2017-09-26

Plenty to gain from a detailed makers´ list

A detailed maker’s list enables ship owners to steer the ship building process in the desired direction and helps them prevent short-term fixes. LK acts as a natural link between European ship owners and Chinese shipyards. The company’s expertise and digital tools help the customer create a detailed maker’s list, as early as in the design phase.

LK is seeing a clear trend toward European ship owners specifying all valves in the maker’s list, particularly when the ship is being built in a Chinese shipyard.

“Many have learned the hard way that, unless you specify otherwise, the ‘cheapest possible solution’ will be chosen. A solution that often fails and where spare parts can’t be sourced. This can result in expensive, difficult and sometimes even dangerous situations aboard sailing ships,” says Johan Kindblom, Sales Director at LK.

With a head office in Sweden and own valve manufacturing in China, LK acts as a natural link between European ship owners and Chinese shipyards. While other European manufacturers of quality valves struggle to deliver to China without the associated costs becoming prohibitively high, LK’s offer is a strong one.

“We possess solid local knowledge of the Chinese marine industry and make regular visits to the shipyards. By involving us at an early stage of the design process, the ship owner can use our knowledge and experience to find the best solution for the project in question. We then deliver directly from our factory at competitive prices, and the ship owner is reassured that the shipyard will in fact install the equipment specified,” explains Kindblom.

LK has smart digital tools that help the customer create an extensive maker’s list, as early as the design phase. One example is the Designers’ manual. This manual contains drawings of common ship systems, complete with clickable valve symbols that offer the designer product recommendations based on system requirements and application. There is also a 3D catalogue for Aveva PDMS available to download free of charge. It contains 3D models of the product range, including obstruction volumes for space management. It is easy to transfer any 3D model, product information and item number to the ship drawing. The information can also be exported to the BOM (Bill Of Materials) list, which helps ensure that the ship owner get what they want for their ship. This way of working also simplifies future service and maintenance.

“The earlier we join the process of designing a new ship, the more we can add to the project. Ship owners that specify use of LK’s valves in their maker’s lists are not only offered an extended warranty,” says Johan Kindblom, continuing:

“In order to facilitate the shipyard’s construction work, we label the valves with their position number onboard the ship, among other things. We save this information in the project, which also benefits the ship owner. Five years later, the useful life of the valve may have expired. Imagine that, as Chief onboard, you don’t have to spend time and energy on first identifying what kind of valve is installed, and then even more time on finding a supplier that can help you solve the problem. Instead, you simply call one single, familiar supplier and tell them that you are having problems with valve ‘AB123 in the ship’s sea water cooling system’ and be told immediately that a replacement is on its way.”