Managerial Briefing. Industrial Engineering Applications in Shipbuilding.

摘要

Provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 charged the Secretary of Commerce with the responsibility to collaborate with shipbuilders in developing plans for the economical construction of vessels. (Section 212(c)). To accomplish this task, the National Shipbuilding Research Program was established by the Maritime Administration with the responsibility to develop improved technical information and procedures for use by U.S. Shipyards. The purpose of these improved procedures was to reduce the cost and time for building ships. Specifically, the ship production committee challenged the industry to (1) develop the role of Industrial Engineering in shipbuilding; (2) implement an improved Industrial Engineering capacity; and (3) assist the U.S. shipyards in formulating national standards for shipbuilding. To initiate a cooperative industry program in Industrial Engineering, a planning workshop was held in Atlanta, Georgia in February 1978. This workshop was to identify preliminary projects best suited for cooperative development. The American Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. assisted in the preparation and the conduct of this workshop. Participants in this workshop drew an important conclusion from their meeting. The critical problems facing each individual shipyard were in fact problems common to all of the shipyards. From this recognition of the universal nature of problems among shipyards, two further conclusions were drawn. First, there was an urgent need to promote the application of Industrial Engineering Technology within the shipbuilding industry. Second, there was a wide discrepancy between the firms represented with regard to the placement and assignment of duties for professional industrial engineers.