June 4, 2021 – K. Graney Podcast: Business Update

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Hi everyone, it’s Kevin.  It’s Thursday, June 3rd (date recorded).

This morning, USS Hartford arrived at the shipyard for its Engineering Overhaul (EOH).   The contract to overhaul the Hartford was awarded to EB last August.  During negotiations, the contracting team and the Navy determined that a preparatory approach to this overhaul known as a ‘Smart Start’ would help EB make pre-availability preparations that would help us deliver the boat back to the fleet as soon as possible.

The EOH work is scheduled to start in February of next year.  Between now and then, the boat will be dry docked here in Groton, and pre-overhaul work, including inspections, testing and system teardowns will be performed to enable a strong, on-time start next year.  The Department of Defense will officially announce the award of the ‘Smart Start’ later this week—we expect tomorrow.

Overhaul and repair work is vitally important to EB.  It allows us to manage ebbs and flows in the workload here in Groton associated with the Virginia and Columbia programs, and enables our workforce to maintain proficiency in crucial skills—particularly RADCON, as it applies to boats of the fleet.  A Smart Start on the Hartford is the right approach to maintain and modernize the ship and get it back to the fleet.   I’d like to commend the team, led by Jim Belz, for ensuring this contract negotiation was successfully completed. Great job, guys.

The Hartford is now docked at the North Wing Wall.  If you look at the Groton Waterfront, you’ll note that for the first time in several years, both graving docks and wing walls are occupied.  The Hartford joins the South Dakota and Delaware, both here for their PSAs, and the Vermont, undergoing some emergent work prior to sea trails.  In a word, we are full at the south-end of the yard.

Our landscapes at both locations in Groton and Quonset have undergone significant changes, and the Facilities team has reached milestones worth noting in the past several weeks.

In Groton:

  • The concrete structural deck on the South Yard Assembly Building was completed last Thursday, May 27th.  We’ve received our first deliveries of steel beams, trusses and roof decks, and erection of the structure began on Wednesday.  From my office, up here on the 10th floor of Building 88, you can see the first pieces of structure peeking out over the south yard ways already.
  • In the middle of this month, we’ll break ground on Building 604 in Groton, which will house EB’s Radiological Emergency Response Team, locally-based Naval Reactors personnel, and the Emergency Command Center.  That building is scheduled to be complete in late 2022.

And in Quonset Point:

  • We completed the 78,000 square-foot Columbia frame and cylinder building, known as AFC II, ahead of schedule earlier this month. We’re in the process of installing the APCO fixtures in the building now.
  • The new heavy lift pad on the Quonset waterfront is complete – this is where we will turn units from vertical to horizontal at Quonset Point – and we are erecting the first of two cranes.  This pad and cranes will enable transport of Columbia modules to the new barge for transport to Groton.  Construction of the pier has also commenced and we expect this job to be done by the end of the year.
  • We are also on track to complete facility improvements to the Quonset Point pipe packaging facility by the end of July.

The busy waterfront and rapidly-expanding facilities are visible evidence of our historic backlog.  It remains critical for all of us to remain focused on our personal contributions to meeting our collective goals: safety first, without question—quality, schedule, cost and continuous improvement, in that order.

Thanks for listening, everyone.  We’ll talk again soon.

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