Contract Management Control and Monitoring System for the Royal Malaysian Navy – Post Survey Validation via Top Management Experts

The improvement of Naval Ship Operational Availability remains a critical aspect to navies worldwide. Despite sophisticated methodologies and complex In-Service Support Contracts in place to achieve high operational availability, even the most advanced navies are still struggling to strike a balance between availability targets, budget and regulatory restrictions. This situation is also applicable to the Royal Malaysian Navy. A Contract Management Control and Monitoring System (ConCaMS) was developed to target both human and machinery/systems related factors affecting naval availability or so-called Downtime Influence Factors. These factors are identified and prioritized based on their severity. The resulting system is validated via top management experts that concluded in unison the benefits of ConCaMS especially in improving availab

Ship availability oriented contract management model for in-service support contracts of naval vessels

The rapid development of the ship building and ship repair industry in recent years has transformed the way organizations perceive the future industry growth. Greater growth of naval technology is clearly noticed as well. Disappointingly, the worldwide phenomenon reflects that availability of naval vessels remained lower than expected. The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) vessels currently maintained under in-service support (ISS) contracts suffer the same fate, despite continuous yearly effort to improve the ships’ availabilities. The complexity of naval ship itself and its ever-changing roles and mission makes the situation more complex. Previous studies remained focused mostly on availability calculations and availability modelling of few factors only. There has not been any holistic study on all human and equipment factors impacting availability. The research aim is to demystify the complex naval ship availability issue by developing a decision-making model in improving ship operational availability of naval vessels under the ISS contract. Besides introducing a simplified view to the complex naval issue, this multiple-staged mixed-method sequential Delphi exploratory research has determined and ranked various downtime influence factors (DIFs) viewed holistically from both human and equipment perspectives, as well as determining the DIFs impact from the contract and project management perspectives. A panel of 30 experts and five top management experts in ISS contract in Malaysia participated in the research. 50 DIFs were identified, and a severity index (SI) was developed for each of the determined 15 severe DIFs. The developed SI highlights that almost 45% of the downtime causes are due to the top five severe DIFs with corrective maintenance (SI 0.142) ranked first, spares availability (SI 0.082) ranked second, cash flow shortages (SI 0.078), ranked third maintenance budget allocation ranked fourth (SI 0.075) and knowledge management including training and skills (SI 0.070) ranked fifth. In this study, an availability-oriented model has been developed to assist policymakers in decision making and for maintainers and logisticians in appreciating their individual contribution to improve availability. Contract managers are provided with a tool to better manage the contract at ‘close to real time’ with identified prioritization on severe issues added with recovery recommendation to improve the ongoing availability situation. The simple approach and model are more appealing to practitioners unlike previously where complex mathematical results and algorithms were made available. An interesting finding is that availability could be improved even with budget constraints

Dual layer microstrip reflectarray composed of two stacked arrays with minkowski and square shape radiating element

A dual layer microstrip reflectarray composed of two stacked arrays with Minkowski and square patches of variable dimension is presented. The reflection phase coefficients on the reflector surface is achieved by tuning the dimensions of the patches. This technique is to broaden the bandwidth and to extend the reflection phase range compare to a conventional single layer reflectarray. From the simulation results of a unit cell composed of two stacked arrays of Minkowski and square patch showed that, 415° reflection phase range is achieved and lower insertion loss which is lower than 0.9 dB. Base on the simulated reflection phase coefficient, a dual layer microstrip reflectarray antenna with Minkowski and square radiating shape elements have been design and model using commercially available computer models of CST Microwave Studio. The reflectarray has been constructed using Taconic RF-35 substrate. From the radiation pattern at 11 GHz frequency, it shows that the HPBW of 4.7º in both plane, a side lobe level (SLL) of –17 dB and a maximum directivity of 26.1 dBi

DEMYSTIFYING SHIP OPERATIONAL AVAILABILITY – AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF NAVAL VESSELS

Asset availability improvement has been the focus of many studies by various industries for a few decades now, and the defence industry is no exception. To date, there exists no simple and inexpensive high availability solution for the complex naval ships consisting of many interdependent systems and subsystems working in parallel. Any given approach must strike a balance between true needs and economics, an ever-increasing decision-making burden to stakeholders. Nevertheless, there are many ways to approach the problem. In the past, availability has been viewed as complex mathematical calculations and estimates involving defective equipment. The applied approach has not been fully understood nor appealing to most practitioners as well as the majority of stakeholders who continuously complain about the gap between theory and practice. This paper aims to demystify the complex naval ship availability issue, simplified for easy understanding of operators, maintainers and logisticians as well as other stakeholders involved in the maintenance of naval vessels. The stepby-step approach begins with the identification of severe factors involving both human and machinery affecting downtime of naval vessels culminating into the generation of an availability-oriented model, summarized to a simple four-step approach to availability improvement. Practitioners are now able to appreciate their individual contribution towards improving ship availability

Contract Management Control and Monitoring System for the Royal Malaysian Navy – Post Survey Validation via Top Management Experts

The improvement of Naval Ship Operational Availability remains a critical aspect to navies worldwide. Despite sophisticated methodologies and complex In-Service Support Contracts in place to achieve high operational availability, even the most advanced navies are still struggling to strike a balance between availability targets, budget and regulatory restrictions. This situation is also applicable to the Royal Malaysian Navy. A Contract Management Control and Monitoring System (ConCaMS) was developed to target both human and machinery/systems related factors affecting naval availability or so-called Downtime Influence Factors. These factors are identified and prioritized based on their severity. The resulting system is validated via top management experts that concluded in unison the benefits of ConCaMS especially in improving availab

Availability-oriented contract management approach: A simplified view to a complex naval issue

Navies around the world aspire to improve their fleet operational availability. Many navies struggle to achieve their targeted high operational availability even though they are certain that they have continuously implemented improved maintenance concepts and philosophies, allocated the necessary budget and implemented advanced human capital development plans. Nevertheless, the efforts may be futile when they could not be allocated precisely in tackling the issues concerning "human and equipment" related Downtime Influence Factors (DIFs) impacting ship operational availability. The extended exploratory research encapsulated all the efforts in discovering a simplified methodology in tackling this complex naval issue. The 13 objectives achieved in this paper covers the initial work in identifying the DIFs until the development of a Contract Management Control and Monitoring System (ConCaMS) that is able to assist policymakers and all stakeholders including Contract Managers in managing the ship maintenance contract efficiently and effectively. The ConCaMS is able to guide so that actions could be taken earlier enough for recovery to be possible, as opposed to traditional methods. Additionally, the ConCaMS could also be used by policymakers and Top Management of the private sectors as well as the governments as a proven method in comparing contract performance between various contracts, by using availability as the performance benchmark

Demystifying ship operational availability: an innovative approach for management of in-service support contracts

Asset availability optimisation concepts have been studied in a multitude of industries for a few decades now. The defence industry is no exception, whilst traditionally navies worldwide were concerned in achieving targeted ship availability, nowadays budget and regulatory restrictions increase the burden for all stakeholders. Most concepts developed are applied to systems that do not have many interlinked and parallel operating sub-systems. Nevertheless, navy ships are complex assets and it appears no generic framework has yet been developed that is universally applicable. A key drawback is that historically, proposed efforts remained placed on complex mathematical calculations and estimates, which required not only sophisticated programmes but also limited the understanding to a few highly skilled professionals able to implement them. This has never been appealing to most practitioners as well as the majority of stakeholders who continuously complain about the gap between theory and practice. This paper proposes an innovative 4-step approach by demystifying ship operational availability involving both human and machinery/systems related factors. These factors called downtime influence factors (DIFs) are presented in a simplified 'bitesize' form for better understanding of the practitioners to enable them to appreciate their individual contribution towards improving the common goal achieving higher Ship Operational Availability

Measuring severity of downtime influence factors to naval ship operational availability: a Delphi study

Rapid development in shipbuilding and ship repair calls for “cradle to grave” approach in ship maintenance to maximize growth. Organisations typically struggle to balance ideal maintenance philosophies against ongoing cost reductions whilst maintaining high availability of vessels. Due to limited research on Downtime Influence Factors (DIFs) on ships, improvement efforts could not be allocated precisely in tackling issues involving combined “human and equipment” aspects impacting ship availability. The purpose of this study is to generate RMN ship maintenance DIFs and their severity measures via a Delphi approach. The research pinpointed to 15 Severe DIFs as the key problem areas for prioritization of efforts in improving RMN ship availability

Cardiac myosin activation with omecamtiv mecarbil in systolic heart failure

BACKGROUND The selective cardiac myosin activator omecamtiv mecarbil has been shown to improve cardiac function in patients with heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction. Its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. METHODS We randomly assigned 8256 patients (inpatients and outpatients) with symptomatic chronic heart failure and an ejection fraction of 35% or less to receive omecamtiv mecarbil (using pharmacokinetic-guided doses of 25 mg, 37.5 mg, or 50 mg twice daily) or placebo, in addition to standard heart-failure therapy. The primary outcome was a composite of a first heart-failure event (hospitalization or urgent visit for heart failure) or death from cardiovascular causes. RESULTS During a median of 21.8 months, a primary-outcome event occurred in 1523 of 4120 patients (37.0%) in the omecamtiv mecarbil group and in 1607 of 4112 patients (39.1%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86 to 0.99; P = 0.03). A total of 808 patients (19.6%) and 798 patients (19.4%), respectively, died from cardiovascular causes (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.11). There was no significant difference between groups in the change from baseline on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire total symptom score. At week 24, the change from baseline for the median N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide level was 10% lower in the omecamtiv mecarbil group than in the placebo group; the median cardiac troponin I level was 4 ng per liter higher. The frequency of cardiac ischemic and ventricular arrhythmia events was similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with heart failure and a reduced ejection, those who received omecamtiv mecarbil had a lower incidence of a composite of a heart-failure event or death from cardiovascular causes than those who received placebo. (Funded by Amgen and others; GALACTIC-HF ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02929329; EudraCT number, 2016 -002299-28.)