Research on Lean Shipbuilding and Its Manufacturing Execution System

Abstract

Based on the work breakdown structure theory, the lean shipbuilding method guided by intermediate products is proposed in this article. The hull segment task package is divided according to the content of the shipbuilding operation. Considering the constraints of resources and personnel at the production site, the scheduling strategy of the task package is formulated. Moreover, a virtual flow production system of the shipbuilding workshop is established. On this basis, a lean shipbuilding manufacturing execution system for small and medium-sized shipbuilding enterprises is developed to achieve lean production in a shipbuilding workshop. The application results indicate that implementation of the lean shipbuilding method and manufacturing execution system can significantly reduce the ship production cycle and the number of operators, as well as improve the production efficiency. Introduction In recent years, to resist strong international competition, manufacturers are under great pressure to develop products more efficiently and economically (Nam et al. 2016). The ship manufacturing industry, which faces fierce market competition, helps many nations’ economic systems (Rahman & Karim 2015). For example, the shipbuilding industry contributed over $37 billion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the U.S. economy in 2013 (MARAD 2015). Currently, China’s shipbuilding industry is in a downturn. If the shipbuilding enterprises want to survive and improve their competitiveness, they must reduce labor costs and shorten the production cycle. Lean production is a type of management philosophy born in Toyota Motors. One of the lean thinking goals is to eliminate waste, which can increase work satisfaction and turn waste into value. It should be emphasized that lean thinking must go beyond the company. In other words, lean thinking has to be employed from the product design to the set of activities delivered to the end customer (Barbosa 2014). Lean manufacturing technology focuses on eliminating all types of waste in the manufacturing process and reducing the lead time (Zhu et al. 2019).

Design/Engineering For Production (DEFP) and Shipyard: A Review on the Malaysian Technological Aspects and Practices

“…The scenario of over the wall approach as depicted in Figure 2 can be illustrated in the following example, based on the client brief the architect produces an architectural design, which is given to the structural engineer, who on completing the structural design phase passes the project to the quantity surveyor to produce the costing and bill of quantities. Additionally, Song et al, [2] stated that this goes on until the project is then passed on to the contractor who takes responsibility for the construction of the project. This sequential process is very slow and causes many issues when communication between departments fails [27].…”

“…In Serial Engineering, each design phase starts mostly when the previous one is completed [31]. During this process, any incomplete data is passed through a function or phase and augmented with new data only to be passed on to the next phase [2]. According to Prasad [32], the serial approach to product design, development, manufacturing, and marketing has produced several other shortcomings, consisting of 1) It is based on the premise that a new phase cannot start until an old phase is completed and signed off.…”

“…The shipyard is the platform of the company which runs the business enterprise [1][2]. According to Strandhagen et al, [3] the shipyard has two distinctive processes that produce the value chain: shipbuilding and ship repair.…”

Malaysia Shipbuilding Industry: A Review on Sustainability and Technology Success Factors

“…Taking the advantage of researcher's background knowledge in this particular industry settings and personal experience in project and quality management of this area of interests, the problem of the industry will be identified. A clear result of many cycle of projects, to cite a few, in the shipyard beleaguered with repeated delays of delivering projects [1], gradually decreasing profit margins both in shipbuilding and ship repair business segments and critical needs for asset replacement program [12], production optimal resource efficiency [46] and ineffective production system including engineering and planning dysfunctionalities [34] will be identified.…”

“…In the new economic cycle, Koreans have also faced escalating labour costs, resulting in higher steel prices owing to the differences between steel demand and domestic supply [15,37], and in addition the appreciation of the won has contributed to the reduced competitiveness of the Korean shipbuilding industry [16]. According to Ba et al, [11], China has taken the lead in the shipbuilding industry by 2010, committing to capacity building as part of the government-funded ambitious development and subsidy program [16], and by also having the advantage of competitive prices [46].…”