Optimal use of Industrial Engineering Techniques in Shipyards
Abstract
This Task has investigated the nature and extent of Industrial Engineering activities currently being carried out within the shipyard community. The Task was sponsored by Ship Production Committee Panel SP-8 on Industrial Engineering under the National Shipbuilding Research Program. The Task was designed to identify the specific IE techniques being applied in the shipyards relative to the present spectrum of possibilities. That is, if the available techniques are not being applied, then ways to place more emphasis on their implementation would be addressed. Interviews were conducted in fourteen shipyards to determine present practices, 7 large shipyards, 4 medium size shipyards, and 3 small shipyards were selected to provide a representative cross-section of the industry. Findings reveal that the large shipyards are the most active in IE matters, with the Naval shipyards heavily increasing their involvement in these techniques over the past five years. Most of the small shipyards, and many of the medium size shipyards, are declining dramatically in their attention to IE, and of them now have NO Industrial Engineers left on their staffs. This is no doubt due to the depressed nature of the shipbuilding and ship repair market in this Country and the absence of a workload in these shipyards sufficient to bear the expense of keeping IE's around. This situation is truly a paradox, because the very solution to the problem of gaining those productivity improvements needed to make a shipyard more competitive in the marketplace may well be found ONLY through the effective application of IF techniques.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA444201
Entities
Organizations
- National Steel and Shipbuilding Company