Three-dimensional modelling software tools enable the creation of a digital replica of the product—“Digital Twin”—a representative of “Virtual Reality” as one of the prominent trends of Industry 4.0. The development of the Digital Twin can start simultaneously with the development of the product, primarily for the purpose of selecting optimal technical and technological solutions prior to and during physical construction, and, ultimately, with the intention of managing the entire product life cycle. The Digital Twin, as one of the key technological achievements in the implementation of the business system transformation from traditional to smart, should also be recognized as the cornerstone of the “Shipyard 4.0” model, i.e., its “Cyber-Physical Space.” This paper is based on statistical and empirical data of the observed shipyard with the aim to represent the significance of the Digital Twin ship in preserving and improving the competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry. Namely, with the emphasis this article places on the contribution of “advanced outfitting” in achieving savings in the shipbuilding process as well as its role in attaining high standards of environmental protection and workplace safety, the importance of its further improvement is an obvious conclusion—with Digital Twin being one of the recognized tools for this purpose.

Market positioning, i.e., the competitiveness of European shipyards, depends a lot on the measures of continuously improving the business processes, therefore meeting the criteria of environmental protection and sustainable energy. Lean management enables ongoing improvements of all system processes by recognizing and removing the unnecessary costs of the same, i.e., those activities which do not contribute to the added value for the customer. In this paper, the authors research the magnitude of improvements in the shipbuilding sales process achieved by applying the Lean tool “Value Stream Mapping” (VSM). The example of analysing the informational stream of the studied European shipyard’s existing sales process, performed by implementing the VSM, has defined the measures to decrease the losses in the process, with an emphasis on waiting time in internal and external communication. Upon VSM of the future state, measuring improvements realised by applying key performance indicators began. Significant cost savings in the sales process and the simultaneous increase of productivity of the employees participating in those process activities have been noted, as well as the substantial growth in sales and the shipyard’s income.

The technology of Augmented Reality is taking on an increasingly important role in the digital (and green) transformation of industry, including shipbuilding. Upgraded to the three-dimensional ship model in the form and content of a Digital Twin, (industrial) Augmented Reality contributes to the activities of sale and marketing, development, and design, as well as production and maintenance. Recognizing its leading potential in creating the configuration of Shipyard 4.0, research on the further applicability of Augmented Reality in shipbuilding processes, with an emphasis on outfitting activities, was initiated in collaboration between industry and universities. This paper describes the course of the research, i.e., the development of an Augmented Reality application supportive of the shipbuilding process. The authors emphasize the possibility of achieving savings in shipbuilding project realization by implementing the Augmented Reality application according to the conducted proof of concept, thus contributing to shipbuilding system competitiveness improvement.

The European shipbuilding industry is primarily active in the niches of building vessels with high added value characterized by individual demand or eventual orders in smaller series—the authors approach this research motivated by the desire to contribute to maintaining its competitiveness on the world market. To enhance business processes, shipyards have at their disposal, among others, digital technologies and Lean tools. However, the production of highly complex products in a business environment with complex inter-process relations among a large number of stakeholders also implies a highly demanding project of Lean methodology implementation. And according to the literature gap and available archival data, the outcome is very uncertain. Therefore, the authors conduct this research for the purpose of overcoming the risk of failure in completing the Lean implementation process with the aim of contributing to the transformation of the shipbuilding system into a smart and sustainable, or climate-neutral, one. As experts in the field of research and based on interviews with representatives of one of the European shipyards, the authors develop a Lean process management implementation model adapted not only to custom production in shipbuilding but also to other industries with similar characteristics. The model theoretically results not only in the successful closure of the Lean transformation process in an optimal time and at low costs but also in the simultaneous continuous improvement of shipbuilding processes during the implementation period. Moreover, the neutral influence of the business system’s organizational structure on the presented model adds originality to this study.

The share of European shipbuilding in the world market, with the constant exception of the cruise ship niche, has been in continuous decline for decades, while at the same time, state-supported Asian competitors are recording accelerated growth. With the already long-standing ban on subsidizing the shipbuilding industry by EU member states, its shipyards can maintain their market position primarily by continuously improving business processes, including adopting Industry 4.0 doctrines. In order to contribute to the European shipyards’ competitiveness growth, the authors of this paper use the case study methodology to investigate the applicability of blockchain technology in the process of financing the construction and purchase of ships according to a bareboat charter model, which is recognized as risk-balanced for all parties involved in the process. The empirically analyzed implementation of the blockchain application of smart contracts, using the example of three ships built and purchased according to the proposed model, theoretically results in an almost one-year shortening of the financing process, with a significant reduction in the costs of legal activities. The originality of this study is also emphasized by the correlation of smart contracts and the process of early ship outfitting in the sense of the possible improvement in its level, thus achieving savings in working hours and energy and ultimately shortening the process of realizing the shipbuilding project.

Assembly lines are one of the cornerstones of modern production systems, significantly affecting the global society, economy, and other ancillary sectors. This is why the evaluation of assembly lines is particularly significant. Hence, the research on modeling approaches is presented in this paper, yielding an efficient mathematical tool that enables the evaluation of the steady-state performance of assembly lines at low CPU cost. First, the analytical model and the transition matrix were developed for the general case, and second, dimensionality issues and demanding computational requirements were tackled by applying the finite state method. Both approaches were employed in different theoretical cases in order to validate the finite state method against the analytical solution. Additionally, the developed evaluation framework was applied in the case of a realistic assembly system, and the obtained results were successfully validated against the factory floor measurements. The comparison of the obtained results proves the finite state method as a reliable and CPU-efficient method, suitable for the evaluation of its key performance indicators as well as implementation within more sophisticated design procedures. This kind of predictive analytics is intended to support production management and enhance the reliability of long- and short-term decision-making in the context of the digital twinning of production systems.