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Using the collaborative structure provided by the ATI-led National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP), shipyards have combined “Lean” process improvements with internet technology to significantly streamline transactions between the yards and their suppliers.
Under this project, shipyards first work as a team to rationalize variations in common business processes, then develop an electronic web-based process that embodies the best practice model.
For example, the vendor payment authorization process that documents receipt of goods and services as a means of authorizing payment has historically been laborious (30-day cycle time) and paper-intensive, with a cost per transaction of $90 for 35,000 transactions per year at one shipyard. The streamlined, electronic process created through the NSRP project eliminated the paper, increased accountability, reduced cycle time to five days, and cut the cost to $33 per transaction.
This translated to over $20 million in annual cost reductions in the Nation’s shipbuilding programs.
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