Title: A conceptual model of agile manufacturing in the shipbuilding industry for improving shipyard performance

Authors: Sutrisno Sutrisno; Mokh Suef; Buana Ma'ruf

Addresses: Interdisciplinary School of Management and Technology, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya, 60264, Indonesia ' Interdisciplinary School of Management and Technology, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Surabaya, 60264, Indonesia ' Research Center for Hydrodynamic Technology, The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Surabaya, 60111, Indonesia

Abstract: The global shipbuilding market is very volatile and tends to have unfavourable impacts on shipyard performance. The shipyards must implement strategies to improve their performance. Agile manufacturing (AM) is one of the solutions to dynamic demand and high-level customisation products. It has been widely implemented in the manufacturing industry. However, the implementation of AM in the shipbuilding industry is limited. Therefore, the conceptual AM model in the shipbuilding industry is developed with adjustments to essential variables relevant to the shipyard characteristics to enhance the shipyard's ability to respond to unpredictable markets and fluctuating demand. This paper concludes that the conceptual AM model in the shipbuilding industry consists of three blocks, namely: 1) fluctuating demand as a driver; 2) agile manufacturing as a manufacturing strategy (MSA) consisting of seven key variables: technologies, empowerment, customer focus, supplier relationship, manufacturing system, organisational culture, and core competence; and (3) shipyard performance as output.

Keywords: agile manufacturing; shipbuilding industry; company performance; fluctuating demand; MSA; manufacturing strategy; market competition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2024.138863

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2024 Vol.17 No.2, pp.246 - 268

Received: 05 Aug 2023
Accepted: 31 Jan 2024
Published online: 31 May 2024 *