For us on the Hunter Class Frigate Program, prototyping is how we test our tools, processes, facilities, and personnel to ensure they are all ready to begin work on this multi-decade long program.
A program of this magnitude and importance requires more than just signing a contract and then welding some steel – it necessitates a period where we can test each and every stage of the build process, each piece of equipment, and of course our people, too.
Being a brand-new facility, Osborne Naval Shipyard required a ‘breaking in’ period, where we could iron out any stress-points along the production line, as well as build capability throughout the pre-production enabling functions.
This period serves one of our most important goals, which is to lower the metric for ‘hours per tonne’ to a level that adheres to the modelling for the first batch of three Hunter class frigates. ‘Hours per tonne’ is a widely-used metric for shipbuilding projects around the world, and is calculated by taking the sum of the actual hours worked and then dividing it by the constructed weight of steel in tonnes – essentially measuring the output of product against the time it takes to produce it.
After first establishing a baseline, we have – through a lot of data analysis and some creative thinking – worked to lower this metric through upgrading pieces of equipment throughout the shipyard and streamlining our build methods.
If you take, for example, the robotic welders which have so far welded approximately 9,900 metres of steel product – equivalent to the length of more than 65 Hunter class frigates, or the length of almost 60 Adelaide Ovals – you can imagine the effect that upgrades can have on the volume of product we can produce.
Other crucial pieces of equipment, like the stiffener mounting welding portal, which can install and weld up to 30 steel profiles each day, has had its software upgraded to be even more efficient – and so too has the profile cutter.
Our workforce, too, are ‘upgrading’ – or rather up-skilling – through things like the Diploma of Digital Technologies, which is Australia’s first ever digital shipbuilding course, developed in partnership with Flinders University to incorporate industry 4.0, cybersecurity, robotics, and automation into the curriculum.
While we have now commenced production on the first of four Schedule Protection Blocks, which will be used in the first Hunter class frigate, the prototyping program will continue to run in parallel – giving us more opportunities to train our people on non-ship product, and refine our practices.