
“Engineering America’s Maritime Dominance.”
ASNE Day 2014
That’s an “assertive” name for a conference, but it was the title that the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) picked for ASNE Day, February 20-21, 2015 in Arlington Virginia.
What the event organizers were no doubt referring to is the unparalleled worldwide dominance of the United States Navy compared to other naval forces. Since SSI is helping build the majority of US Naval programs, SSI was proud to attend the conference and talk with a number of our clients such as the US Coast Guard Gibbs & Cox, Austal, Ingalls, Bruce Rosenblatt Associates.
And when we reflect on the title of the conference, “Engineering America’s Maritime Dominance” we’d like to highlight another dimension of that phrase. We would like to draw attention to the progress made in naval engineering efficiency in the United States in the last few years.
Here’s what we mean.
Over the last decade, in collaboration with the US Government and American Shipbuilders who all worked together to share knowledge and resources, SSI was involved with several National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) projects. These programs included:
• Shipyard Design Tool Enhancement I
• Shipyard Design Tool Enhancement III
• Smart “As-Built” Models
• Modern Shipbuilding Design Course
• Practical Applications of Design for Production
As of result of these projects, new software technology was created and new associated processes were developed. These technologies and processes were then widely adopted in US shipyards and design agencies. The result was an 11% improvement in the Best Practice Rating in Design and Production Engineering as compared to international yards as documented by First Marine International, a neutral and highly respected London-based consultancy. The results of this initiative were so impressive that SSI has given presentations on this topic to various government officials. A white paper on this topic is available here.