From Planning Board to Welding Hall: A Case-Study in O.R./Client Involvement

Danish shipyard building supertankers was faced with a production-planning problem in one of its welding-halls, where the bow and stern sections were fabricated. The mandatory constraint of completing each section by a specified day in the production cycle was complicated by a number of other practical constraints. A trial exercise demonstrated that human skills were unbeatable in solving aspects of planning concerned with fitting shapes into spaces-and that the major planning problems were keeping track of planning-progress and computing the labour load. An interactive planning computer-system was devised which gave full rein to the complementary skills of planner and computer. This system had the merit, from management's point of view, that the fullest use could be made of existing planning expertise. The system was designed and implemented in stages over about four months: training sessions at each stage provided valuable input for the design of the next stage.