THERE IS NOT SOMETHING LIKE AN AVERAGE SHIPYARD

Speaking to various shipbuilders it becomes apparent that a shipyard is often looked upon through whole different lenses. Some shipyard owners reflect on their yard as basically being a factory that burns and sells hours while others emphasize the highly complex logistical challenges to manage the explosive number of parts, dependencies and external parties together. Then there is also the consideration between a yard as a project organization in the upper echelons and the process organization through the lower ranks and the shop floor.

Distinctive processes distinctive planning approaches

Obviously yards carry with them similar characteristics like the engineering to order character and the challenge to develop a project control framework together with transparent processes. But it’s also very true that even though the more generic processes like engineering, procurement and finance are often quite similar from yard to yard the specific setup of the yard has a lot of impact on determining the best way forward to control projects and operations.

The yard’s business model translates into the planning tools and methods

Meaning that some yards don’t employ own craftsmen but outsource all activities and just focus on coordination, others have their own plate cutting facilities while some do everything in-house. So in order to the determine where the emphasize should be put when setting up planning and controls tools, and even more so how the contents of these tools should be aligned and configured, is a yard specific topic. For which possessing specific shipbuilding industry knowledge is a real benefit and carries with it great potential.

Tools for financial planning in shipbuilding

On average we come across a variety of tools like Enterprise Resource Planning tools like SAP, Sage, Deltek, Costpoint, IFS, JD Edwards and more locally ECI Software with Inventiv ERP, Trimergo ERP and Ridder ERP. Or even Microsoft Dynamics Navision ERP or AMS ERP. These systems are oftentimes the financial backbone of the shipyard making it a sound decision to accommodate all financial yard planning available from these systems. Also by connecting the ERP with the project plans to recognize financial impacts from the key milestones and consumption of materials and hours. It’s obviously crucial to have periodical pre- and post-calculation comparisons.

Planning tools in shipbuilding

As the planning tools have the potential to significantly reduce the risks of the shipyard whatever the emphasize of the business model it is important to choose the right tool for the right purpose.

Project planning tools in shipbuilding

To accommodate the project planning needs we come across Open Plan, Microsoft Projects, Microsoft Excel, Oracle Primavera P5, Oracle Primavera P6 and obviously Floorganise with Floor2Plan. Setting up the project plan is obviously a crucial task as it has the potential to mitigate many of the risks that are recognized on the project level. Such as the critical chain for the project and the parts or components to buy early in time. But many of the challenges in shipbuilding are only materialized on the project level as they originate from operations.

Detail planning tools in shipbuilding

Issues, challenges and deviations are oftentimes only recognized when they are brought to production. The wrong specifications, drawings, materials or other difficulties. As the shipbuilding project is heavily dependent on the consumption of many hours of skilled craftsmen, the logistical chain of activities and other interdepencies from internal and external parties it is crucial to also control the process level of the yard. Detail planning activities are put in place to assure that the processes are streamlined and aligned with the project plan. Through the early recognition of deviations in the process (for scarce resources, insufficient progress or shifting timelines) the financial impact for the project can be limited greatly. Tools that are often used for this purpose are Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Projects or Floorganise with Floor2Plan.

Time tracking and resource planning tools in shipbuilding

To control the resources for the yard it is crucial to have insights in the availability of individuals (shifts, holidays, hours per week) their skills (i.e. certifications,licenses, trades), their department allocation and obviously the time they spent on the yard (shop time, clock times) as well as time spent on jobs (job time). A variety of tools are used for this purpose and since no other system than Floorganise with Floor2Plan can accommodate all these needs in one system a variety of systems are used on conjunction with each other. Examples are Kronos Autotime, Kronos Workforce Timekeeper, GPS Timetracking, Integritime, EpicFlow and B4ICT or Modest.

Progress tracking tools in shipbuilding

Since the number of departments and teams involved in your shipbuilding project is manifold it is crucial to receive periodical or ideally weekly feedback from them. On where they stand with their level of progress, tasks completed, hours to go, issues and so forth. In daily practice shipyards are oftentimes using Microsoft Excel, paper processes or Oracle Primavera Team member tools to accommodate these needs. To really integrate the planning with the control cycle Floorganise’ Floor2Plan is capable of providing the users with one platform accommodating all the various progress needs.

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