Improving Shipbuilding Productivity Through Use of Standards

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Improving Shipbuilding Productivity Through Use of Standards

J. C. Mason

The use of standards to improve productivity in the shipbuilding industry is not a revolutionary concept. In contrast to the European shipyards; however, (who have stated that they could not operate profitably without standards) and to the Japanese shipbuilding industry (which for more than 25 years has employed a sophisticated system of national industrial and individual company standards), the use of standards in this country to improve shipbuilding productivity has been limited. In recent months significant progress has been made in implementing a National Shipbuilding Standards Program which has the potential for major improvements in productivity and reductions in cost in the U.S. shipbuilding industry. The objective of this brief paper is to provide an overview of the National Shipbuilding Standards Program effort and to illustrate the potential benefits of the use of standards.