In the 1970s, in an effort to modernize the shipyard, engineers and production employees were dispatched to Europe and Japan to look for ideas in the latest methods of ship production. Some of the best ideas were found in Japan, and Ishikawajima Heavy Industries (IHI Corp) was hired as a consultant. The modernizations included the construction of the Assembly Building and a blasting and painting facility using steel shot, along with replacing the wooden building ways with concrete and steel. The main centerpiece, however, was Crane 11, which enabled BIW to handle much larger pre-outfitted hull sections than was previously possible.
