Leading the Way for Mid-Tier Shipyards to Implement Design for Production Methodologies

In February 2007, NSRP awarded the project entitled “Design for Producibility (DFP) for Mid-Tiered Shipyards,” a collaborative research project which included Bollinger, Atlantic Marine, and Todd Pacific Shipyards. The purpose of the project was to incorporate DFP methodologies into the ship design process for each of the participating midtiered shipyards to enable simplification of the ship design process and vessel construction requirements. This paper will provide an understanding of the process used to develop the shipyard-specific DFP information. The paper will also provide a quantification and appreciation of the resulting cost benefits associated with the implementation of DFP principles at each of the participating shipyards. New construction programs in each of the shipyards enabled real-time metrics to be captured, illustrating the achievement of cost reduction opportunities resulting from DFP implementation.