Hi everyone; it’s Kevin. Today is Friday, October 30th. Today’s podcast is a brief update on our business and a rundown of where we stand with COVID.
In September, I started conducting a series of town-hall meetings with our Operations Supervisors, beginning in Groton. In my view, a view I shared in each of those discussions, the Ops Supervisors have the toughest job in shipbuilding. It is our job, especially my job, to remove any obstacles that get in their way.
We’re making progress on that, as you’ve heard on previous podcasts, our design work for Columbia and the Virginia Payload Module is further along at start of construction than any other ships in our history. Material availability and the capability of our suppliers has improved and getting better every day. I am also seeing great teamwork between the planning and the production teams. I also see our Operations team at Quonset Point and here in Groton stepping up and generating improvement after improvement to take advantage of the support they’re being given from across the entire EB team. It is an entire team effort.
I’ve completed the town hall sessions in the Groton shipyard, and next week we will start holding sessions with our Ops supervisors at Quonset Point. I’ll share my perspective on our business and listen as they describe their challenges—I’m looking forward to it. I’ll continue these sessions with other leaders outside of Operations in similar small-group settings. You can let Liz Power know if you think your team would benefit from a town-hall session.
I’d like to tell you about a great effort underway in Groton by the team working on the Post Shakedown Availability, or PSA, for USS Delaware, SSN 791. Delaware docked in Graving Dock 1 on July 15th. A PSA availability is typically scheduled several months after ship delivery and is a final opportunity to complete any outstanding work, upgrades, or warranty repairs prior to the ship joining the Fleet for extended operations. The USS Delaware PSA was scheduled as a three-month pier-side availability here in Groton.
About two months before the PSA was scheduled to begin, our waterfront team was asked to re-plan the availability to repair an emergent issue with the Delaware’s bow dome. The neoprene boot had become detached from the dome and required the ship to be docked for repair. Â The docking and emergent repairs increased the PSA length to approximately 11 months, and delivery is now scheduled for June 2021.
As all of us know, the key to a successful availability is preparation. The SSN 791 PSA team had their normal planning time reduced by more than half, so they really had to work together to revise the PSA plans and prepare for executing some very challenging work that EB had never accomplished before on a Virginia-class submarine.
To replace the bow dome boot, the entire bow dome needed to be removed. A spare dome, from Quonset Point, was barged to Groton. Bow dome handling fixtures had to be shipped in (one from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and one from Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard). EB has not completed a bow dome replacement in over 15 years in a repair availability.  Trades, Engineering and many support departments rallied to plan, practice and successfully execute the removal and reinstallation of the bow dome on USS Delaware. The old dome was removed, new dome installed safely and the overall dome replacement is on schedule.
While there is much work remaining to be accomplished on this availability, the drive, teamwork and resilience displayed by the SSN 791 PSA team will help to restore the material condition of USS Delaware and return her to the Fleet safely next summer. Thank you to everyone involved for your focus and teamwork—great effort.
As we close out this work week, we’ve seen rising numbers of COVID cases in our communities. That’s reflected in 21 employees having tested positive as of the taping of this podcast.  Once a positive case is confirmed, Electric Boat follows an established protocol. This morning, the senior leadership team and I communicated with all supervisors the specifics of that protocol as a reminder—it’s posted on Homeport’s COVID page for reference.
We asked that our leaders take time over the coming week to have a conversation with their team members so that we all understand what happens if there is a positive case in a work group. These conversations will be shared at a staff meeting, a start-of-shift or end-of-shift muster or in other settings. I’m also asking all supervisors and leaders to lead by example. Make sure you’re doing your part before you ask your people to do theirs, and make sure you’re following the basics of preventing COVID.  Please—we need to continue to do the right things to keep ourselves, our families and our co-workers safe:
- Wear a mask or appropriate facial covering when on EB property. Really, I’d wear a mask no matter where I am, whether it’s EB property or not. This mask must be worn properly and cover your mouth and nose. The mask can be removed when you are eating or drinking.
- Practice social distancing. Try to keep at least 6′ of distance from others, including when you are eating or drinking.
- Stay away from work if you have symptoms of COVID-19. Stay home, and contact your healthcare provider in order to determine next steps. If you become sick while you are at work, inform your supervisor, go home and then contact EB Medical.
- Wash your hands frequently.
I appreciate the effort; thanks everyone. We’ll talk again soon.
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