processes data collected over a given period of time.
Monitoring methods and techniques to process the data obtained by monitoring, including research on these aspects, will take on even greater importance in the future.
3-4 Modernization of operation
Possibilities for various automation systems and for ensuring a level of reliability which makes feasible the operation of vessels with smaller crew have been studied for years. However, especially for Japanese-flag vessels, mixed manning by Japanese officers and foreign ratings have become a predominant practice on account of the high cost of Japanese seafarers and the shortage of seafaring labor. Whereas the quality of the crew is one of the determinants of safe operation of a vessel, experienced seafarers are now much less available than before, resulting in a call for the development of a maneuvering system which would enable even unskilled personnel to safely operate a vessel. Studies are being conducted on an expert system based on the knowledge of skilled seafarers which would allow anyone to readily and safely operate the vessel in conjunction with diverse automation systems. Such a system would require, among other things, simplicity, high reliability and handling ease along with the embodiment of new fuzzy logic and neural network theories. Coastwise shipping, which is playing a vital role in domestic transport, is now beset with a keen shortage of labor and advancing average crew age. Research is also under way to modernize these coasting vessels by incorporating state-of-the-art equipment.
4. Improvement of productivity
Since fiscal 1987, research on a computer integrated manufacturing system (CIMS) for shipbuilding has been undertaken as a joint academic-private sector project, and practical applications is now being pursued. This challenge will be met at the first opportunity in order to change shipbuilding from a traditionally labor-intensive sector into a new, modern industry, to solve, as a secondary benefit, the immediate problem of the shortage of manpower, especially of skilled labor, and at the same to further improve productivity.
4-1 Design stage
The basic concept of CIMS is a system beginning with design, proceeding to construction and coming back to design, consisting of sub-systems to computerize the design and construction processes in all aspects.
The fundamental principle is to formulate a product model encompassing all required information regarding the whole process from design to construction, instead of the conventional practice in which design drawings end up as nothing more than design drawings as such. As a result, information relating to the object of manufacture, including data on the design specifications and the manufacturing process, that relating to manufacturing management, such as data on the production plan and production records, that relating to the manufacturing process, including data on the design procedure and the preliminary procedure for production,
