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 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 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.

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.

Proceedings of the REAPS Technical Symposium. Paper No 3: Navy Manufacturing Technology Program.

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

The forerunner of the REAPS AUTOKON System was acquired from Shipping Research Services (SRS) of Norway by the Maritime Administration for use in participating U.S. shipyards. Twelve independent computer programs communicating with a common database accomplish various aspects of ship design and construction. Significant modifications have been made to these programs since their initial release to incorporate enhancements, resolve failures, and improve performance. At present, the REAPS Technical Staff maintains several versions of the system. Maintenance for the REAPS AUTOKON System which was previously limited only to the UNIVAC installation versions has been expanded to cover both UNIVAC and IBM installation versions.