Following the premise of engineering standards, Standard planning Modules represent production work package arrangements which are predefined to simplify the creation of planning networks at the central planning level. The approach centers around the notion that a vast majority of production activities can be established without the aid of available, detailed engineering. The creation of workpackages under this approach is dependent solely upon historical production performance, adaptation of work from previous vessels of the same class, specific details provided by the vessel's specification, and general arrangement engineering drawings. Final production schedules, at the workpackage level, become a derivative of the planning schedule as detailed information becomes available from engineering, material procurement, and other sources. The nature of planning a ship's construction has historically dictated that most, if not all, of the ship's details be known. Working from production drawings, Planning generates the varied labor workpackages necessary to support the fabrication and installation of steel and systems, Since Planning waits for such detail to be available, the timing of the production schedule development tends to occur immediately before those schedules are needed by the yard. In fact, a common complaint of many shipyards is that the production schedules are often published after preliminary construction has begun, normally in the form of steel cutting and substructure assemblies.

This paper addresses the problem of establishing meaningful work order labor budgets for use in a shipyard pipe fabrication shop. Two methods are described for developing planning or scheduling standards. The first builds upon an existing base of detailed fabrication labor standards, which may be engineered standards or measured standards. The second uses sampling and statistical analysis to develop the planning or scheduling standards in situations where there are no existing labor standards. The first approach was applied in a seven month pilot project sponsored by the Maritime Administration through the Ship Producability Research Program. The procedures and results of this pilot project are described. The primary result was a fifty percent increase in the perceived capacity of the shop, with no additional investment in equipment or labor.

Planning Research Corporation has been working with the U.S. Navy for the past 2 years in providing a unique production management system for Navy Intermediate Maintenance Activities (IMAs). This system, successfully adapted from commercially proved techniques and underpinned by engineered labor performance standards, is in use at the Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activities (SIMA) Norfolk, Virginia and Mayport, Florida. Additionally, implementation of the system is underway on an incremental basis at SIMA, San Diego, California. The engineered labor performance standards, developed as Engineered Time Values (E.T.V.), provide a means to accurately plan, schedule and progress work, to exercise production control on a real-time basis and to analyze factors affecting productivity in order to effect remedial action. A key feature of the Engineered Time Values (ETV) System is the Productivity Management Information Component (PMIC) which supports these functions through the use of interactive computer equipment. 197 In the planning function, ETV information resident in the PMIC is accessed by the assigned planner using a visual display terminal. The planner selects.

The Institute for Research and Engineering for Automation and Productivity in Shipbuilding (IREAPS) is an organization which conducts an industry/government cooperative program for enhancing U.S. shipbuilding capabilities through development and implementation of improved systems and manufacturing technology. The primary thrust of the IREAPS program is the conduct of research and development projects for a variety of design and production processes in the shipyard. Such projects are initiated and pursued only upon consensus of the participating organizations and are not considered complete or successful until they have been implemented under actual shipyard production conditions.

Ingalls' Production Planning and Control System assists in planning, scheduling, budgeting and tracking each work authorization developed to support the construction of each ship. The system is comprised of modules that have specific functions within the System and some of the modules interface with other modules. At the nucleus of Ingalls Production Planning and Control System is the Consolidated Data Base which provides all data that is required for the other modules.

NAVSEA's ongoing efforts to improve, standardize and integrate shipyard process instructions are outlined. This plan, will combine the best features of various DOD, Navy and Private programs including for example: (1) the navy technical information presentation programs, (2) DOD computer aided time standards, (3) Navshipyd/Ordnance Station EM & S automated support (NEAS), (4) the Carnegie Mellon/USS CARL VINSON CUN 70 ZOG program, (5) shipboard nontactical ADP system (SNAP), (6) NAVSHIPYD Norfolk - work planning and control systems - PROMPT, and (7) technical repair standards (TRS) program. Specific aspects of these programs will be discussed including computer aided authoring, group technology, and common vocabularies, and a status report of these efforts as well as future plans will be provided.

The over-riding concern in shipbuilding today is how to increase productivity. However, attention instead should be focused upon improving management policy. Quality of goods and services produced and the improvement of production operations from a controlled learning experience should be management's primary goals. By concentrating on these, increased productivity will be a by-product. The learning process, however, requires a basis from which management, can evaluate past performance and develop a program for avoiding failures and improving upon the successes. This basis does not evolve by happenstance. It must be the result of deliberate, careful and reasonably detailed planning and a means for capturing actual performance against the plan. This discussion addresses the vital need to consider and accommodate the impact of limited resources (manpower, floor space crane capacity, etc.) to the planning Problem. Often ignored by planning, resources, if not available in sufficient quantities, or not applied properly, will most definitely lead to higher costs and longer production schedules.