One of eight Institutes in the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) The Ship Maintenance, Repair and Operations Institute promotes a sound engineering approach to resolve the common problems in shipbuilding and ship repair.

Newly developed technologies are allowing for the continued design and development of much more complex ships with a host of innovative concepts and requirements. The cost of construction of these next generation ships, budgetary restraints, and other factors has also made it so necessary to maintain, adapt, and extend the life of existing Naval and Commercial vessels to meet operational requirements and maintain our maritime dominance both militarily and commercially.  As we extend and adapt technology to become implemented across the wide variety of vessel platforms in existence the need for academia to assist the Hampton Roads shipbuilding and repair industry to develop new and creative ways to face the next generation of challenges in  Ship Maintenance, Repair and Operations.

                                                                Figure 1

In the overall scheme of maintaining complex systems, there are three classes of maintenance schemes: corrective, preventive and predictive. Corrective maintenance occurs after a system has failed and repair to the system is necessary. Preventative maintenance involves the replacement of parts, adjustments to the system or changes to the system to improve the reliability of the system and prevent failure by staving off the effects of system aging. Predictive maintenance requires the assessment of the system by a system expert and unscheduled maintenance to prevent the possibility of the failure based on unrevealed system problems.

If maintenance is defined as ensuring that a physical asset continues to fulfill its intended function, the functions of the asset and its desired standards of performance define the objectives of maintenance with respect to any asset. Very few systems are designed to operate without maintenance of any kind, and for the most part they must operate in environments where access is very difficult, or where replacement is more economical than maintenance. Increasing complexity in design and high levels of automation has made detection of failure and repair of equipment more difficult. High cost associated with the replacement of many systems, to ensure ship readiness, have placed greater pressure on the maintenance function to rapidly repair equipment and prevent failures.

In addressing the complexities of Ship Maintenance, Repair and Operations the SMRO Institute places particular emphasis on the development and manipulation of maintenance processes including reliability-based risk assessment, total ownership costing (TOC), optimization of maintenance and tasks, scheduling of operations, and disassembly work. Life cycle assessment of materials and processes with high potential for adverse environmental impacts is also a major area of interest for the Institute. Finally smart operations are promoted through the application of Lean-Six-Sigma principles. The combination of the various tools available, combined with the ability and the expertise of the SMRO Institute to collect, combine and synthesize these tools, will enable the Shipbuilding and Repair industry in Hampton Roads continue to provide world class service.