Founded in 2012 as a subsidiary of the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company (SGV), Shiptec AG, based in Lucerne, has grown into Switzerland’s leading shipbuilding company. Its team of around 90 specialists designs, builds, and maintains inland vessels, including passenger ships, government vessels, and specialized craft. Shiptec is also a pioneer in the development of environmentally friendly propulsion technologies. To efficiently deliver its diverse projects, the engineering team relies on AUCOTEC’s Engineering Base, with support from ROTRING DATA.

“The more projects we have to manage simultaneously, the more we depend on a powerful engineering planning tool. Engineering Base’s database-driven approach enables us to avoid duplicate work wherever possible,” explains Florian Räber, Project Manager at Shiptec AG.

Efficient Planning as a Key Success Factor

Engineering Base is used not only in engineering, but also during construction phases, for maintenance activities, and even at the sales stage through the creation of single-line diagrams. In short, whenever planning is required, Engineering Base is involved. AUCOTEC’s collaborative platform serves a wide range of purposes and requirements. Shiptec uses Engineering Base across multiple disciplines, including cooling-water schematics.

Before implementing Engineering Base several years ago, Shiptec relied on a graphics-oriented ECAD system for the areas now covered by Engineering Base. As AUCOTEC’s exclusive partner in Switzerland, ROTRING DATA has supported Shiptec from the initial implementation through to the present day in its use of the data-centric, object-oriented engineering platform.

Over the course of this collaboration, Shiptec has continuously expanded the scope of Engineering Base. While the focus initially lay on basic documentation for electrical engineering, the platform is now used across various disciplines—including heating and cooling-water systems—and extends all the way into detailed engineering.

“The centralized availability of data, synchronized across all documents at all times, has made our project work significantly more efficient. Wherever possible, we reuse existing elements. In addition, we increasingly leverage assistants and automation tools to further improve efficiency,” says Räber.

Standardization and Automation

Several departments at Shiptec use multiple Engineering Base network licenses for a variety of tasks. Electrical, heating, and cooling-water schematics are essential documents in every shipbuilding project.

“With Engineering Base, we complete our projects faster and with higher quality. This benefits not only our company, but also our customers and ultimately the Swiss shipping industry as a whole,” Räber adds.

Greater Competitiveness and Innovation

Engineering Base shortens the journey from shipyard to water. It achieves this through efficient, agile engineering processes, more competitive proposals, and greater capacity for innovation. The time saved can be invested in other value-adding activities, such as developing innovative shipbuilding concepts and advancing future-oriented vessel technologies.