Technologies for process traceability in the shipbuilding industry : the West Sea Viana Shipyard case study

• Autor(a) principal: Araújo, Pedro Xavier Mendes
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11960/3376
• topic: Traceability; Blockchain; Shipbuilding industry; Rastreabilidade; Industria naval

Traceability of materials and elements in any type of industry is essential and of great value although it is currently gaining even more importance due to the factories of Industry 5.0. This is important in the context of the manufacture of any product This allows the user to know the origin of a particular element, whether it is a raw material or a component made of other previously manufactured elements. This chain of traceable information can be persisted by several technologies, one of which is the blockchain. This concept of traceability is applied in any type of industry in some way, but sometimes there are more appropriate methods that can even add value to the final product Therefore, this process enables the tracking of products components throughout the chain of production, from raw materials to the final product, passing through each intermediate component and process stage, on every industrial player in the chain. The information generated through the manufacturing process, including certificates and inspection results, is registered and thus trackable. In the shipbuilding industry, the process of building a ship is complex, has several stages, and it is important to guarantee high-quality levels during the manufacturing process. For this, the methods and technologies adopted for process traceability must be selected, having in mind the specific requirements and constraints of the shipbuilding industry in the most efficient way. In addition, process traceability may add value to the ship, as all the traceable information may be easily transferred to the end customer. This way, the customer can have the information of any material, component, part, and block of the ship easily and reliably, as well as all the certificates and documents necessary for any process. This thesis proposes a blockchain-centered system architecture that fosters the traceability of the production processes applied to the shipbuilding industry, based on the West Sea Viana Shipyard. The system will be implemented as a case study in the manufacturing process of a shipbuilding block, and therefore readily extendable to the overall ship manufacturing process, thus contributing with a blockchain containing or referring to all relevant documents (certificates, warranties, etc.) and other pertinent manufacturing data that can be delivered to the customer together with the ship, and thus increasing trustability.