Lean Shipbuilding at UVE

Runar Toftesund

Head of Planning

Ulstein Verft

15.09.2009

Overview

• Short introduction to Ulstein Verft AS• Characteristics of shipbuilding vs mass production and mass customization• Lean Shipbuilding• Planning according to lean principles

Short Introduction to Ulstein Verft AS

• Ulstein Group ASA;– Contains large parts of maritime value chain– Employs 700 people, in 7 companies

• Ulstein Verft AS;– Employs 380 people

• 200 skilled operators• 70 engineers• 40 in production management• 70 other

– Located in two locations in Norway– Roughly 3 vessels per year– Most profitable shipyard in Norway

Short Introduction to Ulstein Verft AS (Cont.)

• Dock hall: 140 x 55m• Crane capacity: 250t, 1x10t, 1x10t• Hook height: 40m (from bottom of dock)

Dry dock;• 225 x 36m (port width 34m)• Depth: 10m• Can be split in two: • Dock length inside: 110m• Dock length outside: 107m• Cranes outer dock: 1x60t + 1x85t

Heavy lift;• Barge • Mobile crawler crane (600 MT)

Quays;• 2 quays for outfitting

Short Introduction to Ulstein Verft AS, the project management structure

Project manager

PlannerHSE

APMProcurement

APMProduction

ProductionCoordinators

APMEngineering

Supervisors

A project organization consists of around 25 persons

A project constitutes around 300 man labor years

Project duration between 12-24 months

Characteristics of Shipbuilding vs Mass production

Shipbuilding;• Low volume• Complex, non-repetitive on product level• Production in loose networks• Handcraft• Long through-put time• Customization• Product is partly designed and engineered to order

Mass production; • High volume• Standardized and repetitive products• Integrated production system• Automated processes• Short through-put time• No customization• No design and engineering changes are allowed

Characteristics of Mass-customization vs Envisioned Shipbuilding

Mass-customization;• Medium to low volume• Repetitive on process level but not on product level• Automated where beneficial• Integrated production system• Customization within certain constraints• Short through-put• Customization to order• Product is designed for customization

Envisioned shipbuilding; • Low volume• 80% repetitive on process/product level – 20% is engineered and produced to order• Production in loose networks• Manual processes• Customization within certain constraints• Long through-put time• Customization to order• Modular design where some modules are standardized and other are customized

Lean Shipbuilding

Our focus

Lean Construction

Koskela’s Approach – Adapted to Shipbuilding Production

Lauri Koskela is a Professor at the University of Salford. His research interest is mainly focused on the theoretical foundations of project and production management. He is a founding member of the International Group for Lean Construction.

T-F-V ModelTransformation Flow Value

Lean Manufacturing Unique products (one-of-a-kind)On-site production

Temporary project organization

Interdependence and Variation

7 conditions for a sound activity

Lean Shipbuilding

Last Planner™

Master Plan(whole project)

Look Ahead Plan(6-8 weeks)

Weekly Work Plan(1-2 weeks)

Mapping

Preparing

Makingappointments

Sound activities

PPC (Percent Planned Completed)

Delays/Causes

3 level planning

7 conditions for Sound Activities - Production

Assets

Manning Tools

Information Materials

Succeeding workPreceding work

External

conditions

Activities

Planning according to lean principles

• Keeping solution space open…• The planning process itself• How we work in the project• What we have learned and experienced

Keeping solution space open… - the plans

Project plan Discipline plans Period plans

Lev

el o

f D

eta

ils

Time

Wee

kly

”pla

ns”

• Start as early as possible on as many activities as possible while avoid making decisions that are not necessary at the moment

• All decisions that are made must be executable (sound activities)• Spend time on clarifying issues with customers (both external and internal)• Manage risks, e.g. maximize the openness of the solution space

Feedback

Feed-forward

Keeping solution space open… - the timeline of the plans

Project plan

Weekly ”plans”

Discipline plan

Period plan

15 – 18 months

6 – 9 months

6 – 8 weeks

1 – 2 weeks

• One project plan that feeds major milestones forward• Several discipline plans that contains more details than the project plan according to

the various disciplines• Period plans that detail the discipline plans into sound activities and provide reporting

of deviations to discipline plans• Weekly ”plans” that only contains sound activities and that are executable with 1 – 2

weeks while also reporting deviations to period plans

Keeping solution space open… - ensuring maneuverability

• The figure above is a basic systems dynamics scheme, where;– A plan initiates a job – Job A– The job is performed– The outputs is checked against some standards or targets – measuring deviation– The deviation is fed back into the planning process to change input to the job in the next

iteration in order to minimize deviation from targets• The Plan – Do – Check – Act sequence is fundamental in all systematic improvement

work• Maneuverability is increased when this circle works rapidly

Job AOutput

CheckOutputPlan Input

Do

Act

The Plans and the Participants

Discipline plans;• Production coordinators

plan• Planners coordinate and

aggregate plans

Weekly “plans”;• Work leaders focus on the

part of the period plans that are executable within 1 – 2 weeks

• Planners help, coordinate and report deviations

Period plans;• Production coordinators

plan – but on a shorter horizon to secure the 7 conditions

• Planners coordinate and aggregate plans

Planning5 %

Walkingtime5 %

Preparation10 %

Executing20 %

Cleaning5 %

Waiting for others20 %

Necessary rests10 %

Unnecessarypauses

5 %

Other'smistakes

15 %

Ownmistakes

5 %

Productive 45 %

Un-productive 35 %

Contra-productive20 %

How we work

• Gatherings• Company visits• “Out & See!”• “Intelligent conversations”

What we have learned and experienced

• Requires visible symbols (Last PlannerTM, 5S, etc.)• Takes time to implement;

– New thoughts– New language– New methods– Resistance against change– Inherent skepticism amongst middle management– Requires anchorage in top management– Bottom-up

• Useful with outside assistance (Aslesen and Bertelsen)• Tangible results;

– Better control in the projects– Starting to approach a level of repeated and defined processes;

• Lower costs• Easier to recruit people and bring the up to speed

– Provide basis for further improvement (information flow, other lean initiatives)