E3S Web of Conferences 363, 01034 (2022) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202236301034
INTERAGROMASH 2022

Increasing the efficiency of automation in

shipbuilding and ship-repairing by building a
control system using lean manufacturing
principles
Sergey Sokolov1*, Alena Antonova1, and Tatiana Knysh1
1Admiral Makarov State University of Marintime and Inland Shipping, 5/7 Dvinskaya str, 198035,
Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Abstract. Shipbuilding companies often suffer from long production

cycles, low staff utilisation and an unbalanced production line. To solve
these problems, a lean shipbuilding regime is used which involves work
breakdowns, production plans and virtual flow operations that combine lean
production with modern information management technology in
shipbuilding. Production planning manages all the production activities of a
shipbuilding facility. Production plans are achieved just-in-time through
intelligent organisation, reducing loss of staff and time. A virtual flow
operation is then carried out, achieving high efficiency in flow production
and high flexibility in production. By implementing a lean shipbuilding
regime based on task package planning and its production system, the ship's
production cycle is reduced, the number of workers is reduced, but the level
of production balance is increased.

1 Introduction
The shipbuilding industry is one of the largest and most important industries. If shipbuilders
want to survive and increase their competitiveness, they must improve shipbuilding
efficiency, reduce labour costs and shorten the production cycle [1-3].
Lean manufacturing is a type of management philosophy developed by Toyota Motors.
One of the goals of lean manufacturing is to eliminate waste, which can increase job
satisfaction and turn waste into value. It should be emphasised that lean manufacturing must
go beyond the company. In other words, lean manufacturing should be from product
development to the set of activities provided to the end user. Lean production techniques aim
to eliminate all types of waste in production and reduce lead times [2]. The best results of
lean manufacturing are achieved by reducing cycle time, productivity, material costs, rejects,
resulting in lower overall costs and high competitiveness.
Lean manufacturing has been established in China for a relatively long time. It is most
widely used in the conveyor and multi-product industry. However, it is not usually used in
the shipbuilding industry. In order to make production faster and more organised, the

* Corresponding author: sokolovss@gumrf.ru

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 363, 01034 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202236301034
INTERAGROMASH 2022

shipbuilding industry has undergone changes. In the 1990s, the Chinese shipbuilding industry
began to learn from the global experience - an improved shipbuilding regime. After a decade
of development, the Chinese shipbuilding industry has made breakthroughs in segmented
digital production and automation. The lean shipbuilding mode is developing rapidly in the
shipbuilding industry, dominated by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
However, its overall level of integration is still not at a first-class global level. The majority
of local small and medium-sized shipbuilding enterprises still use the traditional extensive
mode of production management. The evolution of the shipbuilding industry over 30 years
is shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Dynamics of shipbuilding industry development.

As labour costs rise, the competitive advantage diminishes. At the same time, the
development of new industrial production technologies has led to a new industrial revolution,
Industry 4.0 [4, 5]. With the rapid development of Industry 4.0 technology and the wave of
intelligent manufacturing, a large number of enterprises have started using a production
management system to monitor the production process and achieve lean management of the
production plan, production progress, inventory and product quality. This has been done to
maximise rational resource allocation, optimise production schedules and significantly
improve production efficiency.
To deliver more and better products in shorter lead times and to meet customer
expectations with lower costs and higher quality, companies must develop a more
competitive product development strategy [1]. Ships are equipped with thousands of devices
and items consisting of hundreds of parts. A shipbuilding project is characterised by a long
life cycle and many related activities. This requires interdisciplinary cooperation such as
structure, equipment, piping and machinery. Thus, a large number of technical documents
for a ship will be produced during shipbuilding. The long-term accumulation of documents

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and the constant expansion of computer systems have placed a heavy burden on shipbuilders.
This point pushes the need to invest more capital in software and hardware development [4].

2 Study of the lean shipbuilding regime

The theory of work breakdown, which is mainly used in engineering management and
systems analysis of the national defence, aerospace and construction industries, originated in
the United States. It is a theoretical method of gradually decomposing projects and finally
forming basic management units that are easy to manage and use. This method has been used
extensively in shipbuilding, automotive, aircraft and other industries.
After a decade of development, the work breakdown designed for modern shipbuilding
has gradually formed two basic models. The first model can be described as "regionally
divided, adopting the component as the basic unit of management". On the other hand, the
second model can be described as "divided by work object, taking the task package as the
basic management unit" [5]. The first model is widely used in shipyards with higher
requirements for production conditions, operational control and execution. The second mode
is widely used in enterprises where more emphasis is placed on the influence of complex
factors such as equipment, organisational structure, personnel and materials.
All production activities of shipyards are defined by production plans. They are usually
divided into four types: line schedule plan, preliminary construction plan, installation plan,
post construction plan.
The line schedule plan mainly refers to the production line schedule, which is based on
customer orders. This type of plan defines the construction sequence, dock layout and timing
of the main production units of each vessel in accordance with the anticipated construction
cycle of the vessel and the docking period. The production line schedule is an important basis
for the progress of vessel construction. The preliminary construction plan includes a hull
section as the management facility and an installation plan as the basis for organising the
schedule for all key processes from installation to handling. The preliminary construction
plan is prepared taking into account the production load limitations of each process, the nodes
of the production line schedule and the installation date. The installation plan is based on a
line schedule plan. At the designated dock and period, the lifting and closing of the hull is
completed to ensure that the entire vessel meets launching conditions. The assembly plan
basically includes the lifting sequence, the date and time of hook-up. The post-construction
plan is based on rigging in accordance with the main timing units of the production line
schedule. The equipment installation plan is prepared after closure of the enclosure, which
mainly includes the installation of mechanical and electrical equipment, instruments, meters,
piping and other equipment. In addition, the equipment installation plan includes finishing,
coating and other operational plans. A post-construction plan is drawn up to ensure the
integrity of the system and the commissioning date as a deadline.

3 Results
The sectional manufacture of shipboard curved surfaces is a typical multi-batch and
variable series production with high complexity and complexity. The hull consists of curved
plates of different shapes and sizes. Since the shape of the hull has a significant impact on
the overall performance of the vessel, the efficient and accurate manufacture of curved plates
is one of the most important processes in shipbuilding [1]. Although the similarity of curved
profiles is very small for the same ship, there is a great deal of similarity between curved
profiles when several ships are manufactured simultaneously [6-8]. This is particularly valid
when several ships of the same type are being manufactured simultaneously. The forming of

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curved plates consumes a considerable amount of time and energy and is considered to be
one of the bottlenecks in the shipbuilding process. Regardless of how complex the
components of the various curved surface segments are, the machining technology can be
divided into the following basic operations: welding, assembly and auxiliary operations such
as marking and grinding. In addition, the process requirements of the operations are also
similar. The similarity in structure and process of curvilinear surface segmentation provides
the basis for using a flow operation [9-13].
The efficiency of a specialised production line is much higher than that of a flow operation
in the production of large and heavy products. It's much easier to use a combination of
equipment, tooling and personnel flow than a flow of machined parts. Using virtual flow to
organise production can also completely increase production efficiency. Thus, the virtual
flow mode enables high efficiency in flow production and high flexibility in production at
fixed workstations. Different operational groups move between sections to perform their
respective production tasks, thus forming a virtual flow production system of the entire
shipbuilding enterprise.

4 Conclusion
The production efficiency of shipbuilding enterprises can also be effectively improved by
implementing lean production management. Both automation and lean production have their
advantages and disadvantages. Nevertheless, lean manufacturing is currently the best option
to improve production efficiency and benefit shipbuilding enterprises, especially small and
medium shipbuilding enterprises. Lean production is characterised by low costs, low
investment and great advantages over automation.
Lean shipbuilding system integrates such lean shipbuilding ideas as work breakdown,
task package planning and virtual flow operation into a software system. In this way, the
shipbuilding enterprise has the available technology to implement lean production and
overcome the shortcomings of the traditional system, which focuses only on planning and
monitoring the production process. The production balance can be effectively improved,
personnel and time losses can be significantly reduced through the use of a lean shipbuilding
system.
Lean production fundamentally changes existing shipbuilding methods and it also
represents the future direction of the shipbuilding industry and smart shipbuilding. In
addition, the shipbuilding operation process will be further optimised, equipment will be
continuously improved to improve the production efficiency of shipbuilding enterprises and
to increase the market competitiveness of small and medium-sized shipbuilding enterprises.

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