The case of the Vasa capsizing is very interesting in the turn of events that happened to cause 125 people to lose their lives. The events could have been prevented and the ship would have never capsized. The following information system will help to understand what went wrong and how the system can improve the outcome by eliminating factors that caused the problem to begin with. Information System The information system at the time was one that was lacking connections between the shipyard and the king. The people involved in the system where lacking communication between one another.
Admiral Flemmings was the middle man and was in charge of communication between the ship yard owner Antonius Monier, master builder Hybertson and Arendt de Groot and the King Gustavus |(The Vasa 2016). When Hybertson de Groot died the ship building was handed over to Hein Jacobson and Arendt de Groot (The Vasa 2016). There was no communication between Hybertson and Jacobson of the design of the ship. The ship yard was least to the navy by Antonius Monier who hired Hybertson and Jacobson (The Vasa 2016). The system had several problems that need to change to create a better way of completing the task.
The design of the hips was never drawn out or the specs given to Jacobson. The only information that never changed was the keel length and width of the bottom of the ship. King Gustavus II was constantly changing orders for the ships, how many he wanted and what sizes he wanted first(Why the Vasa). The king wanted the ships built as fast as possible, creates a problem of what ship is to be finished first, when the King kept changing the size of the ship he wanted done first. The King would communicate with the Admiral and then the Admiral was to communicate to the ship makers but never did.
With the King being away at war, the de Groots back in Sweden, and the Admiral receiving orders from the king caused a lot of the information the ship builders needed to either be lost or never given to them. The communication between the King, Admiral and the ship builders was very minimal. The adornments kept changing and becoming bigger and heavier which causes the top of the ship to be heavier than the base. With no way to accurately determine that the ship is stable, and able to remain a float was a major problem. The fact that the stability test that was run was never made public is a huge error on the part of the Admiral.
The ystem that is in place does not work because there are no proper channels for communication, plans for the ships, deadlines for each ship that needed to be completed, and to make sure the ships are built to survive the water. The Problem Some of the major problems with the information system are communication, ship design, deadlines, ship stability and adornments. In 1620, King Gustavus Il order the ship builders to build two large ships and two small ships because the Swedish fleet had a great lost in 1625 (The Vasa 2016). One of the two large ships is the Vasa. The contract between Monier and
Hybertson, in 1621, was to have three of the four ships built in the next five years (The Vasa 2016). This pace is faster than usual for building a single ship let alone three ships. The rate that a ship was to be done was 1622 the Maria, 1624 the Gustavus, and the Mercurius in 1625 to completed (The Vasa 2016). In 1622, Monier accepted another contract for another ship to be built the same size as the small ships the king commissioned (The Vasa 2016). In 1624, with orders from the king, Admiral Flemmings issues plans for four more ships to be built in 1626 thru 1629(The Vasa 2016). 625 the de Groots sign ontracts to build the newly commissioned ships (The Vasa 2016).
This new contract would not start until the first four ships have been built. Monier adds more ships to be built through the years which cause the ship yard to become over extended and short cuts are taken. With the speed that Monier has set there is no room for error in the building of the ships. With so many ships being built all at once there is concern that the ships have a possibility of the ships not being sturdy. The only information on record for every ship in the ship yard was just the length of the keel and the width of the bottom of the ships.
The rest is never written done or detailed to anyone other than the master builder. With so many ships being built at one time it is to be expected that there is some things over looked. Once the specifications of the ship have been determine Hybertson moves to the adornments of the Vasa. The Vasa has over 500 sculptures of lions, angels, devils, warriors, musicians, emperors, and gods, and more than 200 carved ornaments(The Vasa 2016). The Vasa was also designed to have massive fire power(The Vasa 2016). The amount of adornments on the ship leaves the top of the ship very heavy and more likely to cause he ship to sway when moving.
When Hybertson dies the specifications for the Vasa go with him, and when Jacobson takes over the management of the ship yard he has to figure out specifications of the Vasa. The specification that Jacobson has come up with makes the top of the Vasa larger than the keel and width of the ship. This with all the adornments has made the ship top heavy. Admiral Flemings conducted a stability test when neither of the ship builders was present to see that the ship was unstable without most of the adornments on board. The Admiral did not tell the ship builders of the results which eads to communication about the ship.
The stability of the Vasa should have been a concern because of how vast the ship was to be. The New System With so much going on at one time there needs to be a system that will not only help with keeping production on track, communication open, and the ship design constant but also help prevent the ships demise. The new system that would be implemented would be computer based that uses a common communication and calendar system. The current way of communication is one that does not work because of the loss of correspondence and the lack of communication between the ing, shipbuilders, and the admiral.
With the new system the King will be able to send correspondence to everyone all at once or one at a time. The system that will be used has an email that allows for everyone to have access to their own account to send and receive information needed like the instructions of the size and the number of adornments on the ships. The king will be able to know what date and time the messages where sent and also know that the person that the email was intended for received the email. The emails that the King, the ship builders can communicate directly and leave out the middle man to revent the miscommunication that has occurred.
The email system will also give the information of the ship to Jacobson when Hybertson dies. When the King changes his mind on the specs of the ships and how many ships he wants built in so many years; he would send an email that would go directly to the ship builders and eliminate the middle man. The email system eliminates any confusion because the information is there for anyone to look at. Along with the email program there will be a calendar set up to allow King Gustavus II, the Admiral, and the ship yard to add dates of projected completion for each ship.
The calendar will allow the ship builders to know when exactly a product will need to be completed. The calendar will also help the King know exactly when to expect the ships. If something changes along the way the calendar will then be updated. Anyone who has an email address with the new program can access the calendar and make changes when needed. With the email and the calendar there will be a need to keep all the information together for each ship. This program will be similar to excel where you keep a table of when the ship it to be done, the progress, the supplies needed, and the specs of the ship.
This program can be shared just like the calendar and emails. This program will need to be kept updated so anyone that looks at it can determine the progress of the ship. This program will keep track of invoices, cost, and what needs to be paid. The next system that would be used would be a design program which allows a ship builder to design the ship and also test the stability with the specs that have been given. The design allows the ship builder the freedom to see the ship in three dimensions before the building of the ship. With the ship building program the specs for each ship are there in the rogram which leaves out the guess work.
The program will also give the builders the chance to see if all the adornments are either to heavy or are just enough to make the ship stand out. The fire power will also be added. The stability test on the program will be run on each ships plan to determine if the specs, adornments, and fire power will work for the ship and prevent the ship from sinking. This program can also be used to cut down the weight of some of the adornments by drawing specs of each and adding the weight of each to the specs of the ship. The program will also help in keeping each ship specs imilar and allow for more than one ship to be built at the same time.
It will allow for multiple productions to run smoothly and take out the guess work. To help build the ships faster there is need of way to cut the wood to the correct thickness and length without having to measure each piece every time. A wood saw with a computer attached that has the ship building program will be used to cut the wood to correct length and thickness. This will speed up time because the wood planks are not being cut by hand but by a machine that will eliminate human error and there will be less cost in the end.
The processes of hammering the planks in place can remain hammer and nail or a nail gun can be used to attach the planks to the ship. The nail gun would decrease time but it is unclear which is more effective over time. Benefit of New System The new and improved way of building ships will create a better more stable fleet of ships in less time than before. The new system will allow for the King to know the process and progress of every ship. The email system will give the ship builders a way to tell the King and the Admiral all the specs and what adornments that each ship will have associated with them.
The King can then tell the ship builders to go ahead with the build. This system will allow the King to focus more on the battles he is fighting in the war and not worry about when more ships are available to use. The excel program will help keep all the projects separated and when one is done the file can be printed or saved for the future. If there are any concerns about a project the project sheet will just need to be pulled up. The program for building the ships gives the advantage to the ship builders because it allows them to see the ship and make adjustments before the ship is built.
Unlike before when the ships were built then tested this new program test the ships stability beforehand. The new system gives King Gustavus II an advantage over the competition. The faster and safer a ship is built gives the King a chance to succeed faster in defeating his enemies. The faster the war ends, less money is needed to fund the war efforts. The Risks of New System With any new system there is risks that come with them, system could be hacked, the cost of the system, the training needed to use the system and the possibility of system flaws. Any computer based system can be hacked but that is a risk worth taking.
The system has a state of the art security system with firewalls that are un-hackable but one must be aware that it could happen. The system will need to be monitor to grantee that the security program is working. The system since it is new could have some system flaws that may be of concern. There is no way to predict if the system will fail but it is a concern that can be addressed if and when a problem arises. The cost of the system out ways the loss that is possible without the system. If one ship sinks that is a lot of money being wasted the initial cost of the programs will run around $20,000. this includes the cost to train employees on the new machines as well as the new machines needed to implement the new services.
The employees will need to learn the new system quickly so avoid loss of production. With any new system there are unknowns that can be addressed as they come up. Conclusion The sinking of the Vasa could have been avoided if the miscommunication had been addressed, the specs written down, and there had been a realistic timeline. With the implantation of the new system, there is a likely hood that a loss of a ship would be less likely because it was to top heavy but from Mother Nature or a fatal wound.