SHIP REPAIR & CONVERSIONShipyards gain Strength through SynergiesBy William W. “Bill” Crow & Michelle L. Tomaszewski, VSRAn the U.S. and across the globe, the industry as a whole. Even though lish baseline expectations. This reduces ments identi? ed by these companies that shipyards create solid, long-term companies seek competitive advantag- costs by eliminating duplicate training, make such joint efforts more likely to economic stability in their re- es, they must maintain a focus on com- while helping to prevent misunderstand- succeed.gions. Ship construction and re- monalities to ensure collaboration on ings when projects are performed by Ipair requires an extraordinary overall industry expertise and capacity multiple companies on the same ship. 1. Find the point of synergy. This amount of expertise, time and resources. improvements. In Virginia, we have nine The ability for an individual shipyard is the target identi? ed that affects all This work is made even more challeng- shipyards, 250+ companies and more to singularly control their working envi- companies equally without infringing ing because current economic pressures than 40,000 workers working in the in- ronments is also complicated by having on competitive advantage. Safety and drive companies to reduce costs wherev- dustry. The synergies that emerge from such a highly ? uid workforce. Shipyard quality mentioned above are examples er possible without hindering production interdependent environments can breed workers who have acquired a great deal of common core issues that impact every or quality. Having multiple shipyards in ef? ciency and innovation. Companies in of expertise over time may work at mul- company in our industry. a region creates a naturally interdepen- Virginia realize that working together on tiple facilities to accomplish complex 2. Leadership. Everyone is invited to dent, yet highly competitive culture. speci? c cost-saving projects can bene? t jobs. This may cause challenges in the the table, but the largest and most rel-This is because the industry shares a geo- the entire industry without diminishing area of quality assurance. To address this evant companies must believe that ad-graphically close environment and has to their individual business advantages. issue, the companies collectively created dressing a particular point of synergy rely on shared resources to protect com- These companies have several exam- a quality assurance audit program. The has bene? ts for everyone and is worth an mon interests even while competing for ples of collaborative projects that have program allows all companies to utilize investment of their time and resources. projects. Shipyards have the potential to resulted in identifying key elements that a common system of standards which 3. Neutral Facilitation. The adminis-create innovative cultures because their make joint efforts more likely to succeed. eliminates the need for multiple audits tration and execution regarding the point master craftsmen have perfected tech- For example, ship work is extremely and allows the yards to collectively of synergy should be facilitated by a niques, ef? ciencies and quality controls challenging from a safety perspective, monitor where improvements might be neutral party. It is important that no one that can be passed down to apprentice and requires a high level of diligence and made. This audit program provides cost competitor thinks another one is driving levels. This frees up the craftsmen’s time preventative measures. In Virginia, ship- savings for everyone. The success of the train to their own advantage. Even to further improve upon existing prac- yards have implemented a common Safe- these two examples involved consistent though some companies may bene? t tices. Competition could impede syner- ty Orientation. This provides all workers commitment from dozens of companies. more than others, or the effort may be gies that would potentially strengthen access to consistent resources that estab- The following list outlines key ele- more strongly supported by some com-26 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JANUARY 2014MR #1 (26-31).indd 26 1/7/2014 10:37:11 AM