World-class shipbuilders: Their productivity using lean-manufacturing principles. Discussion. Author's closure

In this paper observations on what makes a shipbuilder world-class, their productivity and how lean manufacturing principles are being applied in shipyards are presented. Based on the description of world-class used herein, it is concluded that there are no perfect world-class shipbuilders. A detailed look at world-class shipbuilding productivity showed a wide range of productivity and that the gap between the best and the U.S. was a factor from 5 to 7. This would not be easy to do, but there are approaches that can help. It was suggested that lean manufacturing, could help.