Can America's Shipbuilders Meet the U.S. Navy's Long-Range Vessel Construction Plan
Abstract
This thesis examined the current capacity of the defense shipbuilding industry in the United States and the need to expand the nation's shipbuilding capabilities to fulfill the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan. The authors explored a learning curve model along with a queuing theory capacity model to determine and compare the utilization rate of two industrial-base shipbuilders, Bath Ironworks and Ingalls Shipbuilding. Due to rarely achieved learning curve efficiencies and complex manufacturing processes, the shipbuilding industry is at full effective capacity. Recommendations are to adopt one or more of the logistics principles introduced, including adding redundancy, implementing a more distributed supply chain, introducing low-road or shorter-service-life vessels, and reducing the three dimensions of ship variety, ship complexity, and the Navy's demand variability.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1113038
Entities
People
- Connor Darr
- Rudy Mason
- Wyatt J. France
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School