Shipyard space allocation and scheduling

In this paper we describe the development of a tool that allows shipyard planners to efficiently and effectively plan space within valuable areas of a shipyard. Traditionally, space is considered a resource; however, it is difficult to accurately account for and plan its consumption with the current planning software tools available. The spatial scheduling tool described in this paper can be used by planners and construction management teams to manually or semiautomatically reserve space within the shipyard for construction of large units over the entire ship erection period. The result is the ability to efficiently generate and compare multiple space allocation plans with the ultimate goal of maintaining the critical ship erection schedule. This work has been developed with Northrop Grumman Newport News (NGNN) under a project funded by an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program.