Electric Boat President Kevin Graney today told elected and appointed leaders from Southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island that the company plans to hire about 18,000 people in the next ten years.
The briefings took place at the Mystic Marriott and Crowne Plaza in Warwick for nearly 200 political, government and community leaders. Electric Boat has conducted these annual sessions since the early 1990s.
“We have a bright future with growth and substantial new work ahead of us,” said Graney. The growth is being driven by continuing construction of Virginia-class submarines, including the recently announced $22.2 billion Block V contract awarded to EB, and the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine program.
“Electric Boat must continue to improve every day and use our workload to drive knowledge transfer to the next generation of engineers, designers and shipbuilders,” Graney said.
“We also need to continue developing the training pipelines that will enable us to manage this growth while sustaining and strengthening our reputation for safety, quality and efficiency.”
Regional partners in Conn. and Rhode Island, including state agencies, educational institutions, and the state and federal delegations, have been instrumental in helping about 2,400 under-employed adults transition to Electric Boat in the last five years. EB also takes part in school programs at all levels, from elementary to high school.
“We are doing this because 2029 is projected to be one of our peak years of hiring,” said Graney. “Many of the people we hire that year will just be graduating from high school; right now, they’re in third grade. We’ll be building Columbia submarines through 2040. People graduating from high school that year aren’t even born yet. That’s why expanding outreach to increase interest in shipbuilding at the middle, and even elementary, school level is so critical.”
Graney also briefed the audience on EB’s Facilities Master Plan, the nearly $2 billion dollar expansion of shipyard facilities at all sites to support Columbia and Virginia Payload Module construction.
“EB’s success and continued growth benefits our employees, the communities in which we live and work and our economy, all in the noble cause of ensuring our sailors always have the advantage over any adversary they face,” said Graney.
