Project Participants: Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
Project Start: May 2016
Efficient utilization and allocation of resources for construction purposes is a common problem among all shipyards, but the problem is unique for each yard as each yard has dramatically different construction processes and build plans. One of the biggest cost drivers are lifts and moves of units and material. During ship construction it is necessary to move large objects frequently, using varied combinations of heavy lifting resources such as gantry cranes, forklifts, manlifts, fixtures, and more. Historically it has been extremely challenging to coordinate and manage all of the lifting resources as they operate concurrently in the shipyard. There is no “real-time” situational awareness for locating resources or evaluating resource performance, which hinders scheduling projections and causes reactive instead of proactive tasking.
The Resource Availability tool will streamline Manufacturing Services controller tasking by providing a graphical overview of the shipyard that displays the locations of each heavy lift resource and specific information on the item. The tool will also provide the ability to analyze and forecast lifts, maximizing efficiency of future lift/transport activities. The individual controller will be able to define parameters of lift types, perform scenario-based planning, quickly revise the current plan, and generate the required outputs. The tool will also be able to perform any other required planning operations currently required, ultimately eliminating the need to manually maintain paper processes.
The 12-month project will be conducted across two major phases at HII-Ingalls Shipbuilding. Phase I will begin with analyzing the current processes Manufacturing Services controllers use to manage, schedule, and plan lifting/transportation resources. The resulting opportunities and needs for enhancement and automation will drive definition of performance, capability, and evaluation criteria to begin development. During development, Manufacturing Services will act as subject matter experts to test, provide feedback, and guide creation of the tool. Phase II will be to complete incorporation of the Manufacturing Services needs in to the tool, and then ensure all end-users are familiarized with the final release. Once implemented, Ingalls anticipates this effort will reduce sub-optimal lifts and improve Manufacturing Services planning process efficiencies which translate into a potential cost savings of $849K per DDG hull or $4.25M over five years. This effort will also reduce fuel cost by $8k per year over four years.
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