The National Shipbuilding Research Program Advanced Shipbuilding Enterprise announced the selection of four new research projects as part of the Navy/Industry co-funded portfolio of 33 projects. The four new projects are valued at $10.3M, including industry cost share. NSRP is led by a collaboration of 11 U.S. shipyards, working as a team with government, industry and academia, whose stated mission is to manage and focus national shipbuilding research and development funding on technologies that will reduce the cost of warships to the U.S. Navy and will establish U.S. international competitiveness.

A Lean Enterprise Model for U.S. Ship Construction, Overhaul, & Repair: The principal objective of this project is to complete a comprehensive model for the application of lean manufacturing concepts to multiple market segments of the U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry. The enterprise-wide model will address lean design, materials, and manufacturing practices. It is anticipated that this model will result in a 20+ percent improvement in overall productivity within 36 months.

Development and Commercialization of Laser Assisted Oxygen Cutting: The project team will develop and exploit an experimental technology for laser assisted oxygen cutting of thick section steel plates which is currently in a laboratory stage. The technology will greatly enhance shipbuilders’ ability to accurately and cleanly cut thick-section steel, possibly greater than 100 mm, without increasing laser power output beyond 6kW. The potential exists for clean and accurate cut edges in both a square and bevel configuration, with minimal secondary part processing after removal from the laser-burning table.

Harvest - Finishing the Ship Product Models: The Harvest project seeks to complete the internationalstandardization of the shipbuilding STEP Application Protocols: AP-218 (Ship Structures), AP-216 (ShipMoulded Forms), and AP-215 (Ship Arrangements). This entails the working groups and the editing of thestandards documents. Completion of the STEP Shipbuilding Application Protocols will allow the U.S.shipbuilding industry to “harvest” the investment it has made in the development of product models for ships.

Enhancement of Evolution of STEP: The objective of this proposal is to broaden industry participation in the ongoing Evolution of STEP (ESTEP) task. This project would provide commercial translators for another CAD vendor (Sener and their FORAN product) for the three primary shipbuilding application protocols (structures, piping, and hull forms). The problem being addressed by ESTEP is the capability to transfer data from one ship product model to another (CAD-to-CAD Interoperability). ESTEP will help enable shipyards with different ship design programs to exchange information easily and quickly.