Leapfrog Technology to Standardize Equipment and System Installations. Section Number 6 - Manufacturing and Installation Techniques

摘要

This section investigated the candidate attachment techniques and manufacturing processes that would significantly reduce manufacturing and installation time. Significant savings are possible for HM&E equipment and system installations by shifting manufacturing work to the shop and by designing the ship systems for easy installation during ship assembly. The combination of these two factors will greatly reduce the overall time of construction from keel laying to ship delivery. Current shipbuilding practice is governed by obsolete and inefficient technologies that result in a disproportionately large amount of labor man-hours being spent aboard the ship assemblies and erection units rather than in the more efficient shop environment. It is generally recognized that shop work is more efficient than shipboard work. Modular construction is touted as a modern technique for reducing ship construction costs. While hull structure costs have been somewhat reduced by modular construction techniques, labor hours required to outfit the subassemblies and erection units remain very high. Accordingly, the installation man hours of HM&E equipment and distributive systems aboard subassemblies, assemblies and erection units is approximately ten (10) times the man hours spent in the shop. The technologies, materials, devices, methods, processes and techniques used today for the installation of individual or combined systems or equipments are based on old-fashioned ship design approaches. In order to make US surface ships more affordable, a radical change in the technologies to install HM&E equipment and systems is necessary. The devil is in the details, thus revolutionary changes in the technologies, materials, devices, methods, processes and techniques used to install HM&E and systems are necessary if we are to make US combatants and commercial ships more affordable.