THE AUTOMATION AND INTEGRATION OF PRODUCTION PROCESSES IN SHIPBUILDING

The maritime shipping industry has always been of critical importance for the whole Europe, and it still is considered strategically vital to the European economy, as well as the tradition and topology, and of course tradition. Throughout the history, the shipbuilding has been treated as a significant source of employment for the people. Nowadays, shipbuilding together with the related areas, need to go through the serious changes, in order to remain competitive.

The subject changes would include, first of all, the reduction of the lead times, commonly caused by the production over-capacity and competition. It would also be necessary to achieve sustainability throughout the entire process of ship construction. In addition, the highest standards of quality shall be complied with to provide safety and environmental friendliness of the maritime navigation.

All above goals are difficult but possible to achieve but will definitely require improvements in the design and construction of the merchant fleet, as well as its subsequent technical maintenance. The newly introduced technological advances, applied to the shipbuilding industry through, for instance, the laser welding of the ship’s hull, the growing level of automation of all processes, when used properly, will eventually result in the better productivity.