Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1995)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR : > ilHHSHHHB liilillllll®

Dear Editor:

In the Editor's Note section of the August 1995 issue, you requested comments or suggestions be sent to your attention via e- mail or telefax.

Before I address my concern, I would like to go on the record that as a longtime sub- scriber \oMR/EN, I have noticed a significant improvement in the quality and content of your editorial articles; however, I am con- cerned with comments made by Mr. Stottat the recent conference on shipyard competi- tiveness, and reflected in the article "U.S.

Yards: Seeking the Competitive Edge."

Your article referenced Hitachi Zosen's ambitious goal of achieving productivity lev- els of six to eight employee hours per com- pleted compensated gross ton (CGT). Since

I have the reputation of being a "barn yard" economist, this information piqued my inter- est, and I was able to receive additional

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Circle 253 on Reader Service Card information in the form of Table 1 of Mr.

Staff's MarAd presentation. Table 1 states: "U.S. shipyard employees produce at a rate of 150-200 employee hours per CGT, while

Japanese workers' current rate is 17-22 em- ployee hours perCGT." Howcanthatbe? Are you telling me that the U.S. worker is only 11 percent as efficient as the Japanese worker?

Even if the U.S. rate is based on production of military warships, the spread does not make any sense at all. If these numbers are even close to being accurate, why should we even bother with Title XI financing as well as government programs designed to encour- age capital investment in domestic ship con- struction?

I fear that information of this nature could damage the editorial credibility of MR/EN.

I would appreciate comments from your side on this issue.

Sincerely,

James Baur

President

Lips Propellers

Chesapeake, Va.

The MarAd-sponsorid conference M which the statistics on production were quoted pi^mpted^thiit kuer frott: wtern.monaLrruiritime comuUiintjames

R. McCaul, IMA Associates, to Adm. lierberger. the letter is reprinted here ivith Mr. McCaul's permission. — ed.

Dear Adm. Herberger:

The conference on shipyard con ness, sponsored by the Maritime Administra- tion Office of Shipyard Revitaiization, pro- vided comparative data for employee hours per CGT in U.S. and Japanese shipyards.

This information was provided in the intro- duction to the conference, setting the scene for the recommendations that followed.

Can you really believe that U.S. shipyards are one-tenth as productive as Japanese shipyards? Icertainlydon'tbelievethis. Nor do any of the Japanese shipbuilders with whom I've spoken believe they are 10 times as productive as U.S. shipyards. Maybe 30 to 50 percent more productive due to learning and volume, but not 10 times!

If s my understanding that the U.S. gov- ernment is attempting to help U.S. shipyards move into commercial work. Inaccurate information depicting U.S. shipyards as un- productive dupes is counterproductive. It scares prospective customers. To use a gov- ernment-sponsored forum to convey this image make no sense.

Wouldn't it be far better to focus on the successes of Newport News, Trinity,

Avondale, Alabama in attracting foreign customers? In fact, how do you explain these successes in light of the ridiculous productiv- ity comparisons provided in this conference?

Sincerely,

James R. McCaul

President

IMA Associates

Washington, D.C.

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News