Japanese Shipbuilding Industry Research Articles

ACCELERATING JAPANESE SHIPBUILDING DX ADOPTION

Japanese shipbuilding has long been recognized for the production and on-time delivery of high-quality, innovative ships. Japanese shipyards will continue to remain competitive in an ideal future because of these factors. However, shipbuilding in Japan faces several internal and external challenges that put this future at risk: a generation of highly skilled experts retiring from the workforce, a reliance on institutional knowledge, more competition from abroad, and a demand for new innovative ship types. In addition, Japanese shipbuilders have not evolved their businesses to take advantage of the process enhancements digital technologies support, further adding to the risk of falling behind. This paper defines DX in the context of shipbuilding and examines how Japanese shipbuilders can accelerate DX within their organizations to stay globally competitive for the long term and overcome industry-wide risks. This paper will also offer a starting point for a DX framework that will help the Japanese shipbuilding industry avoid the digital cliff.

1950年代後半〜60年代前半における日本造船業の建造効率と国際競争 : 建造実績世界一と西欧水準建造効率達成の幻影

1950年代後半〜60年代前半における日本造船業の建造効率と国際競争 : 建造実績世界一と西欧水準建造効率達成の幻影

Securing and Developing Human Resources in Japanese Shipbuilding Industry

Securing and Developing Human Resources in Japanese Shipbuilding Industry

Investment and the behavioral theory of the firm: evidence from shipbuilding

Investment in production assets is a strategic decision that results from organizational search and risk taking. The behavioral theory of the firm predicts that performance below the aspiration level and slack resources initiate organizational search. Risk theory predicts that performance below the aspiration level increases risk tolerance. This paper integrates these theories to form a theory of problem- and slack-driven strategic change and applies it to the growth of production assets. The predictions are tested by analyzing the growth of production assets in the Japanese shipbuilding industry, yielding clear evidence that high performance causes low asset growth, but no effect of slack. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Shop-Floor Automation and Market Strategy in Japanese Shipbuilding

Effective development and implementation of shop-floor automation is one of the keys to continued Japanese shipbuilding competitiveness. Manufacturing technology is implemented to serve a market strategy, and in many heavy industries (e.g., the manufacture of automobiles and commercial transport airplanes) heavily mechanized production processes are correlated with an exclusive dependence on repeat production. In the case of the Japanese shipbuilding industry, however, extensive automation has not had this result. Instead, shipbuilding automation in Japan is generally designed to support a variety of products, including comparatively simple ship types plus certain kinds of high-value products. Although high-value markets are pursued, the ability to build simpler ship types in a cost-effective manner cannot be abandoned lightly, due to the need to maintain capacity utilization. This position contrasts with that of some European shipyards, which have decided to specialize in high-value special products, such as cruise ships, ferries, and so forth. In this paper, specific cases of automation development and implementation in Japan are reviewed, and we discuss how these types of automation support a two-pronged market strategy.

バーチャルヒューマンモデルと感性工学による溶接の作業性評価

The authors have carried out the human task simulation by a computer about the shipbuilding works in order to increase the productivity and safety so far, corresponding to the recent situation of the Japanese shipbuilding industry; decreasing of skilled workes and increasing of old workers. This report picked up the welding works for hull construction as a main job in shipbuilding. For the typical welding postures such as flat, horizontal, vertical, and overhead position, the human body analysis has been carried out, using general-purpose human simulation software “Jack”; static strength prediction of human body, lumbar force analysis, and energy consumption analysis. Moreover, the necessary rest time to recover the fatigue has been studied, and the optimal work cycle is examined. In addition, “Kansei Engineering” technique has been introduced for the evaluation of the results by the biomechanical analysis. SD (Semantic Differential) evaluation has been carried out concerning the body feeling of welding workers, and then principle factor analysis, one of multivariate analysis, has been executed, according to the process of “Kansei Engineering”. As the result, it can be concluded that the flat position to weld, widely applied posture, is most severe for static load on lower body as well as energy expenditure, and that the rule of “short breaks and often” is preferable from the viewpoint of recovery of the fatigue, especially for the works such that the consumption energy is large. Furthermore, it can be concluded that overhead position to weld is severe in the evaluation of “Kansei Engineering”, because of the fatigue on upper body, and that “the weariness of the hand” causes the working fatigue by the welding works.

Lean Production in the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry?

The adoption of "lean" automobile manufacturing concepts developed by Toyota has been advocated as a means to achieve large improvements in the performance of various other industries, including shipbuilding. The basic goal of lean production is cost reduction via elimination of unnecessary operations, waiting times, and inventories. This goal is self-evidently applicable to any business environment. However, there are specific mechanisms associated with lean production, and their applicability to shipbuilding is not as clear. Has lean production been a significant influence in Japanese shipbuilding? Are Japanese shipbuilders "lean producers"? And is the lean production automobile model the appropriate approach to shipbuilding, or is some other package of best practices more applicable? We approach these questions in two ways. First, we consider the relation of lean principles to production processes in the Japanese shipbuilding industry. Then we describe two recent cases of process improvement in a Japanese shipyard and we discuss the extent to which these reflect lean principles. We propose that if lean production is considered as a general philosophy or set of goals, then the Japanese shipbuilding industry would likely rank ahead of Toyota in terms of achievement. On the other hand, considering the specifically "lean" mechanisms derived from the automobile industry experience, it appears that not all have been applicable to Japanese shipyards.

Strategies and Outcomes in the Two Sectors of the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry

The Japanese ocean-going shipbuilding industry has evolved into two distinct sectors and today's second tier or medium-sized firms build close to half the nation's output of large ocean-going vessels. Many vessels recently delivered by the major and the medium-sized shipbuilders are of similar size and complexity. However, the medium-sized shipbuilding companies of Japan differ considerably from the majors in business strategy and corporate structure. To date, studies published in English on the Japanese shipbuilding industry have focused mainly on the seven major firms. In this paper Japan's medium-sized shipbuilders are introduced. Their competitive environment, operations, and strategies are compared with those of the seven major firms. The relative strengths and weaknesses of the major and medium-sized shipbuilders are considered and the role of technological development in the long-term prospects of both is discussed.

Study of Workability and Safety Using Virtual Human Model

Since Japan has become a society with a decreasing birthrate and also with aged people recently, it will be difficult for the Japanese shipbuilding industry to prosper as former glorious days, unless the industry makes effort to restructure the manufacture system as suitable for the human oriented production. In such circumstance, to increase productivity and to keep safety and health of the workers are the most important for the companies. Using biomechanics and ergonomics, together with computer simulation techniques, it will be possible to establish the virtual ergofactory which concords productivity with humanity well.This report has picked up the physical works in shipbuilding such as lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling and the human task simulation by using general purpose program “Jack” has been carried out; the static strength prediction on human body, low back compression analysis, and also metabolic energy expenditure analysis.As the result, it can be proposed theoretically that the lifting, pushing and pulling loads should be limited under 30kg, and the carrying load should be limited under 40kg, so as to keep the local torque and/or forces on segments and joints in a human body under the allowable values of them.

Optimization of a Working Route Using the Genetic Algorithm

ABSTRACT Since the working situation of the Japanese shipbuilding industry is changing due to the decrease of skilled workers, the production management system should be improved as suitable for skill-independent production. Under such conditions, it is important to indicate working details to non-skilled workers, which contain so-called 4W1H - Who, When, Where, What, How - including the working procedure. In this report, a working route simulation to achieve a minimum working period is carried out using the genetic algorithm (GA) for assembly welding or block painting work on a ship hull as an example. This defines the job sequence of each worker in a block. A personal computer based program (C++) was developed and applied. The calculation result of the sample data showed a good result to get optimum working route to have minimum working period.

Competing against ignorance: advantage through knowledge

This paper describes the Value Stream Analysis Tool (VALSAT) as a rigorous analysis and decision‐making tool in the supply chain or value stream context. The tool can employ both tacit and explicit knowledge for the advantage of the supply chain in which it is used. Although the approach owes its origins to new product development in the Japanese shipbuilding industry, it can provide many advantages over traditional analysis approaches in a value stream setting. VALSAT is demonstrated from both a theoretical and practical viewpoint, the latter involving an analysis of potential improvement in the Kenyan textile industry. The tool appears to be particularly useful in focusing knowledge and so in aiding decision making where there is a complex web of supply chain inter‐relationships and especially where data are a mix of subjective and objective assessments. Additionally it creates the right environment for increased intra‐ and inter‐company co‐ordination, allowing for improvement implementation programmes.

Study of Accuracy Control of Hull Structure

Mechanization and automation have been accelerated in the Japanese shipbuilding industry, corresponding to the present situation of a decreasing number of skilled workers and the difficulty in recruiting new workers. In order to effectively increase productivity through automation, the current fabrication system has to be reviewed so that it will be suitable to mechanized/automated production. As a result of the survey it was confirmed that geometric inaccuracy of each member at the fabrication and assembly stage precludes introduction of the system and increases the number and variety of adjustments necessary. Accordingly, this paper proposes a new concept to keep accuracy at a high level: numerical simulation of deformation due to cutting, welding, etc., and elimination of the scattering of human skills by mechanization. It also shows some examples of deformation simulation of the plate and block due to gas cutting and welding.

The Structure of Technology Transfer in Industrial Society : A Case of the Transfer of Marine Steam Turbine Technology to the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry at the Turn of the 20th Century

The Structure of Technology Transfer in Industrial Society : A Case of the Transfer of Marine Steam Turbine Technology to the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry at the Turn of the 20th Century

Technological Changes and Worker Participation in the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry

The Japanese shipbuilding industry as a socio-technical system is examined in terms of the interaction of technological changes and worker commitment. The high level of employee suggestions is discussed along with general background factors that helped establish Japan's reputation as a world leader in shipbuilding, which became a model for other industries. Innovations such as multiskill targeting are described as well as the components of Japanese on-the-job training in the industry. Finally, there is a discussion of possible problems in the future, and of current ideas on rebuilding the industry, which has suffered a severe decline in recent years due to the worldwide slump in orders.

Innovations led expansion: the shipbuilding case

Throughout the period 1951–1972 the source of over two thirds of the world shipbuilding output has been four industrial countries, namely UK, W. Germany, Sweden and Japan, However, during the same period, the relative share of each of the above-mentioned countries in the world's output has changed. During the 1950's the relative share in the world shipbuilding output of the UK and Swedish industries fell, while that of W. Germany and Japan rose. The 1960's witnessed a further fall in the relative share of the UK and Sweden, a fall in the relative share of W. Germany and a sharper rise than during the earlier decade in the relative share of Japan. The dominant position of Japan vis-à-vis other leading shipbuilding countries has been due primarily to its price competitiveness. Japanese shipbuilding prices were lower than those of the UK by a margin that ranged from 7.5–20%. This article attempts to show that this price advantage is due neither to the lower cost of Japanese factors of production, nor to a greater degree of subsidization for the Japanese shipbuilding industry in comparison with those of the UK, W. Germany and Sweden. The theme of this article is that the competitive position enjoyed by the Japanese shipbuilding industry is accounted for by its greater innovativeness compared with the industries in other leading shipbuilding countries. A series of process innovations introduced in Japan has reduced the building cost as well as the operating cost of Japanese built vessels. These process innovations have affected the various components of shipbuilding technology, such as the general engineering aspects, propulsion system, size and manning. This article shows that the greater innovativeness of the Japanese shipbuilding industry is due to several factors: the favourable effect on R & D expenditure of the average size of firms, good management of R & D efforts, and the involvement of management in the production technology side of the business.

Assessment of the Japanese Shipbuilding Industry

This paper first discusses the status of the Japanese shipbuilding industry—how the industry has grown, where shipyards are located, what types of ships are fabricated, etc. It then describes historical changes of the Japanese shipbuilding industry, in the 1950's and before, in the 1960's, and in the 1970's and the future. The paper discusses advancement of ship construction technology-developments through the 1950's, in the 1960's, and in the 1970's and the future—as well as factors that contributed to the growth of the Japanese shipbuilding industry.

A discussion on ship technology in the 1980s - Development of the automated shipyard

Modernization of shipbuilding helps supply less expensive and better ships, stabilize ocean freight and achieve smoother distribution of goods all over the world. Therefore modernization of the industry contributes to the steady growth of world economy. Among various aspects of modernization, the enhancement of employees’ morale and preparation of favourable environment for them are particularly stressed. Steps for modernization so far taken by the Japanese shipbuilding industry are described, followed by a forecast of the development of various aspects of technology to be achieved by Japanese shipbuilders in the first half of the seventies. As shipyard layout and hull construction methods are closely related with automation and mechanization, the prevailing concepts of large shipyards in Japan are examined, and on that basis a suggestion is made with regard to a concept of shipyards in the 1980s.

第一次世界大戦下に澄ける日本造舶業の鉄鋼材確保策

第一次世界大戦下に澄ける日本造舶業の鉄鋼材確保策

Technological progress and state support in the Japanese shipbuilding industry

Technological progress and state support in the Japanese shipbuilding industry

Re-organization of Labourers under the Process of Innovation in Japanese Ship-building Industry after the World War II.

Re-organization of Labourers under the Process of Innovation in Japanese Ship-building Industry after the World War II.