Institute of High Performance Computing

Joint Lab with PPL Shipyards Pte Ltd

In January 2007, IHPC and PPL Shipyard Pte Ltd (PPL) commenced on a 2-year project on the ‘Design Analysis and Improvement of a New Generation Jack-Up System’ with the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) playing a major role in fostering such a partnership. This signalled the dawn of a stronger bond between the two organisations in technology development of a key segment of the maritime industry.

This project was the culmination of an already strong relationship between both organisations whose alliance began in 2002 with a number of service-type projects. With the help of MPA, the scope of collaboration increased into R&D ventures of larger magnitude which culminated in a proposal last year to host a R&D laboratory within IHPC. This was ultimately expanded into the ‘Lab-in-RI’ initiative.

With the inking of this agreement, PPL Shipyard became the first offshore and marine company to participate in the Lab-in-RI programme and its engineers would now be able to attend IHPC’s training programmes and share the institute’s computational resources.

Dr Raj. Thampuran, Executive Director, IHPC, re-iterated “IHPC’s commitment and enthusiasm” for the partnership and his hope that the initiative would help PPL Shipyard “spawn broader R&D efforts and establish a research centre to complement their operations and fuel many more innovations which we are confident will burgeon their already high status in the jack rig industry.”

Managing Director of PPL, Mr TK Ong agreed and said he foresaw that “in the years to come, PPL Shipyard, together with IHPC, will be able to establish a powerful research presence capable of producing relevant innovations that will enhance [their] position as a leading provider of offshore drilling rigs”.