April 1977 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

Prudential, Stanwick Develop Shipboard Maintenance System

Maritime systems engineers from the Norfolk, Va., division of The Stanwick Corporation, working with Prudential Lines' maintenance and repair staff, recently developed and installed a prototype engineering plant maintenance and repair management system aboard the LASH Turkiye for a one-year evaluation period.

The project, sponsored by the Maritime Administration (Mar- Ad), called for Prudential and Stanwick to develop, install, test, and evaluate a steam plant version of the MarAd standard shipboard maintenance and repair management system. After evaluation and further refinement, the system will be made available by MarAd to serve as a model for other shipping lines wishing to adopt such a system.

Incorporating both preventive maintenance and spare parts management, the system has also been developed to meet U.S. Coast Guard requirements for automated engineering plant maintenance programs. Major design considerations are low cost to implement, simplicity, minimum paperwork, and flexibility to adapt to a wide variety of vessels and operators' needs.

Evaluation of the prototype installation by shipboard operating personnel and Prudential and Stanwick engineers will continue for 12 months. Overseeing the project for Prudential Lines are Thomas V. MacEwen, director of engineering, and A.P. Knox, marine superintendent.

Richard E. Kelly, Maritime Systems Department head for Stanwick, said that there is every reason to believe that an organized system of shipboard maintenance, as opposed to "seatof- the-pants" or "breakdown maintenance" systems, will result in fewer unplanned equipment repairs, reduction of time-off service, more effective utilization of shipboard maintenance resources, less need for shore repairs, and thereby a significant reduction in the total cost of vessel maintenance and repair.

The Prudential LASH vessel has a 32,000-horsepower steam turbine plant with bridge remote propulsion control. A centralized control system is designed for one-man operation in the propulsion spaces. Its propulsion plant is one of the most highly automated in U.S.-flag merchant ships today.

Stanwick has been involved in research and analysis of merchant ship operations for nearly seven years. Following extensive firsthand observation of shipboard operations aboard the principal types of U.S.-flag commercial vessels, Stanwick engineers developed developed the basic shipboard M&R system design and the first prototype now undergoing evaluation onboard the highly automated, diesel-powered dry-bulk carrier M/V Sugar Islander.

For additional information on the prototype maintenance system, write to Richard W. Kelly, The Stanwick Company, 3661 E.

Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk, Va. 23502.

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