In March of 1976, the decision was made at Port Weller Dry Docks to purchase an in-house computer system to expand our use of computer programs and to update our present systems. At that time two systems were in operation at Port Weller. The accounting and labor distribution programs were executed on a Litton-McBee paper tape oriented computer system, and the production planning and control, numerical control, and design programs were executed on a UNIVAC 1108 time sharing system using a remote batch terminal for data transmission.
The law that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration directed NASA to provide "for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and results thereof." Assuming that the research and development costs supported NASA's primary space and aeronautics missions, then any secondary use of this technology for other non-aerospace purposes would provide an additional benefit to our national economy. The the exploration of space and the advancement of aeronautics generates innovations in almost every field of science and technology and, therefore, provides us with the broadest possible technical base to stimulate progress in areas not even remotely connected to the original research. NASA has established a national network of dissemination centers to serve industry by searching what has become the world's largest data bank of technical information. Technical information that has been provided through this network has resulted in many useful applications and new products. Spinoffs of technology have ranged from medical devices for the handicapped to patching materials for street maintenance and countless applications in between.
There are two general subjects that will be covered in this paper - justification of a computerized mould loft for the small shipyard and implementation. The justification will be brief and figures represented in this portion are not actual figures obtained from Port Weller records, but are superficial numbers used only to give the basic ideas of how the eventual purchase of the Autokon system was justified at Port Weller Dry Docks. The implementation portion will be an actual account of our use of numerical control programming starting from December 1973, when the part and nest programs were first obtained from Shipping Research Services.
The planning environment in American shipyards has undergone a change[of technique and attitude with the upswing in use of computers. Traditional planning mechanisms have given way to PERT networks and sophisticated data collection and reporting computer systems. This transition has not been as successful as was intended as evidenced by the planning and scheduling problems faced by many of these computerized yards. Data processing was moved from the basic accounting arena into operations research and massive production-oriented systems which has diluted the planning effort. This is caused by planners which have not evolved from production, a planning attitude that the computer can solve all problems. and management's inability to recognize the shortcomings of computer software. Technology is available to assist the shipyard with total planning and complete ship's plans and schedules. However planning. in itself, must be adapted to use this computer technology and not be driven by it.
Over 40 people attended the discussion group titled "Information Systems and Data Processing Problems." There were seven shipyards represented as well as several areas within the Navy and a few other organizations. The yards represented ranged from small organizations with only about 30 people in data processing to very large organizations with over 200 people in data processing and a budget greater than $20 million per year for data processing services. Six out of the seven yards represented stated that they had two or more IBM systems in their data processing organizations. Other systems mentioned were a Univac, a Honeywell and some mini-systems for unique applications.
When the decision was made to proceed with the development of the Interactive Graphics version of the SPADES System, a list of requirements and goals was made. One of the major considerations was to have total interchangeability between the graphic and the batch mode of the System such that rework could be processed easily, whether the original work had been done through the 'CRT' or in batch. As much as we would like to think otherwise, experience has taught us that changes and revisions are an ever present way of life during the ship design and construction process. The requirement was also set that none of the SPADES management and control features would be compromised because of the graphic. In order for the graphic version to be a useful production tool, the user would have the capability of totally checking parts and/or burning tapes generated through the CRT without having to wait for a drafting machine drawing and/or computer printout. It was also decided that the user would have the capability of switching from one program to another directly from the tube without re-initializing any program at the central computer. The plans called for four CRTs to be on simultaneously, and for at least one batch SPADES program to be also running at the same time. This requirement caused the only major modification of the then existing SPADES System in order to allow different programs to read and write records from the same data base at the same time. By combining the use of virtual memory capability of the computer and judicious use of overlay, all the applicable programs have been linked together in one executable module.
