Ingalls Shipbuilding is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. Ingalls Shipbuilding has pioneered the development and production of technologically advanced, highly capable warships for the surface Navy fleet, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, and foreign and commercial customers.
A typical navy ship contains tens of thousands of cables which are run through a series of transits connecting one piece of equipment to another. Sometimes the paths of these cables span multiple compartments and decks, perhaps running from one end of the ship to the other. This path is typically defined during design and should be followed closely when the cable is actually pulled. Approximately 20% of a ship’s total cost is related to cable, so it is critical to effectively manage the cable pulling process.
With a complex and tedious process for pulling cable throughout a ship during manufacturing, Ingalls needed to simplify the process and make it more complimentary to an ever-growing and changing staff.
In order to better manage this complex process, Praeses needed to develop a cable management system that would allow personnel to more efficiently ascertain the planned path of a cable by prompting the puller with the next compartment the cable goes through, from origin to final destination. There was also a need to document any deviations from that path and accurately record cable placement and location on the ship. Additionally, the solution needed to employ a services oriented architecture to allow for the tracking of cable spools throughout the shipyard from the time of delivery and tracks the status of the equipment attached to the cable.
A CPMS implementation at Ingalls' Gulf Coast shipyard increased visibility into the cable pulling process and demonstrated increased productivity and reduced costs associated with cabling. CPMS received an Ingalls President’s award.
“In complex shipbuilding programs with a multitude of stakeholders and requirements, there needs to be a single point for data to facilitate efficient resolution. Getting all regulators and stakeholders into one system ensures issues can be grouped for efficient resolution and tracked accordingly."
LT Ashley Fuller
U.S. Navy