On the 29th of last month, in an office of Daerim S&P, a shipbuilding equipment company in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. Shelves filled with thousands of paper blueprints occupied one side of the wall. The company produces around 3,000 pipe supports and steel structures for ships monthly, supplying them to Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard. Since each ship has a unique design, the structures vary in size and shape. The piles of paper in this office are blueprints of the diverse products the company has manufactured over the years.

Until recently, when Hanwha Ocean sent flat blueprints, employees spent 2–3 days translating the dimensions—such as part lengths, thicknesses, connection positions, and angles—into program codes for input into computers. Only then could they use laser-cutting automation equipment for mass production. However, with annual sales of 18 billion Korean won and fewer than 20 employees, the company could not afford to allocate many workers to this “translation” task. Work often piled up while waiting for the process to finish.

But bottlenecks began to decrease last year when Hanwha Ocean expanded its internal innovation program, “TOP,” to partners. Due to concerns over leaks of confidential information, it had long been taboo for shipbuilders to share digital design data with partners. Many partners also lacked digital systems. However, as Hanwha Ocean applied TOP to partners and provided security and other training, an increasing number of partners began improving work efficiency through IT.

◇Cannot Survive Without Partners
Daerim S&P reported that adopting Hanwha Ocean’s TOP program improved productivity by approximately 30%, mainly by shortening the time required to convert paper blueprints into digital formats. A source from the company said, “Errors have decreased compared to manual work, and we’ve gained capacity to hire 1–2 more people by focusing on other critical tasks.” The company is also pursuing additional efficiency measures, such as specializing workspaces by product type.

The shipbuilding industry recognizes that a structure where shipbuilders dictate and partners merely comply is unsustainable. Over the past 2–3 years, shipyards have entered a “super cycle” with rising global orders. However, profits and order volumes remain below their peak during the industry’s heyday. One reason is the significant weakening of partners’ workforce and production capacity after over a decade of recession.

Shipbuilding involves hundreds of partners working simultaneously. A delay or quality issue at one partner can stall the entire process. For example, Hanwha Ocean has over 100 in-house production partners and 20,000 workers. In this structure, partners’ competitiveness directly impacts the shipyard’s competitiveness.

◇Three Shipbuilders Launch Full-Scale Support for Partners
As Korean shipbuilders accelerate global expansion into markets like the U.S. and India, enhancing partners’ capabilities for co-expansion is essential. Beyond Hanwha Ocean, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has run a “Total Solution Support Project” since 2024. Experts in production, facilities, and safety from the shipbuilder visit partners to diagnose equipment efficiency and jointly develop improvement plans.

Samsung Heavy Industries also prioritizes technical support for partners. By dispatching technical personnel and providing customized process support, it aims to boost partners’ productivity and quality. Additionally, it assists partners in building self-reliant technical capabilities through joint research and technology sharing.
Source: Chosun Daily