Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State is using advanced engineering technologies to help Northrop Grumman Ship Systems streamline the production flow of its hurricane-battered shipyard in Pascagoula.
` Already providing NGSS with emerging computer simulation and modeling expertise since 2003, university researchers are refocusing their post-Hurricane Katrina effort to help the U.S. shipbuilder redesign and regenerate its facilities and operations.
Using part of $1 million in funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, researchers from MSU's industrial engineering department and Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems are building and analyzing 3-D simulation models of shipyard operations. The models will be used to visualize product flow and evaluate investment alternatives.
"Our models can simulate a month's worth of production in seconds on standard desktop or laptop computers," said industrial engineering professor Allen Greenwood.
The project's co-principal investigator, Greenwood said the stepped-up effort for NGSS will utilize artificial intelligence and other state-of-the-art, problem-solving technologies. They are the same tools applied earlier to help Nissan's $1.4 billion automobile manufacturing plant in Canton identify and analyze potential production bottlenecks, he added.
"This is the best example I can think of that describes an academic research institution's role in the private sector," said NGSS vice president D.G. Ewing. "Tools like those being developed by MSU can significantly help U.S. shipbuilders compete in the world market."
Clay Walden, manager of engineering extension at CAVS and co-principal investigator for the project, said it was "exciting and rewarding for us to help Mississippi manufacturers become more competitive by developing sophisticated engineering technologies and putting them in the hands of decision-makers."
Walden also predicted the project will help the Gulf Coast facility improve its performance and competitive position, while contributing to statewide economic development in the aftermath of the Mississippi's worst natural disaster.
"This project enables MSU to apply and disseminate its research, develop and deploy new technologies, and provide a special learning environment for faculty and students," added Greenwood, who also is the Bagley College of Engineering's international programs coordinator.
Northrop Grumman Corp., a global defense company headquartered in Los Angeles, operates shipbuilding facilities along the Mississippi and Louisiana coastlines. Its Pascagoula shipyard, formerly known as Ingalls, was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29. Production work, however, has resumed on 11 ships under construction at the NGSS operations in Pascagoula, Gulfport and New Orleans.
"Mississippi State University's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems and industrial engineering department are valued partners in our planning effort to re-establish and improve the Pascagoula site," said Ewing. "We are working together to develop objective data that will aid in the evaluation of reconstruction alternatives."
MSU's involvement with NGSS began in November of 2003 when CAVS and the industrial engineering department were contracted to improve the operation of a "bottleneck shop" (perceived constraint) at the Pascagoula facility. M.J. Niccolai, sector director for Northrop Grumman's Lean Six-Sigma Program, and Charles M. LaRue, the company's sector director of Process Improvement for Core processes, were instrumental in fostering the relationship with the Starkville institution.
The research team developed a system for sequencing production through the bottleneck shop and allocating resources among the steps in the production process.
Walden said MSU put its advanced technologies into the hands of NGSS decision-makers, planners and shop supervisors through the Decision Support System--which couples simulation and optimization models, provides access to the data sources that drive the models, and creates effective user-interfaces.
"These projects were the beginning of a shared vision between NGSS and MSU," said Greenwood.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Greenwood at (662) 325-7216 or greenwood@ie.msstate.edu; or Walden at 325-7213 or Walden@cavs.msstate.edu.