The Ship Production Committee is made up of representatives from approximately twenty-four shipbuilders plus the American Bureau of Shipping, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy Research and Development and, of course, the Maritime Administration whose budget is the backbone of this vital project. We poll the industries to see who would use the results of a research project. The more yards that would use, the higher the priority; the higher the potential saving, the higher the priority. We then list the projects in priority sequence, see how far the budget reaches for the year, and submit those to the Maritime Administration for approval. When approved and a shipyard agrees to act as sponsor, a suggested contract is worked out between the sponsor shipyard and the Maritime Administration. The most valuable result of this program is that the shipyards are talking to each other at the working level for the betterment of our industry.

Research and Engineering for Automation and Productivity in Shipbuilding (REAPS) today is a shipbuilding industry/government (MarAd) cooperative development program aimed at improving shipyard productivity through the development and implementation of computer and manufacturing aids for shipbuilding. The program is organized as an element of The National Shipbuilding Research Program, which is administered by the Ship Production Committee of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. The program itself is organized as follows. The most important group within the program is the REAPS Representatives. These are the participating shipyard personnel from production management, the loft and design who make the program work. At meetings of the Representatives, MarAd and the Program Manager (held four to five times yearly), the Representatives jointly identify problem areas of mutual concern, discuss alternative solution strategies and formulate development project descriptions and implementation plans.

The Research and Engineering for Automation and Productivity in Shipbuilding (REAPS) program aims at increasing U.S. shipyard productivity. The organization, activities and current and planned development projects of the program are reviewed. The 1980 symposium focuses on developing a consensus on a format for long range facility plans, with an emphasis on cost effectiveness and environmental impacts.

The paper discusses a number of facets of Computer-Aided Ship Design and Construction (CASDAC) in which the writer has been involved. A brief history of computers in the Navy is given, some notes on the CASDAC project, the flavor of two recent programs, Navy planning and philosophy in detail design. and construction, some notes on the Computer-Aided Piping Design and Construction (CAPDAC) project, and finally some notes on the increasingly important role of computer science. The U.S. Navy has a long history in the use of computers in shipbuilding. In May 1944 the first computer came into operation at Harvard, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator -- the Harvard Mark I. This was designed and constructed by Professor Howard Aiken -- at that time a Commander in the United States Navy. It was the Bureau of Ships which first sponsored the operation of this calculator and some of the first problems attacked originated from the Bureau. In 1952, the Applied Mathematics Laboratory was established at the now David W. Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center (DTNSRDC) to initiate computer service to the Navy. For this installation the Univac's 6th computer was installed in 1953. Early work included shaft vibrations, shell stiffening, propeller design, underwater sound intensities, pipe stress analysis, and nuclear reactor design. Within a year, this computer was operating around the clock. By 1958, clients included personnel from the naval shipyards processing programs associated with their ship construction program. By 1960 naval shipyards possessed their own computers and programs were in operation for tank capacity tables, hull deflection, voltage drop, shock mounts, sound isolation, mast calculations, weights and moments, propulsion shaft bearing reactions, pipe bend calculations and pipe stress analysis.

The shipyards in this country have spent a sizable amount of money to modernize their methods of fabrication to increase construction. The shipbuilding industry is a labor intensive business based on small orders of ships that does not allow for total automation in the near term, if ever. One area of a shipyard that has minor or limited changes is the structural design office. The manual drafting of working drawings is basically the same as the methods used in the 1950's. A number of yards have restructured the working drawing to assembly type drawings. This is a major change assisting in the construction of the ship, but is still limited in scope. The present method does not allow for an orderly progression into the application of computers. The development of working drawings to assist construction is-poor and this stagnation has restricted the design office from converting drawings to computers. The problem stems from false economy values. The idea that a limited budget for the development of working drawings will increase the yard's profit margin is a false one. Every effort, or person hour, used in design should have a direct savings in production manhours. The goal of the designer's output should be a necessary and direct part of the construction program. Many design offices may not even realize that they are not only reducing costs, but are driving them up due to poor detailing. (A complete study of the working drawing process should be made objectively by design, production and planning people). This paper may give the basic outlines for consideration. Thomas P. Gallagher, Surface Ship Structures, Head, Research, Dynamic/Highedr Performance Craft Section, Phone 202-692-9107, Naval Ship Engineering Center.

A growing amount of attention has been turned to Group Technology which deals with the area of batch-type manufacturing for those who are engaged with small lot sizes and a variety of products. Development and implementation of integrated computer aided manufacturing (ICAM) will lead to rapid changes in U.S. manufacturing industry. It has been recognized that Group Technology is an essential element of the foundation for the successful development and implementation of ICAM through the application of the part-family concept.

Proceedings of the REAPS Technical Symposium. Paper No. 12: Network Scheduling of Shipyard Production, Engineering, and Material Procurement.