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An Exxon multi product carrier takes shape at Avondale Productivity Advances In Shipbuilding The Desire To Reduce Shipyard Production Manhours Leads Avondale To Production-Line Ship Construction James R. Wilkins Jr." During World War II, ships were built in the United States at a rate which may well have been the most productive in terms of ships per day being produced that has ever been accomplished. A major reason for that productivity was that many ships of the same type were constructed one after another in a given shipyard. This allowed utilization of special tooling and allowed personnel to become pro- ficient in accomplishing the same task over and over again. In many ways, production-line techniques *Dr. Wilkins, group vice president, engi- neering, Avondale Shipyards, presented the paper condensed here before a recent meeting of the Gulf Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in New Orleans, La. could be, and were, utilized in the construction. Another significant advantage was the ability to make large quantity procurements of equipment and materials. After World War II, the shipbuilding practices which had been common prior to the war became common again. During the ensuing 20 years, shipyards in other countries, such as Japan and in Europe, were de- veloped or modernized using up- to-date production engineering principles. By the early 1970s it was clear that most shipbuilding in the world was being accom- plished outside the United States. At that time, the Maritime Administration conducted several investigations of worldwide ship- building practices and provided seed money for shipyards to at- tempt to improve their own capa- bility for decreasing shipbuilding costs. Many shipyards also made independent efforts to investigate foreign shipyards and to investi- gate new shipbuilding techniques. One of the most notable efforts was the then new shipyard at Pas- cagoula, Miss., established by Lit- ton/Ingalls. It was based largely around automated machinery, a good flow of materials into the areas where fabrication took place, and a concept of building ships in large sections which were outfit- ted as they were being built. These sections were then welded to- gether and launched, using a launch platform. These were very innovative steps which were well suited to building runs of several ships. For another example, Avondale Shipyards (ASI) sent a team of en- gineers to Japan and to Europe as early as 1972 to investigate the techniques used by Japanese and European shipbuilders. Some- where in that time frame, as the world demand for ships decreased, some of the Japanese companies decided that it was to their advan- tage to begin to export the tech- nology which they had been using to build ships so effectively. The combination of these several ef- forts resulted, at Avondale, in a commitment by Avondale man- agement to have a Japanese com- pany, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. (IHI), make an in- depth study of the way Avondale was building ships and make rec- ommendations to Avondale for things which could be done to im- prove productivity. 38 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
