The National Shipbuilding Research Program. 1995 Ship Production Symposium. Paper No. 9: Standard Outfit Package Units in the LPD 17 Ship Design: A Production Impact Study

Standard outfit package units for reverse osmosis plants, fire pumps, steering gear, and sanitary spaces were proposed for the LPD 17 amphibious transport dock ship design. The ship was in the preliminary design stage, and it was necessary to determine how this shift to outfit modularity would affect the ship procurement program. Because the use of package units would not have a significant impact on the overall characteristics and performance of the ship, the focus of the investigation was on material ordering and production scheduling. The analysis took account of zone-area-stage outfitting methods and also more traditional practices. With either approach, it was found that the package units did not present any schedule or procurement problems. This particular study was focused on a very specific issue, but the approach is applicable to a wide range of production impact assessment problems. Published in the NSRP Ship Production Symposium on Commercial Competitiveness for Small and Large North American Shipyards held in Seattle, WA on 25-27 Jan 1995.