Shipyard automation: US yards try to catch up

US shipyards hope that a major initiative launched this summer will help them improve efficiency and productivity.

While shipyards in Japan, Korea and, to a lesser extent, Europe, continue to invest heavily in shipbuilding production technology, US yards are only just beginning to do so, and are hampered by the continued use of outdated equipment and procedures. All of this could change, however, if the latest in a long line of National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) MARITECH initiatives sponsored by the US government is successful.

The aim of the project — the MARITECH Advanced Shipbuilding Enterprise (MARITECH ASE) — is to enable American yards to build ships as effectively as any yard in the world, capture a significantly increased share of the market, and reduce the cost of ships built for the US Navy, by 2006.

Forming the major elements of the MARITECH ASE programme are a number of initiatives, which, it is hoped, will form a ‘roadmap’ for investment. These are shipyard production process technologies; product design and material technologies; facilities and tooling; business process technologies; and systems technologies.

The shipyard production process technologies initiative addresses all production processes used to transform raw material, components and equipment into completed products.

Specifically, the processes being addressed are steel and aluminium fabrication, sub-assembly, assembly and erection, outfit fabrication, installation and test, surface preparation and paint, process control, industrial engineering, production control, and services (transportation and rigging).

As the NSRP MARITECH executive summary highlights, many US shipyards lag behind foreign competition in almost every category of shipyard production.

In general, US yards continue to operate under the influence of cumbersome US Navy construction traditions. This means that production processes are organised and managed from a ‘custom job’ rather than what the summary calls a ‘world class manufacturing’ perspective.

The ‘technology’ gap means that shipyard cycle times in the US (from contract award to vessel delivery) are significantly longer, and labour costs much higher.

The shipyard production process technologies initiative therefore focuses on six technology development areas: process control; industrial engineering; outfit fabrication/installation/test; structural fabrication/sub-assembly/erection; production control; and surface preparation and coatings.

Given the significant impact that production process technology has on overall ship cost, $99 million (24 per cent of total funding) is being allocated to this initiative.

Facilities and tooling includes the functions of providing and maintaining a production plant capable of assembling, modifying, and repairing ships in an efficient, safe, controllable and environment-friendly manner, for which a broad spectrum of facilities are essential.

The initiative also includes a number of ‘process’ or ‘practice’ issues such as utilisation/upgrade planning, environmental, safety, health, ergonomic, maintenance and capital investment financing.