Network Scheduling of Shipyard Production, Engineering, and Material Procurement

Presented at the REAPS Technical Symposium, held in San Diego, CA, on 11-13 Sep 1979. Published in the Proceedings of the REAPS Technical Symposium, p451-462, Paper No. 12, 1979. The original document contains color images.

I was especially pleased to accept the offer to speak on this subject having devoted my career as a shipbuilder and now as a consultant to productivity problems. Before I discuss the details of how production engineering can help a shipyard, I thought it may be worthwhile to review the present state of American Shipbuilding: First, we have the "Big Soys": These are the shipyards who build commercial and government large ocean-going vessels. All but one are part of a conglomerate. Over the past 10 to 20 years they have modernized their shipyards, introduced computerized lofting and NC burning, along with a sophisticated production planning and control system. Production Engineering can help these shipyards but the degree of improvement is limited. The fate of the "Big Soys" lies in the hands of the Government. Government policy for private shipbuilding and for the US Navy will determine how many of these shipyards will survive or close. The amount of diversification will be a major element as to who will survive or who will fail. Next, we have the offshore petroleum and gas industry. If our country is to survive this has to be a growing industry. My experience is this field is limited and therefore, I will not comment on its future except to say it looks good. The third area, and the one which I have had the most intimate contact with during the last five years, is the Inland Water Ways, Coastal and the Great Lakes Shipbuilders. The latest MarAd study predicts waterways cargo will double by year 2000. The number of hopper, tank, deck and other types of barges presently operating on American rivers and coasts exceed 20,000. The expected life of these barges is around 20 years. Therefore, you can equate the numbers to a potential need of around 1500 barges in 1980, and growing to a potential need of 3000 barges per year by the year 2000. Supporting tow boat construction and repair services will also be required.