Introduction

Reliability, safety and cost effectiveness are absolutely vital for survival in the shipping industry.  Since 1993, progressive ship owners/operators in the US have been forming a world wide information network supporting the optimization of these three key commercial factors throughout all stages of a vessel's life cycle. This network, called RAM/SHIPNET, is being developed in cooperation with a number of government organizations and regulatory agencies under the umbrella of the Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP). Consisting of distributed and shared Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) databases, RAM/SHIPNET is designed to collect, process, disseminate and store marine equipment failure information by linking islands of information. Additionally, the inclusion of vessel structural RAM data has been approved for funding by the Gulf Coast Region Maritime Technology Center (GCRMTC).

Background

An industry-wide international network is needed to collect RAM data and to share this data at different levels by linking Chief Engineers, ship operators-managers, regulatory agencies, equipment manufacturers, and shipyards/designers. This network will allow the flow of RAM information between these entities with industry-wide continuous improvement in reliability and cost-effectiveness for the entire life cycle of the ships.  These issues  were among those that prompted the formation of the SOCP in 1993. The SOCP is an industry-government cooperative program which includes various maritime related operational and technical organizations. One of their first projects was to form a RAM database for ships. This database is designed to monitor equipment performance indicators such as failure modes, repair and replacement rates, repair time, and down time. The system is being formed with all segments of the maritime industry in mind.

RAM/SHIPNET is designed to perform the following functions:

Rapid access to critical ship reliability, safety and cost effectiveness information.

Basic level critical data processing capability to establish and analyze RAM trends at the equipment and system levels to improve corrective maintenance actions and preventive maintenance schedules.

Capability for bench marking RAM information to enable meaningful comparisons of the reliability and maintainability of similar equipment to determine the cost-benefit of equipment renewal or replacement with a model of greater reliability.

Provide input to implement Reliability Centered Maintenance to improve the efficient use of maintenance resources onboard.

Provide input for the optimization of the inventory of spare parts carried onboard and the optimization of resources spent on training vessel personnel in equipment maintenance and repair, by ranking in terms of criticality and degree of importance, the causes of equipment failures that can be repaired onboard.

Provide input for regulatory reform. Classification societies and the United States Coast Guard need data to migrate into risk based / reliability centered classification / regulation.

Interface with existing maintenance management systems by linking islands of information.

Record keeping capability for compliance with regulations and standards.

Support a broad based user community. The reliability feedback loop will be closed by the marine equipment manufacturers improving their designs and the shipyards reducing the life cycle cost of the vessels they construct by using equipment of greater and greater reliability.

Applications
The different databases of RAM/SHIPNET are as follows:

LEVEL 1 - DATE & SHIPPER: RAM Database for a single ship

A shipboard equipment Data Entry Program called DATE (DATa Entry Program) for use by vessel Chief Engineers to efficiently collect equipment failure information and compile it in a standard format. DATE can also be used by a Chief Engineer to view equipment nameplate, machinery history and failure data for his vessel.

A shipboard Equipment Performance Program called SHIPPER (SHIP PERformance Review) for use by vessel Chief Engineers to track and evaluate the reliability of equipment on their vessel based on the failure data compiled by DATE.

LEVEL 2 - SPIN: RAM Database for a shipping company for all of its fleet(s)

A Fleet Performance Indicator Program called SPIN (Ships' Performance INdicator) for use by shoreside superintendents to track and evaluate equipment reliability for one class of ship or for an entire fleet. This program allows a flexible comparison of reliability data in a multi-level environment, i.e. single equipment, equipment class, single ship, ship group, fleet -- with each comparative group defined by the software user.

LEVEL 3 - SHIPS' RAM: RAM Database for the rest of the maritime industry

A SHIPS' RAM program is currently being developed to merge the data from the fleets of all project participants and to process and disseminate this data upon request. Steps will be taken during the data merging process to maintain the confidentiality of the data source.  SHIPS' RAM is the master database program located at the GCRMTC. SPIN runs with personal Oracle on a PC whereas SHIPS' RAM runs in conjunction with Oracle 7 in a workstation environment with more data manipulation functions.

Development Partners / Principal Industry Collaborators
ARCO Marine, Inc., Energy Transportation Group, Inc. (ETG), Maritime Administration (MARAD), Sea-Land Service Inc., the United States Coast Guard, American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd's Register of Shipping, Det Norske Veritas, Ship Operations Cooperative Program (SOCP)

Project Status Summary
The RAM/SHIPNET project is now moving forward into its implementation phase. We already have some demonstrated successes where RAM/SHIPNET was used to improve the total life cycle cost efficiency of ships. New decision support tools have been developed to help ship owners/operators to make sound vessel management decisions consistent with safety and the required reliability. These tools have been developed by the SOCP team by pooling expertise, where it is appropriate, and sharing Research and Development (R&D) costs in a cooperative effort to efficiently capitalize on the US's advantage in information management and decision analysis techniques to gain a competitive advantage.

The development of RAM/SHIPNET required a modular approach due to both its complexity and funding
limitations. This sequential modular approach included:

Module I:

Development of RAM/SHIPNET for Marine Machinery for Ship Owners/Operators

Module II:

Expansion Feasibility Study to Include Shipyards, Ship Designers and Equipment Manufacturers using the Systems Enterprise Methodology (SEM) for Marine Machinery. This study was conducted by Boeing. Active participants of this project included Newport News Shipbuilding, Avondale Shipyards, NASSCO, Bollinger, Rosenblatt & Sons, ABS, Lloyd's Register and USCG. This project ended on June 1, 1997 and was sponsored by GCRMTC with in kind contributions from project participants.

Module III:

Requirements Definition for RAM/SHIPNET Upgrade for Ship Structures.The following key tasks have been identified for the first phase of Module I Implementation:  Roll-out, Training, Quality Assurance, Internationalization, Standardization, Software Development and Technology Transfer. This phase will end on March 31, 1998.

"Do we have to replace our maintenance management program with DATE ?"

No, you will not have to replace your current maintenance management program with DATE. Our objective from the beginning was to perform the collection of the necessary data in the most efficient manner possible. To accomplish this, we are building bridges to connect to whatever program you currently use.  You will be able to download this information from your current software into the new DATE program. For additional information that is not captured by your company's program you will have the option of going into the DATE program and entering the necessary data, thereby avoiding any duplication. The concept here is to link islands of information within a company first, and then within the RAM/SHIPNET user community.

The cost of developing company-specific interfaces is determined on a case by case basis by the RAM/SHIPNET administration.  If a company does not capture any of the data fields of DATE, then the program (DATE) can be used as a stand alone Machinery History program as well.

In short, RAM/SHIPNET cannot function without the continuous flow of high quality, accurate data. The tools have been developed to capture the data effectively and in a user-friendly manner and are available to ship operators.  If a ship operator already has a program in place capturing a significant portion of similar RAM data, it is not required to switch over wholesale to any of the RAM/SHIPNET programs.  We will work with the operator to build the interfaces needed to transfer the necessary data from the existing program to the RAM/SHIPNET software.

Future Plans

The basic research portion of RAM/SHIPNET has been completed and the system has become ready for implementation. Founders of RAM/SHIPNET decided to form an independent, international, non-profit organization to operate the system in the interest of encouraging the widest possible user base.

Major shipping companies in the U. S. are expected to contribute data; we hope many international shipping companies will also.  In all cases, the confidentiality of sensitive data will be protected.  In return for their valuable data, they will get various kinds of outputs directly benefiting them in the cost efficient operation and maintenance of their vessels.

The safe, efficient operation of ships is everyone's concern and the primary objective of the majority of vessel operators world wide.  The organization of RAM/SHIPNET is being modeled after the nuclear network.  Access to the master database will not be for an exclusive club.  We should not place the enhancement of vessel safety on the world's oceans in a for-profit commercial environment. Customized data reports will be available to any organization for a nominal fee.  These fees will be utilized to operate and update the RAM/SHIPNET infrastructure, thus sustaining and enhancing the RAM database for everyone's benefit.  A not-for-profit
commercial organization is the best structure to accomplish this goal.

Organizations providing, accessing and utilizing the data will comprise the customer base. These customers include owners/operators, shipyards, ship designers, equipment manufacturers, classification societies, regulatory agencies, insurance companies, as well as the US Navy.

The RAM/SHIPNET reliability and maintainability data may significantly reduce the life-cycle cost of Naval ships in the future.  In the Navy's new acquisition reform approach, Naval ships will use more commercial-off-the-self (COTS) parts and components. It will be invaluable to the naval ship designer to have accesses to reliability data to perform concurrent engineering design trade-offs. The data available from the RAM/SHIPNET will provide the capability to optimize Naval ships design for reduced costs and increased availability.

We are treating shipyards and marine equipment manufacturers as important customers of the database. Any organization that wants to be on the board directly overseeing the development of the corporation is expected to make some significant financial contribution to meet RAM/SHIPNET's implementation budget requirements. The board will expand internationally as the membership in the non-profit corporation does.

A natural transition is occurring from research to commercialization. This transition from an R&D project of  SOCP and GCRMTC to an efficient, non-profit RAM/SHIPNET corporation is certain to be challenging.
 
Once the company is officially formed, the RAM/SHIPNET non-profit organization will become separate from the SOCP and SOCP membership will not be required for participation in RAM/SHIPNET.
 

For more information contact:

Dr. Bahadir Inozu
Phone: (504) 280-7182
Fax: (504) 280-5627
E-Mail: bxina@uno.edu

RAM/SHIPNET
http://www.uno.edu/~engr/ram/shipnet.htm

GCRMTC TECHNICAL BRIEFS are published periodically by the Gulf Coast Region Maritime Technology Center, a U.S. Navy Center of Excellence in Advanced Marine Technology based at the University of New Orleans.  GCRMTC's Mission is to "enhance international competitiveness in the U.S. shipbuilding industry through sponsored research."   For additional information, contact:  GCRMTC, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148, Tel: (504) 280-3871, Fax: (504) 280-3898, E-mail: jtsen@uno.edu

The contents of this publication reflect the views of the MERIC staff and are based on information obtained from the literature.  The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or the policies of MERIC or the Gulf Coast Maritime Technology Center.  This publication does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.  MERIC does not endorse products, equipment or manufacturers.  Trademarks or manufacturer's names appear herein only because they are considered essential to the object of this publication.