IT consultants to promote the digital transformation of the shipping business
Planning & Coordination
A large variety of challenges exist in the shipping business such as ensuring that the safety of ships in operation is improved and ensuring the work is optimized. Digital transformation is critical to solve these challenges.
“K”Line Business Systems provides consultation from multiple perspectives for an extensive business area as the only IT company in the “K”Line Group. We propose the best IT solutions for the challenges faced by our users to optimize the work and improve productivity.
Major services
The planning & coordination work that we do can be largely divided into the two areas of promoting new projects and improving existing projects. Our strength lies in the fact that we can make efficient progress in both these areas at the same time.
Promoting new projects
As examples of new projects, we have developed a system to optimize the exchange of huge amounts of drawing data used during shipbuilding as well as a system to replace an existing outdated system.
A common factor in each project is to first listen to problems and requests from the user to clarify the desired functions and performance as a requirements definition, and then decide a specific direction in which to proceed. This process is a key factor in determining the success of a project. The next step is entrusting the Development Department with the task of design and programming, and then during the final stage of testing, the Plan Adjustment Department returns to participate in the project. We then verify whether the defined requirements have been met, and coordinate together with the user to ensure the project is introduced and launched smoothly, and then remain for the completion of the project.
Example of new system development
In 2022, we developed the “Platform of Ship Technical Information System (POST),” which is a system for the exchange of drawings with shipyards when the Ship Technical Group in Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha builds new ships. This created a system to manage progress and write comments for corrections in a large volume of drawings, which in the past amounted to over 100 sheets of Excel data. Digitizing information simplified the work and optimized progress management. We plan to further improve this system in the future and make the task of checking drawings simpler.
Improving existing systems
The system actually starts after entering the operating phase. When it is necessary to make improvements to our products, the user and our development staff cooperate to investigate a solution, and then we present plans to improve the system. If the scale of the improvement will significantly affect many users, we investigate how to introduce the improvement without stopping the users’ daily flow of work, and also take on the role of coordinator between the system owner and users.
