Shipyard production cost structure optimisation model related to product type

Abstract

Establishing a shipbuilding production cost structure is a fundamental management activity, concerning materials and fabrication. Shipyards compete in world market niches regarding vessel type and dimensions. Therefore, the vessel's market price has a tremendous influence on the shipyard's determination of the price of the vessel offered to buyers. For this reason, shipyard management is forced to concentrate its efforts on production cost structure optimisation in order to achieve the goal of a profitable shipyard. In this paper, a computer-integrated cost structure optimisation model for defining an optimal and profitable vessel production cost structure is presented. Statistical analysis of the data was performed for a sample of tankers, built in selected shipyards. Probabilistic theory was applied and several results, such as expectation for aggregate figures, are presented. Such a tool for obtaining an optimal production cost structure enables shipyard management to carry out more effective decision-making, and also better cost control within model parameters. Furthermore, dynamical control of costing figures for the whole shipbuilding process is possible and has a significant influence on the final results. The mathematical model for achieving an optimal structure of the production costs was verified and tested against a real example of the construction of tankers.