The Afterguard

Jack Garvey recently visited my home and, as those of you who know both of us will not find surprising, we had a few heated discussions about what it takes to make the U.S. shipbuilding industry effective. At one point exasperated Jack said, "All we ever hear from you is IHI, IHI and IHI!"

Of course, "IHI" is the acronym for "Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries" of Japan. But to me those three letters might as well be a code for the management techniques that originated in the West and that IHI was the first to apply for effectively building ships. Thus, the acronym, when I hear or read it, causes me to think of product organization of information, people, and work, and, in recognition of the fact that the most important thing in managing a shipyard is how to analyze, causes me to think of statistical control techniques. Also, "IHI" makes me think of production control via control of material and of the pallet concept that insures that no innovation is adopted without first determining its net impact on the combination of design man-hours, material procurement cost, and production man-hours.

No other shipbuilding firm has been copied as much, so I am not alone in my advocacy.

Tom Swift wrote:

This entry prompted me to recall that once upon a time, a US shipyard engaged IHI consultants to impart their wisdom. This shipyard had people in charge of operations who didn't believe anything IHI told them or recommended. This shipyard eventually dismissed one of the chief people in charge, and as they cleaned out his office, they found in a disused location the guidelines of production/project management that were expected to be used by the business. These recalled all the way back to Henry Kaiser and his shipbuilding methods. These manuals required things similar to those that were being suggested by IHI. Like IHI's advice, these manuals were untouched and unused.

Machiavelli wrote:

The innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old
conditions.

William H. Penrose wrote:

Amen to that!! I had a small part in helping rationalize crew size and bringing satellite communications into being. On these projects most of the time I was treated like a leper by those in the shipping industry. The thought that anyone would seek to reduce crew size was considered crazy and; satellite communications! Who needs that! The skipper was, and is, responsible for everything once the ship sails. Now just look!

Tom Swift wrote:

A strong economic base is not about how cheap you can build something that has been invented, but how quickly you can invent something. To do this means you need educated, curious, imaginative people who are encouraged to take risks. This also means that maybe the best people for the job aren't those steeped in the existing culture, or are the people that won't accept the status quo.

Lou Chirillo wrote:

A few years after I became one of the managers of the NSRP, while I was visiting Jack Garvey in the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Office of Advanced Ship Development, Marvin Pitkin, a Deputy Maritime Administrator, sent for Jack. Jack suggested that I go along with him and meet Marvin, described in one account as “peripatetic Pitkin.” As Marvin drew a pertinent figure on a large pad that was mounted on an easel, as if he were addressing a classroom of students, he advised, “The NSRP is doing a good job of driving costs down, but simultaneously, you have to do something about driving revenue up. Your reputation is dependent upon what happens to the difference between total revenue and total cost.”

Obviously, Marvin was trying to provoke research into shipyard marketing and innovation not only for products but also for methods of financing.

At that time, early in the 1970s, the subject area assigned to me, “Outfitting & Production Aids,” was unmistakably only in the category of driving costs down through focus on hardware, such as improved pipe joints, electric-cable splices, etc. Thus, we have to ask Jack Garvey about what consideration was given by the Office of Advanced Ship Development to Marvin’s suggestion.

As for peripatetic Pitkin, I met him again by chance some time afterwards, in the lobby of Tokyo’s old Sanno Hotel, then operated by the U.S. Department of Defense. He hadn’t changed his opinion.

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