IM DIALOG > INFORMATION > IN BRIEF > DATES > EVENTS MOUNTING IN THE MOONLIGHT With the mounting of the funnel on the AIDAluna, the new club ship for AIDA Cruises is now complete. Before the last of the 55 huge blocks of which the AIDAluna consists could be set in place, the ship had to be floated about 80 m out of the building hall, a manouevre that took place in October 2008. The finishing work on the AIDAluna is advancing well. The ship will leave the dry dock in February 2009. CELEBRITY SOLSTICE SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED On 24 October 2008, with newbuilding S.675, Celebrity Solstice, we were able to successfully deliver the first of a total of five ships for Celebrity Cruises (Miami, USA). As compared with other ship deliveries, the level of interest shown by the media can be said to have been fairly reserved. Nevertheless, with this newbuilding we made shipbuilding history. > Page 2
> Title CELEBRITY SOLSTICE SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED On 24 October 2008, with newbuilding S.675, Celebrity Solstice, we were able to successfully deliver the first of a total of five ships for Celebrity Cruises (Miami, USA). With a tonnage of 122,000 gt and a length overall of 317.20 m the Celebrity Solstice is the biggest ship ever built at MEYER WERFT, and at the same time the biggest cruise ship ever built in Germany. She was not only designed and built in compliance with the latest damage stability calculation, but has other special features worth mentioning: 90% of all cabins are outside cabins, most of these having a balcony; "real grass" lawn has been sewn on the upper deck; a photovoltaic plant (covering approx. 470 sqm) was installed. Due to consistently optimized energy consumption throughout improvements of 30 % could be implemented. This makes the Celebrity Solstice the most efficient cruise ship in the market. And when the term "we" is used here, it refers not only to the company's own shipyard workers, but also to the subcontractors and external suppliers, to the classification society and, not least, to our customers. All of those mentioned have contributed to making this ship a true "Summer Night s Dream". And that's why they deserve our special thanks: Well done! A Hurdles Race Shortened Construction Period for Solstice's Sister Ships Although the delight at having successfully delivered the Celebrity Solstice has barely subsided, the subsequent challenges to be mastered are already apparent from a glance at our order book. Like a hurdles sprinter who has just jumped the first hurdle, this is no time to sit back and relax. Instead we must immediately focus our attention on the entire course, and in particular on the next hurdle. The extremely short building period foreseen for S.676, Celebrity Equinox, is a good case in point. Just nine months after the delivery of S.675, S.676 is scheduled for delivery. We have never before had such a tight schedule for the delivery of two of a series of cruise ships, one after the other. To complete the ship within the time available, (shortened by eight months compared to S. 675), it will take a concerted effort on the part of all of those involved; the shipyard, the suppliers and subcontractors, the classification society and the owner. It is all the more important that friction of all sorts is avoided and that the building work is forced ahead with our target permanently in our sights. Nevertheless, we are confident that we will win this "race". The positive feedback from our just-in-time delivery of S.675 will help us to tackle the next hurdle. With this team we can do it. And our investments in the extension of building dock II will play a significant role here. So the prospects are good. Now for a spurt of speed let's go! 2 IM DIALOG
NEWS IN BRIEF Orders of up to 3 2000 In order to reduce the flood of paper, we decided as from February 2008 to process orders with a value of up to 1 1000 via our system per e-mail. Due to the positive response we will now, as from January 2009, send orders of up to 1 2000 directly to the respective salesperson, these orders being valid without a signature. Extension of building dock The construction work to extend our building dock II by 120 m to 504 m has almost been completed. Construction work in the new dock commenced in December 2008. Since the middle of January production work has been in full swing. MEYER WERFT at "Business Plus in Lingen On 26 and 27 November 2008 MEYER WERFT took part in the "Business Plus" trade fair, along with many regional companies. At the third presentation of this business platform, Lingen's Emsland halls served as the venue, following Emden and Oldenburg in the previous years. 174 companies made use of an exhibition area of more than 6000 sqm. The North-West Trade Fair 2008 stood under the motto "A Region Under Full Sail. Approx. 6650 visitors were registered. The former Minister of the Environment, Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, engaged himself in lengthy discussions during his visit to "Business Plus. While making a stand visit he conversed with Mr. Witolla (Head of the Research and Development Department) about the latest developments in the cruise ship market, as relating to the environment. Delivery Dates in 2009 S.660 > AIDAluna March 2009 S.683 > Gaschem Nordsee March 2009 S.514 > A-ROSA AQUA June 2009 S.676 > Celebrity Equinox July 2009 S.684 > Gaschem Pazifik August 2009 IM DIALOG 3
> "Partner des Jahres 2008" OUR AWARD PARTNER DES JAHRES 2008 This will be the third time we have made our supplier award "Partner des Jahres". On 22 January 2009 the festive event will be held on the premises of the "Alte Werft" in Papenburg, with 250 company representatives present from Germany and abroad. On the basis of the supplier ratings and deliveries made in the year 2008, selections will be made in a festive ceremonial procedure in the categories > Mechanical Engineering > Shipbuilding > Outfitting > Interiors for this valuable award and certificate, "Partner des Jahres 2008". As in the past, we will also be awarding an additional special award to the company or person responsible, during the previous twelve months, for contributing to the success of our company by outstanding contractual performance beyond the limits of the supplier rating. For the first time we will also be presenting an additional "Innovation Award". In this category we will be showing recognition to the company that, in the context of our initiative "Innovation 2008", makes the proposal with the greatest improvement potential in the field of cooperation. Our "Partner des Jahres" event has established itself, in the context of supplier management, as a recognized venue in the European shipbuilding industry within only three years. MEYER WERFT's supplier award "Partner des Jahres" is already used by the award winners as a reference with which to forge new business relationships to other shipyards, as well as to decorate the Internet home page and the company writing paper of our partners. We are naturally proud of the fact that the "fruits" of our cooperation also serve as "entrance tickets" to new supply and subcontracting relationships, which in itself clearly underlines the status that cooperation with MEYER WERFT is accorded by our partners. 4 IM DIALOG
To further support this development and to enable our holders of the "Partner des Jahres" award to present themselves in this context, we have decided to offer our award winners, with immediate effect, a uniform presentation of the "trademark" Partner des Jahres for use on their writing paper. With this decision we are confident of having taken a step towards further enhancing the value of the award and encouraging our suppliers and subcontractors to engage in continuous improvement of their business activities and performance. We look forward to our continued cooperation. The previous award winners: 2006: Mechanical Engineering: Rolf Janssen GmbH Elektrotechnische Werke, Aurich Shipbuilding: G. Theodor Freese GmbH & Co. KG, Bremen Interiors: VHB Vereinigte Holzbaubetriebe W. Pfalzer & H. Vogt GmbH & Co., Memmingen Outfitting: marine glazing Brombach + Gess GmbH & Co. KG, Balingen Special Award: Caritas-Werkstätten nördliches Emsland GmbH, Werkstatt Papenburg 2007: Mechanical Engineering: Imtech Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg Shipbuilding: Karat/Marine Projects, Gdansk Interiors: BSS Metallbau-Schiffsausbau GmbH & Co. KG, Lemgo Outfitting: Bolidt Kunststoftoepassing b.v., Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht Special Award: Rudolf Gauglitz, Moormeerland FIRST-TIME INNOVATION AWARD During the "Partner des Jahres 2007" event held in January of this year, Ralf Sempf, Head of Purchasing, called on all of the suppliers, subcontractors and other partner companies of MEYER WERFT to participate in the new initiative "Innovation 2008" by submitting proposals for improving cooperation. A large number of companies addressed by us in writing submitted improvement proposals in response. Our idea of taking advantage of the fact that, on the basis of years of close cooperation with us, many companies were very well acquainted with the shipyard processes and procedures and therefore in a position to make improvement proposals, proved to be a good one. The proposals submitted are based on points of interaction with all areas of the shipyard and rely on detailed knowledge of our processes and procedures. The thorough assessment of the improvement proposals by the management and by the individual departments involved is a very complicated and time-consuming endeavour, but also one that is worth the effort to ensure that the evaluation is undertaken as carefully as possible. So far none of the companies involved has been given a written response on the current status, but on the basis of the proposals received and assessed to date one company has crystallized out as the winner of the "Innovation Award", its improvement proposal having been put into practice at short notice and already having given rise to a notable improvement in the existing cooperation. Already in its first year, the initiative "Innovation 2008" has borne fruit and has given rise to tangible results. We are certain that many of the other improvement proposals submitted will also be adopted, whether wholly or partially, and will lead to still further improvements. IM DIALOG 5
MEYER WERFT BRINGS "NETWORKERS ON BOARD Utilizing the potential of companies in the region still more strongly in future was the motto behind MEYER WERFT's first Regional Day on 13 September 2008. More than 600 representatives from over 300 German and Dutch companies located in the region accepted the invitation to attend the event in dry dock I - in front of the imposing backdrop of the next AIDA club ship. The guests were first informed by Bernard Meyer and Lambert Kruse about the present status of the shipyard's order book, about developments on the international shipbuilding market and about ongoing investments being made in the shipyard. The response to this event, at which the guests were also given the opportunity to engage in short discussions with employees in the purchase and technical divisions, was very positive. Indeed, the success of the event was underlined not only in terms of personal feedback from many of the participants. It was also reflected in the high proportion of regional companies represented among the new applicants for supplier and subcontracting cooperation agreements with the shipyard. Then the visitors learned, in a speech delivered by Ralf Sempf, that the shipyard currently records an annual turnover of some 1 200 million from cooperation with regional suppliers and subcontractors, a sum which it nevertheless intends to notably increase in the course of further intensified future cooperation. A contribution in this connection will be made by the new regional supplier network called into life by the shipyard. This Internet-based platform will enable companies in the region to offer their products and services not only to the shipyard, but also to its national suppliers and partners. By the beginning of January a total of almost 800 new registrations was received by MEYER WERFT, thereby confirming the great interest of the regional suppliers. Most of the regional applicants were also keen on participating in the network, an interest that MEYER WERFT is of course happy to encourage. It is now planned to hold a Regional Day in the shipyard once a year, as a means of establishing further new contacts with suppliers and subcontractors in the region, as well as of reinforcing existing contacts. 6 IM DIALOG
MEYER WERFT'S REGIONAL SUPPLIER NETWORK Questions Addressed to Ralf Sempf, Head of Materials Management / Purchasing MEYER WERFT's first Regional Day took place on 13 September 2008. What was the idea behind organizing such an event? From my own participation in a variety of events and from many associated discussions I know that we have an enormous potential, in our region, in the form of both smaller and larger companies. But I know as well that that they are often reticent to seek contact with us and to offer MEYER WERFT their services as suppliers, subcontractors and service companies. Furthermore, many of our larger national and international suppliers often also need local assistance to discharge our orders, whether for installation work on board, storage space, or transportation, and even flats and rooms for their own fitters and installation crews. So what could be better than encouraging the many regional companies to present their products and services in the context of our Regional Day to shipyard colleagues from the engineering divisions and purchasing. The success of the event, with more than 600 participants from the region, showed that the idea was a good one. The interest in cooperating with us and with our national and international partners is enormous. We will make the Regional Day a standing event at MEYER WERFT. At this event you presented MEYER WERFT's new regional supplier network. What should one understand by this concept Our new supplier network, for which almost 800 companies have registered by the beginning of January 2009, is an Internet-based platform on which all sorts of suppliers and services companies can present their products and services free of charge. This holds for direct suppliers of MEYER WERFT GmbH and of the other affiliated companies in our Group, as well as for suppliers and service companies for our national and international partner companies. The registration is quite simple. Compa nies interested in a cooperation apply online under /Suppliers. On this page more information on the network is available. What we actually do is create a huge network intersecting at MEYER WERFT. What benefits do you expect from the network? Normally, when it comes to benefits in the business world, one likes to speak of a win/win situation. In the case of our network we even have three winners, or in other words a win/win/win situation. For one thing we ourselves have a much broader regional base of suppliers and can, in future, make use of regional know-how and potential to a much greater extent than in the past. Then there is the benefit for companies that have so far done no business with MEYER WERFT or the other firms in the Group, since they now have direct access to the responsible buyers via the network. And last, but not least, our national and international suppliers also belong to the winners they have direct access to regional suppliers in the required fields at the click of a mouse. Taking a look ahead, is it conceivable that the regional network might one day become a national network with suppliers throughout Germany being involved? Why not? On the other hand, we still have so much potential in our region that we ought, in my view, to focus on this, at least initially. Creating this network on a regional level leaves quite a lot of work to do but we are already well on the way. IM DIALOG 7
MEYER WERFT: KEEL-LAYING OF AIDAblu > Imprint Editor: MEYER WERFT GmbH Industriegebiet Süd D - 26871 Papenburg Materials Management/Purchasing Industriegebiet Süd D - 26871 Papenburg Tel. +49 (0)4961 / 81-0 Fax +49 (0)4961 / 81-42 99 Layout: eskalade werbeagentur GmbH info@eskalade.de www.eskalade.de Photos: MEYER WERFT, Ingrid Fiebak Fotografie The keel was laid at MEYER WERFT for the fourth of six club ships for AIDA Cruises (Rostock) on 20 October 2008. The building of this ship represents the start of a new generation. "AIDAblu" is the name of the new ship being built for AIDA Cruises. It is the fourth of six ships for the fleet of the most successful cruise operators in Germany. The new club ship integrates a number of improvements, as compared with the first three ships. A number of the restaurants will be bigger, as will the Wellness area, and there will be special Spa Suites. The total number of cabins will be increased from 1025 to 1087, of which 728 will be outside cabins. The AIDAblu has a length overall of 252 metres, a breadth of 32.2 metres and a tonnage of 71,100 gt. Four large diesel engines generate a total of some 50,000 hp. The ship's running speed will be almost 22 knots. AIDAblu will leave MEYER WERFT in the spring of 2010, heading for the North Sea. Further information