Reducing Crew Size of Future Naval Ships Using a Method Suite for Analysis, Design, Simulation and Evaluation

Abstract

In the coming decade, the Royal Netherlands Navy is planning to replace a number of maritime platform types. The starting points for these replacements have changed importantly, compared to those of the current and past generations. The focus is on manning reduction with three main reasons. First, the endangerment of defense personnel’s life should be minimized. Second, technical personnel are increasingly harder to find, especially for the maritime sector, which endangers the operational maintainability of future vessels. Third, the life cycle costs should decrease by lowering the personnel cost component. Accordingly, the Navy is defining future platforms and setting goals to reduce the crew size by a revolutionary 30 to 50%. This paper describes the application of an integrated methods suite that supports the development of cost-effective and efficient future platforms with significantly less technical personnel. One of the conclusion is that such integration of methods leads to better defined methodological concepts that are easier to share, which is essential for multidisciplinary research and multi-party innovation.

Keywords: Socio-technical Systems, Cognitive Work Analysis, Crew Design, Manning Reduction, Navy

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100723