Significant ROI Results from High Technology Transition Rate

The National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) provides a unique vehicle for engaging the shipbuilding and repair base in addressing the demands of fleet recapitalization and maintenance affordability. Senior Navy officials and industry CEOs have been vocal in recognizing the added value this collaborative effort provides, urging continued Federal funding that is matched dollar-for-dollar with industry cost share. The cost-reducing impacts of NSRP on U.S. ship construction and repair have also caught the eye of Congress. In Fiscal Year 2009 budget action, the Senate Armed Services Committee cited the Program specifically, declaring it to be a “vital element of the overarching objective of improving the affordability of naval warship construction and maintaining a healthy, innovative shipbuilding industrial base.”

NSRP achieves these results by focusing on consensus priorities of both industry and Navy leaders responsible for ship acquisition and repair. Then, rapid and widespread implementation of new technologies and process improvements on Navy programs – cross-yard and cross-tier, across varied technology areas, often long before projects complete – completes the process. Over 85% of major projects have already been implemented in at LEAST one yard – most at multiple yards – and CEOs assert that NSRP enables them to make improvements for a fraction of the cost of going it alone.

Targeting Cost Reductions by Analyzing Specifications that Unnecessarily Drive Costs

NSRP coordinated shipyard review and analysis of selected specifications that have been identified by NAVSEA technical authorities as potentially unnecessary cost drivers in ship construction. The fundamental goal of this effort is realize relief from unnecessarily costly specifications and requirements while preserving technical quality. Thirteen specifications were reviewed as part of the initial phase, which included identifying recommended alternatives and cost savings potential. This ongoing effort is expected to continue with additional specifications undergoing the same analysis process.

Parts Commonality & Standardization

NSRP enabled development and implementation of a Common Parts Catalog in four 1st-tier shipyards led to significant lowering of parts inventories and realization of other efficiencies. The Navy recently revalidated the savings from reducing parts, noting that by applying common parts catalog concepts to utilize existing submarine parts on the DDG-1000, “there is an incredible amount of savings with every one of these parts.” NSRP also supported a Navy pilot of the Common Parts Catalog.

Interoperability Initiatives

NSRP is developing an “enterprise” approach for a more effective Integrated Product Data Environment (IPDE) for ship acquisition and service life programs. Recommended requirements that can be invoked on future ship contracts were developed by an industry/Navy team; their implementation would enable the implementation of product data systems based on an open architecture having suitable functionality and enterprise-wide interoperability to support affordable Navy ship design, construction and service life support.

NSRP’s other product data interoperability effort targets an Integrated Shipbuilding Environment in which the various business processes and their supporting information technology systems accept and disseminate information electronically without manual intervention, paper copies, off-line translations or reformatting.

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Reduced Shipyard Costs through eBusiness

NSRP’s eBusiness initiative continues to streamline electronic transactions between shipyards and suppliers, building in new sources of ROI through bolt-on functionality to this commercialized system. ASN RDA reported potential cost reductions of $40M/year to date from this initiative. Newly-funded project modules include introduction of cost-saving shipyard asset tracking processes, and an electronic test bed that is facilitating piloting and implementation of the new, streamlined processes in multiple shipyards.

To learn more about NSRP, go to: http://www.nsrp.org/