INTERVIEW Closing the knowledge gap Cruise lines struggle to find information about the furnishings on their own vessels, but a new customer portal from Robos is changing that, as Sascha Bosch explains to Alex Smith Shipbuilding projects are hugely complicated undertakings, and thousands of moving parts must be tracked carefully during construction. This complexity is only increasing, as new ships get bigger and fit-out supply chains become increasingly fragmented. Frequently, this leaves cruise lines without a clear record of what has been installed on their vessels or who supplied it, both during the construction process and long after the project is complete. As a result, the line may be forced to constantly chase information about the status and location of products during the construction project. Later in the vessel’s life, when purchasing departments are tasked with sourcing replacement items or matching existing furniture for a refit, they will find there is no reliable point of reference and likely resort to speculatively calling suppliers in the hope someone can identify what was originally installed. This inefficiency costs time and money, and it’s an issue marine interior furniture specialist Robos decided to address. Robos has been supplying and installing furniture for cruise lines for almost three decades, working across newbuild and refit projects for operators including Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International. This long-term involvement in the industry provided the company with clear insight into the issues cruise lines face, explains Sascha Bosch, owner of Robos. “From the moment a cruise brand gets the keys from a shipyard, they often have no clue who supplied which items onboard,” says Bosch. “They sometimes have no knowledge whatsoever of which fabrics are on the vessel, who made the table or who built the banquette seating. We thought it would be much more efficient to give them this inside information, so we started to build Robos Connect.” “ We thought it would be much more efficient to give them this inside information” 102
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=