A simple solution for a big problem
The building of a ship starts out with a neatly organised shop floor. Then construction takes off, in all of it’s turmoil. A dozen construction workers fetch what they need to complete their tasks. It’s the same everywhere: as the building progresses, the shop floor turns to disarray.
When Mastership’s project manager Prithika Ganeshamoorty supervised a shipbuilding project on a shop floor in The Netherlands, she experienced the consequences of this phenomenon first-hand. Construction workers were getting frustrated because they could not find the parts they needed. Their requests for help interrupted supervisors from their work.
After observing the tumult, Prithika took out her calculator. She came to the conclusion that builders searching for parts amounted to 7.5% of the total shipbuilding costs. How to bring down this waste of time? Prithika found a simple but elegant solution. And it doesn’t require builders to change their routine – which would be very hard to accomplish.
The part ID is crucial in finding the right piece to work with. By default, the ID is printed in the middle of a part. When builders move around parts to get what they need, the ID is often covered up in a pile and hidden from view.
On the advice of Prithika, we adapted Mastership software to print the ID in multiple places, making it visible no matter how the parts end up on the shop floor. This reduces the time spent searching, relieves workers of frustration and saves the shipyard a lot of money.
Our dream is to tag all the parts with a small cost-friendly tracker. But steel is a complex material to come through. So our dream is still a challenge. But we are working on it. To be continued!
If you like to know more or are interested in working with MasterShip, just call or email:
Jacques Hoffmans
T:+3140 3400 550
E: jh@mastership.nl