Admiral Superintendent of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, Rear Admiral I.B. Uthaiah, has stated that the yard is being transformed into a smart dockyard through the use of automation, IoT, and completing repairs and refits in the shortest time possible, as well as the development of ERP solutions in-house for quick turnaround.
Rear Admiral Uthaiah told reporters on Monday that robotic crawlers would be used in some tasks, such as peeling off old paint, as part of the yard’s golden jubilee festivities. The current staffing level of 5,000+ people was around 40% below the required level. He explained that some of the work was being offloaded to local MSMEs.
The yard registered a total of 145 local MSMEs. In response to questions, he stated that during normal times, the yard performed 16 to 17 refits per year, and that this level of service was maintained even during the epidemic by taking all required safeguards.
After being transformed into its current ‘avatar’ 50 years ago, the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam has come a long way. Beginning as a modest boat repair business in the 1940s to maintain Royal Indian Naval Ships, the dockyard now provides technical support and services to the Eastern Naval Command’s ships and submarines (ENC).
The Admiral Superintendent of Dockyard is in charge of the Naval Dockyard, and he is assisted by four Commodore General Managers who oversee Quality Assurance, Human Resources, Technical Services, and Refit and Repair Services. The Yard also features a full-fledged dispensary to meet the medical needs of the Yard’s nearly 5,000 defence civilian employees.
For a more effective work flow, the Yard is separated into four zones: operational, refit, dry dock, administration, and training. For the Eastern Naval Command’s naval assets, the Yard has a berthing space of almost 5 kilometres (ENC). All important utilities, such as fire main lines for firefighting, steam, compressed air, and various jetty cranes, are integrated into these jetties and dock areas, allowing all critical repair and maintenance activities to be carried out.
Other mobile services, such as Load Banks, Mobile Stabilized Power Supply, chilled water and air plants, mobile cranes, compressors, BCRs, and DGs, are available on any jetty, depending on specific needs. All activities are directed from the Dockyard Operations Centre, which uses in-house built Enterprise Resource Applications to automate all Yard processes. The Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam has gone ‘paperless,’ with more than 80% of its activities moving to an online mode.
Rear Adm Sanjay Bhalla took over the Command of the Eastern Fleet, the Sword Arm of the #EasternNavalCommand, from Rear Adm Tarun Sobti, VSM today at an impressive ceremony held at Naval Dockyard, #Visakhapatnam
— Defence PRO Visakhapatnam (@PRO_Vizag) December 20, 2021
Press Release https://t.co/bgBU9au6iK@SpokespersonMoD @indiannavy pic.twitter.com/XlUtsev1Aa
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