Dept.

of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

Ship Manufacturing Processes – NAME324

Capacity Planning Calculations for

Shipyards

Week 7
Factors Influencing Yard Layouts

Range of ship types to be built and number/year

Space required
The overall area is governed by the space required for the various stages of the
building process. Such spaces should be of a size capable of accommodating
the proposed flow of materials through them. The size of the various spaces
should be such that there is a level workload through the production process. In
practice the workload is not level and it is normal to incorporate buffer areas
where materials may be stored before moving on to the next stage in the
process. The amount of space required for the various stages can be estimated
by considering the building programme of the yard, ie. Number of ships per year,
hence steel throughout.
Space available
In practice, particularly in existing yard, it is often not possible to allocate the ideal
size of spaces which have been mentioned above. In this case it is necessary
(by careful production planning, possible re-allocation of some areas and
changes in basic construction techniques) to improve the flow of material
through the various shops.
Factors Influencing Yard Layouts (cont.)

Amount of mechanisation
The actual amount of mechanisation and automation will depend on the capital expenditure available, the
wage level of the area/country and the availability of labour; for example, if labour is cheap and
plentiful it may be advantageous to carry out operations manually in preference to using high cost
machinery. Alternatively, if there is a shortage of labour, or labour costs are high then it may be
preferable to invest in machinery instead.
Materials handling
The speed, direction and efficiency of material flow will depend on the type of transportation employed.
Ideally, the handling of material should be kept to a minimum. For an efficient flow process it is
necessary that the correct item is deposited in the correct place at the correct time using least effort
and cost.
Construction methods employed
Directly related to the foregoing items are the methods of construction employed. The design and
construction method should be best suited to the production facilities and vice-versa. For example,
the size and layout of the ships, materials handling, etc, will depend on factors such as the amount of
pre-fabrication employed, whether flat panel shops are used, the ambient weather which will indicate
the amount of work to be carried out under cover, etc.
Re-development Strategy
Whenever a shipyard is to be modernised, or modified in light of changing demand, (or if a new
shipbuilding facility is contemplated) then three, fundamental questions need to be answered:
(a) What is the anticipated product mix?
(b) What will be annual throughput for this product (mix)?
(c) What are the present and projected levels of plant efficiency?
From these basic parameters the details of the work content, the necessary layout force, the layout of the
facilities and the quantity and type of equipment must be evaluated within the bounds of any physical,
financial and corporate guidelines. Of course the six features mentioned in the previous section will
also need to be considered in the analysis.
Typical Shipyard

1.Steel Storage,
2.Steel Cutting,
3.Subassembly,
4.Block Assembly,
5.Painting Halls,
6.Outfitting Shops,
7.Preoutfitting,
8.Grand Block Assembly,
9.Dock facilities,
10.Outfitting Quay,
11.Sea trials
STEEL STOCKYARD
Background
The steel (plate and section) stockyard is a level space served by rail, road or a large ship.
Normally, the plate/section stockyard is arranged for a direct feed of material into the
plate/section preparation ship. The stockyard can, therefore, be arranged in series or parallel
to this building.
Plates in the stockyard, can either be stacked in flat piles or they can be arranged vertically on
edge in storage racks. Generally, the former (ie. Flat stacks) is found to be more efficient and
hence adopted by most of the yards. Plate storage areas are usually serviced by multiple-
magnet gantry or bridge cranes of up to 20T capacity. For transfer of plates from the storage
area to the preparation shops, however, flat cars, trailer or roller conveyer are also employed.

Factors Influencing Stockyard Layout

(a) Holding capacity and turnover (eg. The delivery of plates/sections from the steel mills, which
can be in the order of 13 weeks, might determine turnover).
(b) Provision of adequate offloading areas (eg. number of piles required for unloading lorries, rail
cars, etc).
(c) Allocating storage piles for high turnover steel (eg. plates of certain thicknesses or sections of
particular dimensions are used more frequently than others).
(d) Provision of sorting area (ie. After material has been delivered).
(e) Areas for return of outgoing or rejected materials (eg. when material is of inadequate quality of
wrong dimensions).

Additionally, the following also need analysis:

• - Number of piles required for standard plates/sections.
• - Number of piles required for preparation machines.
• - Number of piles required for weekly loads.
• - How to deal with priority material.
• - How to deal with Q.C Inspections.
STEEL STOCKYARD

Plate Stockyard Production

Number of Plates/Pile

Generally this should not exceed 40 plates/pile in order to avoid the time-consuming
operation of sorting through non-standard plates and also to avoid excessive surface
loading. As a general guide: Surface Loading = Weight per pile/ Area (Tonnes/m2)

Crane Utilisation

Stockyard efficiency can greatly be affected by the handling facilities, eg:

- the number of stockyard cranes available

- the transverse/longitudinal travel speed of cranes

- capability of crane to lift single or multiple plate lifts using magnets

To decide whether or not a crane is over or under/utilised an assessment can be made

from:

Crane utilisation = (Actual hours worked/Total hours available) ≤ 1

Question 1
Question 1
Solution 1 Production Analysis
Flat Panel Line
No. Of ship 3
Ship Data
Number of Panels per Ship 200
Number of Plates per Panel 4
Number of Sections per Panel 15
Bought-in Plate Size (L x B) (m) 12 x 3 Thickness=12mm 6912kg/plate
Bought-in Section Size (L) (m) 12 200x10HP 250.8 kg/profile

Company Data
Number of Working weeks per year 47
Number of Working hours per week 40
Overall utilization factor in shipyard (70%) 0.7 Hours per Year 1316

Equipment Data Calculation

1. Cranes
Number of Cranes
Time to lift and align a plate (mins) 5 Total Time to lift&align 200
Time to turn over panel (mins) 30 Total Time to turnover 300
Time to transport finished panel (mins) 20 Total Time to transport 200
Utilization% 53.19
2. Submerged Arc Welding Machines
Welding Speed (m/min per side) 0.4 No. Of Seams 1800
Set-up Time per seam (mins) 5 Set-up Time 150
Welding Length 21600
Welding Time 900
Total Time 1050
Utilization% 79.79
3. Fillet Welding (Gravity)Machines
Welding Speed (m/min per side) 0.7 No. Of Sections 9000
Set-up Time(min.) per stiffener (for one side) 5 Set-up Time 1500
Welding Length 216000
Welding Time 5142.86
Total Time 6642.86
Utilization% 504.78

a) No. Of Cranes 1
b) No of portable SAW machines 1
c) No of Fillet Welding Machines 5
Plate (or Section )Treatment Line

Modern plate treatment lines are normally designed to allow an automatic continuous process of material from captivator; hydro-levels;
pre-heat unit; shot blast unit; priming machine; drying tunnel; offloading station. That is, plates are lifted from the stockyard,
processed and then delivered to the plate preparation areas for subsequent operations.

Equipment
a)Captivator: The function of this equipment is to uplift material from a selected stack of plates and transport the plate, on automatic
sequence, from the stack to the first powered conveyor, see figure below. Alternatively, rather than use the captivator method, if
stockyard crane utilisation is low then the crane can directly feed the conveyor line. The advantage of the captivator is that once
the stacks are loaded no further manual interface is needed.
b) Hydrolevels: The purpose of this is to level, or mangle, the plates – normally in one pass operation. When operating at the upper
and lower plate thicknesses on the machine, more than one pass might be required. This operation is normally viewed and
controlled manually. In addition, the same operator can control the captivator machine.
(c) Pre-heat unit: This removes ice and pools of water from the plates, leaving the plate dry and also raising the temperature of the
plate, thus improving the shotblast, priming and drying operations. This operation can be carried out using a ‘hot water wash’
system.
(d) Shotblast machine: The function of this machine is to remove scale and rust from the surfaces of the plate thus providing a good
surface for the subsequent operation of paint priming. For normal merchant ship production, a ‘good’ surface is one where at least
90% of the surface area is free from millscale, rust, rust stain, residues of paint or other coating, or any other form of
contamination. The common abrasives used in the blasting operation are cast iron or steel grit or steel shot, and various
expendable non-metallic abrasives made from slag or mineral mater in which any silica is present is in a combined and harmless
form. The use of sand or other abrasives containing uncombined silica is barred in Britain because of the danger to health) the
fine dust produced causes silicosis).
(e) Priming machine: This sprays a primer paint onto the upper and lower surfaces of the plate. The purpose of applying the primer
coat is to protect the steel throughout the preparation, fabrication and erection stages until the final paint system is applied.
Generally, most primer paints will protect the blast cleaned plate from 3-12 months under humid conditions. It is important that the
paint used is suitable for:
− continuous spray application, dries quickly and becomes ‘handleable’ within a short space of time
− be non-toxic and not give rise to intolerable fumes when heated during burning and welding
− not unduly affect the quality of welds
− be compatible with subsequent coatings.
(f) Drying tunnel: The function of this machine is to reduce the drying time of the paint primer thus allowing the plates to be stacked
immediately after completion on line. This is done by drawing air above and below the surfaces of the plates, with the solvent
laden air being discharge to the atmosphere. The conveyor in this region can be of a ‘slot’ type and angled towards the centre of
the machine. This allows the air to flow freely and the plate is supported on its edges only.
(g) Offloading station: Various arrangements can be used at this station, e.g. a collocator – which is similar to the captivator, only this
time the machine is offloading into pre-determined stacks or alternatively, conveyors or cranes can be used.
(h) Powered conveyors: The function of this is to link up the individual pieces of equipment (b) – (g) and provide a continuous flow for
transporting plates through the plate treatment line.
Calculation of utilisation levels
Question 2
A plate treatment line is capable of producing a surface finish required by normal
merchant ship production standard at an average (conveyer) speed of 3m/min.
From the data given in the above example and assuming an average gap
between plates moving through the shotblaster to be 3m, calculate the line
utilisation for single shift working and state what managerial actions you would
take, if any.

Question 3
A section treatment line is capable of producing an adequate surface finish at a
speed of 3m/min. Based on the data below calculate the line utilisation.
Data:
– - Production throughput/year 5 multi-purpose ships
– - No. of sections/ship 6,000
– - Average length/depth of sections 8m/200mm
– - Average gap between sections 3m (in shotblaster)
– - Effective width of conveyor 1m
– - Working time @ 40 hours/week, 47 weeks/year
Plate Preparation Area
Area Allocation
Machinery in Plate Preparation Shop
Plate Preparation Shop Layout
Criteria Defining Machine Efficiency
STEEL WORK FABRICATION

• Sub-Assemblies
• Flat Unit Assemblies
• Curved Unit Assemblies
• 3D Unit Assemblies
• Block Assemblies
Layout for Construction of Small Ships
Layout for Construction of Large Ships
Calculating Area for Assembly of Main Units
End of Week 7

Questions ?