Ulstein Group consists of several companies within ship design, shipbuilding, automation and system development. They have recently begun investing heavily in System Engineering and with the help of USN, they are rapidly developing their expertise.
A good recipe
Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary field that handles all phases of design and operation of complex systems that spans across the system’s entire life cycle. Systems Engineering is a field with good and robust solutions and knowledge around new products and systems.
"In short it’s about doing the rights things at the right time, which in turn will give your business a competitive advantage in a global setting. That in itself is a good recipe for businesses in hard times”, says Silja Merete Sverreson, project manager at the Norwegian Institute of System Engineering (NISE) at USN. Sverreson believes Ulstein Group stands out as a great example of how businesses can think during recession to prepare for future growth:
“They have taken a conscious decision to make a significant commitment to education for its engineers, rather than layoffs and cutbacks”, says Sverreson.
World class teaching
USN offers world-class teaching in Systems Engineering, and is now sending our renowned professionals to Ulsteinsvik where they will be providing a number of courses for Ulstein Group’s engineers at the Ulstein Design & Solutions and Ulstein Power & Control.
The programme consists of the compulsory courses in our Masters degree in SE, with Professor Alberto Sols and Associate Jonas Andersson responsible for teaching.
“It was a highly rewarding experience teaching Systems Engineering for Ulstein Group. Participants were highly motivated and - despite the fact that they had many years of successful practice in the industry - the feedback was very positive”, says Sol.
Several participants described the class as "an eye-opener." Many reported that they were more aware of the importance, relevance and implications of meeting problems with a systematic approach. In addition, participants of the course made them better equipped to deal with a number of specific issues (like making CONOPS, formulating stakeholder and system requirements, perform functional analysis, conduct formal design reviews, conduct verification- and validation exercises, and more).
Investing in the future
"We are experiencing a dramatic downturn, but also see the importance of investing in the future. Therefore, we have picked out the most important areas of knowledge and are focusing on these", says HR director Torild Bugge Ulstein Group.
For several years, Ulstein Group offered a training program with an external training provider in project management. The experience have been good, and now they are making good progress with the next focus area: Systems Engineering.
The training program at Ulstein Group is state funded, through so-called BIO-funds.
A framework
Why is Ulstein Group investing in System Engineering?
"I think our industry, especially in the part we operate within, have much to gain from being more structured in our approach to problem solving related to product development, design and engineering processes. We want a framework that ensures that we take the right decisions at the right time, and that's why we choose Systems Engineering as our approach”, says Bernt-Aage Ulstein, responsible for design and engineering in Ulstein Group.
He often experiences the biggest road blocks occur related to the requirement specifications from the customers and stakeholders:
"Often the requirements are contradictory or simply poorly worded. Then it is up us to respond in a professional manner: respond in a structured and concise manner and be ready to find good compromises. We trust that the training in Systems Engineering will support us in this process”, says Ulstein.
