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www.marinelink.com MN19Shipyards and operators alike tell us that they are looking more towards a seamless approach from Naval Architects to work closely with them after the design phase is over. What?s the GPA philosophy for these ever-changing relationships? For GPA, these ?ever-changing? relationships have been very constant. From the beginning, GPA?s approach has been to be with the project from the conceptual phase, through construction, delivery, and operational life of the vessel. This allows us to complement our technical and school knowledge with the real life experience of con- structing, delivering and operating a vessel. To develop the best design, you need to know how to construct and operate it. The science of simplicity that I mention above comes from this philosophy. If you do not know how to construct, how to operate a vessel, your designs are deficient. That is one of the reasons GPA has always required or tried to provide the production engi- neering for our designs. In addition, we keep a relation- ship with the owner of our designs beyond delivery to learn how certain things have worked out during the life of the vessel and thus improve on their development and design. Another way we work this out is never offer stock pre- made designs. We have a ?family of designs?, but they are tailored to each individual owner or shipyard. We also encourage the owners to select a shipyard early on in the project and work as a three member team, so the design is developed for maximum efficiency of operation and con- struction. GPA also spends time learning about new equipment and also how equipment operates and advantages and dis- advantages of each one. Thus, we can provide the best design for specific equipment, but also advise our client ofthe best applicable one. GPA is always very current and works with the regulato- ry authorities and class societies in all new changes in the regulations. Many times, GPA has been involved in help- ing with the outcome of some of those regulations and establishing new approaches to changes and use of them. New technology has made work easier for us to provide MN#3 (18-31):MN 2011 Layouts 3/2/2012 9:23 AM Page 19