Page 34: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 1981)

Technology Survey Of

Major U.S. Shipyards

A Survey Of 13 U.S. Shipyards

And 16 Foreign Shipyards Identifies 16 Areas Where U.S. Shipyards Lag

Behind Their Foreign Counterparts

Robert Lowry, William L. Stevens and John D.F. Craggs*

At the end of World War II, the United States had the largest and most productive shipbuilding industry in the world. During the past 30 years this country's ship- building industry has contracted to a fraction of its former size and has only in recent years made substantial investments in new facilities. On the other hand, for- eign shipbuilders, notably the

Japanese, have invested billions of dollars since WWII in new fa- cilities and can now produce mer-

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In an effort to improve the pro- ductivity of the U.S. shipbuilding industry the Maritime Adminis- tration (MarAcl) initiated the Na- tional Shipbuilding Research Pro- gram, which since 1971 has spon- sored and jointly funded research and development (R&D) projects with a view toward improving the competitiveness of the industry.

However, there has not been a uniform evaluation of the tech- nology being applied to all phases of shipbuilding with a view to- ward identifying industry-wide needs. The R&D programs to date have usually dealt with develop- ment of specific equipments and procedures where deficiencies have tended to be apparent.

In 1975 the British Govern- ment conducted a technology sur- vey of all U.K. shipyards in con- nection with the nationalization of the industry. After seeing the procedure used, Mar Ad concluded that a similar survey of major

U.S. shipyards would be useful.

In May 1978 MarAd contracted for an assessment of the level of technology now being employed by major U.S. shipyards, as com- pared with the best comparable foreign shipyards. The procedure used to make this assessment was the same as that used in the

United Kingdom.

This report identifies U.S. ship construction operations and pro- cedures that are lagging behind their foreign counterparts. It is hoped that this survey will pro- vide guidance in two ways: 1. Encourage individual ship- yards to examine in depth areas where they are using low-level technology, and 2. Serve as a baseline to the

Government for determining what shipyard improvement pro- grams it should support.

In considering the results of the survey, there are two import- ant caveats:

First, shipyard productivity de- pends upon a combination of many factors. The facilities, tools and procedures covered in this survey are most important, but they are only as good as the peo- ple who manage and operate them. This survey does not meas- ure management, motivation or effort.

Second, this survey identifies only the levels of technology be- ing used. The decision by a ship- continued on page 36) *Mr. Lowry, president, and Mr. Ste- vens, vice president, Lowry and Hoff- mann Associates, Inc., Arlington, Va., and Mr. Craggs, director, A&P Apple- dore International, Ltd., Newcastle upon Tyne, England, presented the paper condensed here before the re- cent Annual Meeting of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine En- gineers. The complete paper, with comments, will be published in the 1980 TRANSACTIONS.

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Maritime Reporter/Engineering News