Maritime factory ship

Abstract

A maritime vessel for manufacturing products includes a factory ship that is ocean-going and comprises a propulsion system and navigation system for crossing an ocean. Factory units are on board the ship and supported by the ship. Some factory units include at least two production units that are operable to concurrently and independently produce a respective product. Some factory units include at least one assembly unit operable to assemble a finished product from the respective intermediate products. The arrangement of factory units may be changed on the ship in order to reconfigure the factory for producing different types of products.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A maritime vessel for manufacturing products, comprising:
 a factory ship that is ocean-going and comprises a propulsion system and navigation system for crossing an ocean; and   factory units on board the factory ship, the factory units comprise production units operable to produce respective intermediate products, and the factory units comprise assembly units operable to assemble respective finished products from the respective intermediate products.   
     
     
         2 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising storage units proximal to respective production units for storing supply material. 
     
     
         3 . The maritime vessel of  claim 2 , further comprising material-handling conveyance robots operable to convey the supply material from the storage units to the production units. 
     
     
         4 . The maritime vessel of  claim 3 , wherein the material-handling conveyance robots are further operable to convey the respective finished products from the assembly units to the storage units. 
     
     
         5 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising a final storage unit proximal to the at least one of the assembly units for storing the respective finished products. 
     
     
         6 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , wherein one of the factory units includes a testing apparatus operable to test the respective finished products. 
     
     
         7 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising material handling conveyance robots operable to convey the respective intermediate products from the production units to the assembly units. 
     
     
         8 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , wherein the factory units each comprise a respective shipping container. 
     
     
         9 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , wherein the production units and the assembly units are coupled to respective shipping containers. 
     
     
         10 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , wherein one of the production units comprise electronics assembly tools for assembling electronics components of a vehicle. 
     
     
         11 . The maritime vessel of  claim 10 , wherein one of the production units comprises body fabrication tools for assembling body components of the vehicle. 
     
     
         12 . The maritime vessel of  claim 11 , wherein one of the assembly units comprises integration tools for combining, when assembled, the body components and the electronics components. 
     
     
         13 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , wherein one of the production units comprises rotational machinery for rotating at least one of the respective intermediate products during manufacturing. 
     
     
         14 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising techniques for air filtration of a selected unit for curing of epoxy or other volatiles in a controlled condition. 
     
     
         15 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising a power control system to coordinate power consumption among the factory units. 
     
     
         16 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising a system to monitor weather conditions to account for and make adjustments due to weather parameters. 
     
     
         17 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising a self-defense system for defending the factory ship against a hostile threat. 
     
     
         18 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , further comprising docking ports configured to receive one of the factory units, wherein the one of the factory units, when coupled to one of the docking ports, is coupled to receive one or more services from the factory ship. 
     
     
         19 . The maritime vessel of  claim 18 , wherein the one or more services comprise providing one or more of:
 electrical power;   water;   waste removal;   hydraulic fluid;   fuel;   oil;   3D printer filaments or resins; or   high-pressure air.   
     
     
         20 . The maritime vessel of  claim 18 , wherein the one of the docking ports includes a docking ring configured to receive a docking probe coupled to the one of the factory units. 
     
     
         21 . The maritime vessel of  claim 18 , further comprising a plurality of conveyance tracks coupled between ones of the docking ports and a warehouse, wherein the conveyance tracks are configured to facilitate transfer of ones of the factory units between the warehouse and ones of the docking ports. 
     
     
         22 . The maritime vessel of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the factory units includes at least two production units that are operable to concurrently and independently produce a particular intermediate product from a corresponding supply unit. 
     
     
         23 . An ocean-going vessel, having a reconfigurable factory, the ocean-going vessel comprising:
 a deck having docking ports implemented therein, wherein a given one of the docking ports is configured to receive a first factory unit of a first type in a first factory configuration, and a second factory unit of a second, different type in a second factory configuration, and wherein the given one of the docking ports is configured to provide services to a factory unit docked therein;   a warehouse onboard the ocean-going vessel configured to store factory units of different types; and   conveyance tracks implemented on the deck, wherein the conveyance tracks are configured to facilitate conveying a given factory unit between the warehouse and ones of the docking ports on respective predefined paths.   
     
     
         24 . A maritime vessel for manufacturing products, comprising:
 a factory ship that is ocean-going and comprises a propulsion system and a navigation system for crossing an ocean;   a warehouse in the factory ship comprising libraries of factory units, each factory unit comprises a raw materials unit, a robotic transport unit, a production unit, a finishing unit, a test unit and a storage unit that can be robotically picked from the warehouse and assembled into a factory on the factory ship to produce a finished product; and   upon completion of a mission, the factory can be robotically picked, disassembled and stored back in the warehouse so that another factory can be deployed in a space vacated by a previous factory.