between Wuhan University of Technology (WHUT) and SENER for the use of FORAN, the System is actively and successfully used.
Thanks to the agreement, a FORAN Technical Support Center was set up at this university, in October 2010. SENER provided FORAN licenses for educational and research purposes.
A complete FORAN package was installed in the School of Transportation, with 40 global licenses for the computer room and 2 global licenses for two laptops, covering all design disciplines (Hull Forms, Naval Architecture, Hull Structure, Machinery & Outfitting, Electrical Design, Build strategy, Virtual Reality and Advanced Design and Drafting).
FORAN is being used in four different courses (Ability Development Training, Three-dimensional Modelling of Ship Design, Virtual Assembly, Computer Aided Ship Design). Around 450 university students have attended FORAN courses in the past two years and three master students finished their graduation project based on FORAN. The strategic plan for the next academic year will continue opening the computer room for students and professors in all courses already mentioned and supporting master students to choose topics related to FORAN for their thesis.
According to the co-operation agreement, the Technical Support Center is collaborating in the introduction of FORAN into Chinese Shipbuilding Industry and would provide possible technical support to Chinese shipbuilding clients. SENER is very pleased to see that FORAN is being implemented in China, as this is in line with SENER’s strategic plan for Asia.