Hi everyone; it’s Kevin. Today is Tuesday, January 25th. Yesterday I hosted briefings for about 160 elected and appointed leaders from southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island and that included members of the press. Electric Boat has conducted these briefings annually since the early 1990’s. Like last year, we conducted yesterday’s sessions via Zoom because of the limitations associated with COVID.
It’s an honor to represent you and talk about our important mission, the accomplishments and the state of our business at these briefings. I reminded everybody who attended yesterday about the great work you accomplished in 2021 as we highlighted in our year-end video. We talked about Virginia, Columbia, maintenance and modernization and other engineering and design services we provide to the Navy.
I talked about how submarines provide our nation with an advantage in the great power competition we are in against China and Russia. We talked a little bit about the suite of upgrades we just put on board the 90 boat, and this technology we built into the Block V boats and is important as Russia continues to build submarine classes with asymmetric capabilities like very large nuclear-powered and nuclear-tipped torpedoes. I also reminded everybody that China continues to develop its Navy, continues to threaten Taiwan and has demonstrated a hypersonic missile capability. Combined, these threats from Russia and China are driving a demand signal for more capable submarines.
I was proud to share our safety performance, the best in our history in spite of COVID. However, we have felt impacts from the pandemic as everybody knows. Since Thanksgiving, and the onset of the Omicron variant, we’ve had our highest daily case rates—about 40% of our cases overall have occurred in the last eight weeks or so. COVID has affected our productivity due to absenteeism, with people being sick, and our leadership ranks have been hit particularly hard. As you know, this reduces our efficiency. Our suppliers and partners have experienced the same COVID-related challenges, and we are working hard to reduce the impacts associated with that. I think, thankfully, we’re starting to see case rates moderate here in CT and R.I. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we’ll be beyond Omicron as the pervasive variant today.
Our Connecticut and Rhode Island congressional delegations continue to support us each year, and that support has really been overwhelming. Our delegation has secured solid funding for our programs—over $5 billion to fund Columbia and over $6 billion to fund the Virginia program in just fiscal year 2022. There is also additional funding for our supply base and for continued workforce development, bringing the total of their efforts to more than $12 billion in fiscal year 2022 right here at Electric Boat. That funding is absolutely critical to our future.
Each year, everybody who attends these briefings is interested in hearing about our hiring projections, and this year was no different. Last year we hired more than 2,500 people, and in 2022 we need to add, at a minimum, and I think the number is higher, more than 3,000 people to our ranks. The impacts from COVID on the job market have affected us as they have other businesses. Between retirements and people choosing to leave the workforce, it is increasingly difficult to hire our newest employees.
To meet our goals, we need to introduce our careers to people who don’t yet know they want to be shipbuilders. In 2021, we started doing something we haven’t done before –TV advertising. If you’re a fan of the NFL like I am, hopefully by now you’ve seen our ads during football games or UConn basketball games as well. I asked everybody who attended yesterday’s briefings to help us by spreading the word that we’re hiring, and I’m asking for your continued help as well. Please tell your friends, family, and community members about the great opportunities we provide for lifelong careers. Tell them that at Electric Boat they’ll be able to apply their talents, hone their skills, learn, grow and advance, all while contributing to the defense of our nation. I believe that’s a noble mission.
I closed the briefings by sharing a picture of the 793, PCU Oregon, heading out from Groton on sea trials. If you’re listening to the audio, we’ll include the image in the transcript. The picture shows the sun rising on a new day, and our latest contribution to our national defense is being operated for the first time by her crew and the EB experts who built her.
I was on that boat, and I wish every one of you, and really every American, could see what I see on those boats. It is eye-watering, unsurpassed technology. It is sailors who are at the pointy end of the spear and are absolute masters at submarine warfare. It is EB people fiercely proud of what they’ve built.
This picture makes me think about the future of EB. While this work is never easy, we are being called upon to deliver the future to our Navy and to our country. It is up to us to answer that call. The growing majority of you are our next generation of shipbuilders with exceptional and unique skills, diverse backgrounds and new perspectives. I’m excited by your energy, and I’m excited in how you, your families, and our company will grow and thrive as a result of the hard work that is decades ahead of us.
In the words of Buffalo Bills hall of fame coach Marv Levy, “Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?”
Thanks everyone; we’ll talk again soon.
Kevin
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