Overview
Design for Producibility for Mid-Tier Shipyards (2007-380)
Project Team:
- Bollinger Shipyards
- Atlantic Marine
- Vigor Industrial
- Hepinstall Consulting Group
- Victoria Dlugokecki, P.E.
January 2007 - March 2009
NSRP ASE Investment: $742K
Industry Investment: $742K
Objective:
Incorporate Design for Production (DFP) methodologies into the ship design process for the participating mid-tiered shipyards; to reduce costs through simplification of the ship design process and vessel construction.
Summary:
Bollinger Shipyards collaborated with Todd Pacific Shipyards and Atlantic Marine to incorporate DFP (Design for Production) methodologies into the ship design process at each yard to enable simplification of the ship design process and vessel construction requirements. They sought to provide the U.S. shipbuilding industry with a reliable methodology to minimize excess design variations through the incorporation and delivery of a comprehensive DFP guide for vessel construction in mid-tiered shipyards. The core of the technical approach was centered around the development of shipyard DFP documentation, and publishing the information in a user-friendly format for easy reference in the design process.
During the first phase of the project the team developed Structural Steel Preferences guidelines, which provide step-by-step process instructions to enable any U.S. shipyard to develop these preferences for their shipyard. The second and final phase of the project focused on the outfitting preferences for which a similar guidance document will be developed.
The final data was compiled in the form of easy-to-follow tables for key ship production focus areas which include: steel, piping, machinery, electrical, HVAC, joiner, paint and steel outfit. In addition, for each area, functional design rules, modeling design rules, and production design rules were derived to standardize the design requirements and processes for the project. With the design rules and processes standardized, the requirements could be stabilized yielding a more efficient design and build cycle. Lastly, an implementation pilot project will be performed in order to evaluate the revised ship design process using the DFP documentation as guidelines.
The team delivered a complete DFP manual with non-attributable shipyard data, which includes a template (with instructions) to aid other U.S. shipyards in developing their own DFP manuals. Project goals include a 10% reduction in structural part count and a 16% reduction in detailed design lead time.
Key Deliverables:
Request Final Report from NSRP – Limited Distribution authorized to U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry and NSRP ASE Program representatives
Point of Contact:
Brent Tompkins, Bollinger Shipyards