Abstract:
It has been strongly predicted that there will be a boom in the global shipbuilding industry in the near future, and a steady growth in demand at least till 2025. This gives a window of opportunity for shipyards all over the world to stabilize and expand their operations. As many large shipyards are overbooked, the small yards such as Colombo Dockyard PLC will get excellent opportunity to enter into business and expand their operations. Due to aggressive expansion programs in China and India the opportunities available for small yards will be diluted unless they build up competitive positions by improving their order winning criteria.
Sri Lankan shipbuilding industry with a dearth of natural competitive advantages will have to compete in management of resources and other geographical location factors. Lean manufacturing has been accepted as manufacturing philosophy which will deliver low cost, high quality products with low lead time. Hence, the question of this research is “How Lean manufacturing concepts can be applied in Sri Lankan Shipbuilding Industry.
As such there has not been any research on how to apply Lean manufacturing concepts in Sri Lankan shipbuilding industry. The objectives of this research are what Lean manufacturing tools are applicable in Sri Lankan Shipbuilding industry, organizational factors which should be emphasized during lean implementation and potential barriers and drivers for Lean implementation in Sri Lankan Shipbuilding Industry.
A mix of research methodologies such as questionnaire survey, unstructured interview, structured interviews and simulation were adopted during this research. As Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC) being the only international level shipyard in Sri Lanka, this research is entirely based on Colombo Dockyard PLC.
Lean assessment tools revealed that scheduling, inventory, supply, layout, process and quality are areas where the current practices of CDPLC need improvements. The simulation of current process at hull fabrication workshop was able to prove that workshop layout change, use of high efficient machinery, cellular
work group structure and Pull production would improve the output parameters of current process significantly. The non quantifiable Lean tools such as 5S and Visual Control would also improve the output parameters further. The research also revealed that Lean organizational practices objectives such as standardization, Team based organization and participation and empowerment need emphasis during Lean implementation.
Unionization, organization structure, organization communication process, current leadership and management style, supply chain issues and integration of suppliers in the process, level of integration of shipyard process were found as potential barriers for Lean implementation at CDPLC. The potential drivers for Lean implementation at CDPLC would be on time delivery, labour reduction, improvement in production capacity, reduce manufacturing cycle time and production cost. The modified LAI Hypothesized model provides guideline for Lean implementation at CDPLC diagrammatically.
