This paper discusses the Naval shipbuilding and repair enterprise from the vantage point of the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) collaborative of shipyards. The NSRP represents our Nation's shipbuilding and repair enterprise - both military and commercial. The paper will offer a relational perspective of the naval warship enterprise, from customer requirements and concept formulation, through design and construction, to life cycle maintenance. The paper will discuss the integrating tools and processes required for enterprise optimization, including the balanced application of lean principles and systems technology. The paper will outline challenges facing the whole, including acquisition constraints, requirements and specifications, needed investment, and arguably the most daunting - commitment to change. The process of even greater design, engineering, and production capability, based on advanced and more integrated computer applications, continues at an energetic pace. People, processes and tools have come together in a comprehensive way, in effect in a new culture, in order to really begin to take advantage of what is, in a sense, inherent in the tools. The paper will conclude with recommendations for the enterprise as a whole in meeting the challenges and continuing to provide the United States with the most advanced Navy in the world.

The major shipyards that utilize SPADES and Call and Associates have organized a user group. Annual two-day SPADES user meetings are held in danuary of each year to discuss problems and improvements to the system. The SPADES steering committee meets just after the user meeting and again in dune (in conjunction with the REAPS meeting) to make official decisions on problems improvements or changes. At these sessions, priorities for Call and Associates to work toward are established. A problem identification form and a suggestion and improvement form were designed and adopted with a procedure for informing Call and Associates and all SPADES users about changes or problems within the system. Call and Associates assigns a unique identification number to these forms and submits comments. The Steering Committee serves as a catalyst to Call and Associates for constant improvement of the SPADES System.

The "Implementation of Past NSRP Research through Education and Training" project was proposed in 1994 and funded as a 1995 NSRP project (SP 9-95-2). The concept was to analyze existing NSRP research and determine important areas where education and training could enhance implementation. The initial implementation involved development of two workshops and could be followed by additional educational and training projects contingent upon this project's results and future funding. This final report details the results of the analysis how the workshops were developed and presented and the workshop outcomes. The objectives of this project are as follows: * Identify important areas of existing NSRP research for which education and training can significantly facilitate the implementation of research results in U.S. shipyards. * Develop and present two short courses including related instructional materials at four locations in support of the implementation of two NSRP research areas deemed important but not yet widely and/or successfully implemented at U.S. shipyards. * Lay the foundation for additional courses to be developed and presented in support of NSRP research implementation in other important subject areas.