A case study of increased operational efficiency and cost reduction at a vast shipbuilding factory

Sending many ships around the world for 100 years

Our company was founded in 1911 as Namura Shipbuilding and Iron Works, a small shipyard on the riverside of Osaka. For nearly a century since then, our main business has been building ships that sail all over the world. Our corporate philosophy is based on the word "presence," which embodies our desire to become an indispensable presence for our customers, employees, and the local community.

Ships are the company's main product, and it builds bulk carriers and tankers, such as "Panamax bulk" and "Capesize bulk," which have long been produced in Japan. The size of the ships it builds ranges from around 30,000 tons in deadweight capacity to the highest of around 300,000 tons, and recently it has also been working on LPG carriers and next-generation fuel carriers. Compared to other shipbuilding companies, it excels at building a wide variety of ships, known as a product mix.

Another business is the steel structure business, and we have worked on numerous bridges. Most recently, in 2024, we built a 40-meter-long, 100-ton pedestrian bridge called Victory Walk in Saga City.

Information systems have long been essential in vast factories

The Imari Factory, which was relocated in 1974, underwent a major expansion in the 2000s and now occupies a site area of approximately 700,000 square meters. The factory is operated with a highly productive layout that allows for a straight line of work from steel plate cutting to construction, and to run such a large factory, the company has long been actively utilizing information systems. We joined the company after hearing that the company was one of the earliest in the industry to tackle technologies such as NC cutting (numerically controlled automatic cutting) of steel plates.

Recently, we have been working on creating a smart factory with the goal of "connecting people, equipment, and products with digital data." Our proactive approach to such cutting-edge content is one of our strengths, and we believe this will lead to major developments in the future.

(Yoichiro Nishi, Director of WIN21 Promotion Department)

Eliminating paper culture starts with digitization

In 2021, the Production Innovation Department was established as a promotion organization with the aim of further increasing productivity by transforming the company into a smart factory.

In order to improve operational efficiency, we interviewed on-site managers and other related parties, and a prominent voice was that there were a lot of paper forms. This was not only the case on-site, but also in the office, where circulating paper documents was time-consuming. In order to become a smart factory, we recognized that digitizing information, or in other words, digitalization, was essential. After considering various software options, we concluded that i-Reporter was the best option.

Until now, information had been managed on paper, which was an issue, making it difficult to quickly find past records when needed. This also necessitated the introduction of digitization.

Furthermore, because we recognize that the speed of feedback is an important factor that directly leads to cost reduction, we are strongly aware of the importance of promoting computerization, establishing a process for circulating feedback quickly, and reducing man-hours. For this reason, we view the introduction of i-Reporter as a very important step.

Don't just leave it there and say "use it": How to deal with rejection of new things

In the early stages of implementation, there was some resistance to the new system. To address this issue, we focused on explaining that "it simply replaces paper with digital," and worked to alleviate any anxiety. Although there was some initial resistance, especially among elderly users, with the support of the relevant parties, they adapted to the system within one to two weeks and were able to operate it smoothly.

In order to establish the operation of the new system, we place importance not only on providing operational training but also on user feedback, and we strive to respond quickly to even small changes. As a result, we hear from users that "this was extremely helpful," creating a virtuous cycle.

Forms do not always have a fixed format, and they need to be able to respond quickly to changing requests. For this reason, we have trained designers in several departments and have put in place a system that can reflect feedback from the field. Furthermore, to prevent a decline in usability due to an increase in manual input, we are focusing on creating forms that minimize any discomfort felt by users by using multiple-choice and other ingenious input methods.

i-Reporter trial reduces costs by one hour per day and 800,000 yen per year

As a trial before introducing i-Reporter, we conducted a gas leak patrol on-site. At the shipyard, many fluids such as ethylene gas, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are used throughout the factory. However, gas leaks are unavoidable due to deterioration or other damage to the hoses used to use these fluids.

Gas leaks are the same as releasing money into the atmosphere, so it is extremely important to prevent them. However, it is difficult to stop gas leaks automatically, so steady patrols are essential. Previously, our facility group members worked hard every day to patrol the area, reporting the gas leak situation to the relevant department and taking action to stop the leak.

These steady efforts have resulted in significant cost reductions, but the methods used were very primitive and time-consuming, such as taking photos and writing handwritten notes. By replacing these tasks with i-Reporter, work time was reduced by approximately one hour per day, resulting in annual cost savings of just under 800,000 yen.

Based on these results, we decided to fully implement i-Reporter, judging that purchasing a certain number of licenses would immediately pay for itself. Because we were able to achieve such a great effect with just one report, gas leak patrols, we plan to expand the system further in the future to further increase its benefits.

(Toru Sakai, Production Innovation Section Manager)

The range of information that can be communicated has increased, and the speed has increased.

i-Reporter is also being used effectively for asset management. Previously, the asset database and its contents were separate and not linked together. However, now we combine them with reports, including photographs, and use reports that allow you to see asset codes and their corresponding items at a glance.

With the introduction of i-Reporter, the amount of information we communicate has increased dramatically. Previously, we would send handwritten lists of information one-to-one, linked with photos. Now, we can attach four or five photos to each item and add multiple pieces of information, which has dramatically improved the speed at which information can be shared.

Before the introduction, we had to go to the site, check things on paper, take photos of any defects or areas for improvement, and then work on them in the office. However, since we started using i-Reporter, we can bring it to the site using an iPad, check things in real time, and respond immediately to requests from the site, resulting in faster feedback and on-site response.

Currently, i-Reporter is used to create a variety of reports, such as launch checklists, design improvement request reports, safety patrols, and meeting minutes. For example, reports for equipment breakdowns or malfunctions, called "Sudden Malfunctions," are linked to the system, and malfunction reports are created in i-Reporter instead of on paper. These reports are converted to PDF and key information is linked to the core system, allowing the entire process to be confirmed. This means that managers can now check everything in one system, rather than having to double-check both the core system and i-Reporter.

Additionally, we have introduced a master data system for employee information, which includes employee email addresses and affiliation information. This eliminates the need to manually enter email addresses for confirmations, reviewers, and approvers, and has been confirmed to improve convenience as a result of increased adoption in the workplace.

With paper-based operations, documents would often get dirty when carried in pockets on-site, but with mobile devices, that worry is gone, and I think the content is better conveyed when communicating with relevant parties by showing them the screen. Also, while paper-based circulation of documents caused a time lag between the manufacturing and design departments, digital exchanges have made it easier for managers to follow up and see at a glance where a document has stopped circulating. Furthermore, we've created a system to minimize delays, such as automatically sending an email when a document is saved, by digitizing the form. We've received positive feedback, with comments like, "It's become faster," and "It's safer because we no longer have to carry things around on-site."

(Yusuke Sugiyama, Equipment 2S Team Leader, Namura Office, Genkai Tech)
(Takayuki Shimono, Equipment Management Group, Factory Management Department)
(Taro Matsuo, Staff Member, Assembly Section 3, Domestic Works Division, Hull Department)

Aiming for smart factories and expanding horizontally

We've talked about various aspects of i-Reporter, but we're still only at the initial stage of company-wide adoption. First of all, it's important to steadily expand it and advance efforts to eliminate paper and digitize information, and I think that even this effort will require a considerable amount of time and effort.

Two years have passed since the Production Innovation Division was established, and our ultimate goal is to realize a smart factory. We have drawn up a roadmap for the smart factory, with digitization as the first step. As the first step in our transformation from analog to digital, we believe that i-Reporter is extremely easy to use and easy to get started with. We plan to first popularize it and move away from analog and towards digitalization within the company, while also expanding it into visualization, preventative maintenance, digital twins, and more.

(Toru Sakai, Production Innovation Section Manager)