ELECTRIC BOAT NEWS | EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER EB NEWS CELEBRATING 120 YEARS ELECTRIC BOAT HIRED 3,000 WOMEN DURING WORLD WAR II. IN THIS PHOTO FROM 1943, ONE TRADESPERSON TRIMS A SMALL PIECE OF STEEL AT GROTON AS A COLLEAGUE STANDS NEARBY. OVER THE COURSE OF THE WAR, THE COMPANY PRODUCED 74 SUBMARINES AND 398 PATROL TORPEDO (PT) BOATS. FIRST QUARTER 2019 The VLMs are vertical, NEW MATERIAL STORES SYSTEM automated storage systems that maximize SAVES SPACE, INCREASES CAPACITY space vertically, utilizing THE NEW VERTICAL ain Stores, or building 119 in Groton, is a storage overhead space that LIFT MODULES warehouse for small-parts material used in sub- often goes unused. MAXIMIZE SPACE M marine construction. Up until now, material was TO HELP MEET THE stored in carousels, which were chain-driven, rotat- VLM’s are often used PROJECTED SPACE ing devices with multiple storage bins. The carousels did NEEDS FOR FUTURE not maximize potential overhead space, and took up a for order picking, VIRGINIA-CLASS large portion of the warehouse. With Columbia construc- consolidation of MATERIAL. tion approaching, and a future influx in material, these 35-year-old carousels desperately needed to be replaced. material, parts handling Over the last year, the EB Groton Material Con- and inventory storage. trol team has been working in unison with Process Improvement Engineering to address the storage issue. After the review of many ideas, the carousels have suc- cessfully been replaced with Vertical Lift Modules, 2 | ELECTRIC BOAT NEWS | FIRST QUARTER 2019 or VLMs. The VLMs are vertical, automated storage systems that maximize space vertically, utilizing overhead space that often goes unused. VLM’s are used for order picking, consolidation of material, parts handling and inven- tory storage. They provide floor-space savings, increase labor productivity, and most importantly, they meet the increased space needs projected in EB’s future for Virginia-class material. Planning is currently underway to iden- tify needed equipment in order to sustain the Columbia material influx. The Process Engineering team, along with Modula, the VLM provid- er, determined that six VLM’s would offer enough space to store material being moved from the carousels, as well as all material from the shelves with- in the main stores. Six VLMs were purchased, reducing the overall footprint of EB the warehouse by half, thus providing more growth potential for the future. Before moving the material from the carousels to the VLMs, the Material Con- NEWS trol team looked at all of the material, analyzed the usage of it and ultimately reduced roughly 10% of the 24,000 parts currently stored, removing outdat- ed material that is no longer applicable in submarine production. Overall, this change to a top-of-the-line storage system has maximized space within the Main CONTENTS Stores warehouse and reserved the space necessary to support EB’s growth. 4 Submarine Industrial Base Council Event Draws Hundreds of EB Suppliers 5-6 Q&A With Supply Chain’s Blair Decker 7-10 Happy 120th Birthday! 10 Reflections from EB’s Longest-Serving Active Employee 11 Singing in the Key of EB— The SubTones 12-13 USS South Dakota (SSN 790) Commissioned 13 EB Business Ethics and Conduct 14 Are We Losing Our Minds? Let’s Hope Not! 15 Could You Handle This? 16 Maintenance and Modernization Update 16 Junk Yard Wars 16 Service Awards 17 Retirees 18 Marine Group Roundup 19 EB Ethics 20 The 2018 Employee Incentive Program ELECTRIC BOAT NEWS is published by the Public Affairs Dept. 75 Eastern Point Road • Groton, CT 06340 LYNN HENDY, Editor SYDNEY DAVIES, Contributing Editor BOB GALLO, GARY SLATER, Photography Phone (860) 433-4683 THE 35-YEAR-OLD CAROUSEL STORAGE SYSTEM WAS RECENTLY RETIRED IN BUILDING 119. Fax (860) 433-8054 Email [email protected] ELECTRIC BOAT NEWS | FIRST QUARTER 2019 | 3 SUPPLY CHAIN’S BLAIR DECKER ADDRESSES ATTENDEES AT THE 2019 SIBC SUPPLIER DAYS CONFERENCE. SUBMARINE INDUSTRIAL BASE COUNCIL EVENT DRAWS HUNDREDS OF ELECTRIC BOAT SUPPLIERS he Submarine Industrial Base Council Supply chain presentations covered Services Seapower Subcommittee and the (SIBC) held its 28th annual Suppli- upcoming strategic sourcing initiatives Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy T er Days conference, reception and and the increased demand on the supply (Ships) Jay Stefany. day-long lobbying event in Washington, base from the Virginia Payload Module The following day kicked off with a D.C. on February 26 and 27. Established introduction and the Columbia SSBN pro- Congressional breakfast where 15 mem- in 1992, the SIBC seeks to educate poli- gram. The importance of supplier quality bers of Congress attended and addressed cymakers and the public about the need was highlighted by recent lessons learned the crowd on their support for the subma- to preserve the strength of the U.S. sub- from missile tube construction. The sub- rine programs. The attendees then fanned marine force and promote the value of the marine industrial base is facing the same out across Capitol Hill and conducted over submarine industrial base as a vital part of workforce training and development chal- 185 individual meetings with members our national security. lenges that Electric Boat is facing. A of Congress and staff from the attendees’ This year more than 430 attendees rep- presentation focused on how Electric Boat individual states and districts. The Submarine Industrial Base Coun- resenting over 200 suppliers met at the was teaming with the states of Connecti- cil’s advocacy and education efforts are Capitol Hilton and heard program brief- cut and Rhode Island to create and expand consistent with Navy budget plans and the ings and plans for the Columbia SSBN workforce training programs. program offices’ goals as presented annu- program from Capt. Jon Rucker and the A presentation on the upcoming fiscal ally to Congress. These advocacy efforts Virginia program from Capt. Christo- year 2020 budget challenges provided a have directly resulted in over $530 million pher Hanson. Electric Boat’s and Newport backdrop for the preparations for lobbying dollars of additional submarine program News’ leadership from both programs dis- meetings scheduled for the second day. funding in the past three years. For more cussed the opportunities and challenges Dinner keynote speakers included Con- information on the Submarine Industrial that both programs present to the subma- necticut’s Congressman Joe Courtney, Base Council, please visit http://subma- rine industrial base. the new chairman of the House Armed rinesuppliers.org. 4 | ELECTRIC BOAT NEWS | FIRST QUARTER 2019 Q&AWITH SUPPLY CHAIN’S BLAIR DECKER lair Decker, VP of Supply Chain, Material Con- When did you give up on the veyance and Strategic Sourcing, will celebrate stockbroker dream? Bhis 40th anniversary with EB later this year. In Early in my career we had to buy a replacement this Q&A, Blair reflects on how EB’s business has water brake (this is a very large, complex product changed since 1979 and what the future holds for the also known as a dynamometer), which is a load Supply Chain organization. absorber used for submarine component testing. It came from a company in Germany. No one in the What brought you to EB? department spoke German, but I could as I’d taken it My grandfather ran the trading in high school, so I volunteered for the job. It was an floor, then known as the “garage” of expensive piece of equipment, worth a few million the New York Stock Exchange. I dollars. That got me hooked – I became enthralled studied economics in college because with how big pieces of equipment get manufactured. I expected he was going to get me a I realized I wanted to do work that helped create job as a stockbroker on the trading something tangible, something I could touch and be floor. During my senior year, when I proud of when finished. And, in all my years in mate- was close to graduating, I asked him rial acquisition, I’ve been able to contribute to the when I could come to work. He said, most technologically advanced product in the world. “When you get a few years’ experi- Every day brings a new set of challenges and oppor- ence and prove you can work.” So I tunities. I truly enjoy what I do and have done. found a job at a transportation com- pany in Bridgeport (Hemingway What was EB like in 1979? Transportation), working third shift. Between Groton and QP, we were about 27,000 The company was located in a rather people, with around 10,000 trade workers on the unsavory part of town. After I got Groton waterfront. When the gates opened at lunch robbed for the second time getting to/ time, thousands of people would stream out and head leaving work, I started looking for to the food trucks and places to eat. You did not want another job and applied to EB. to be going in the wrong direction. We had 16 ships In October of 1979, I was hired as in the yard, primarily the Los-Angeles class, 688 an associate buyer at a salary of boats. I started over on Long Hill Road. There were $10,200 a year, which was a lot of no computers, people could smoke in the building BLAIR DECKER money in those days. I had the oppor- and the phones were rotary. The early days of com- tunity to work on a rotational basis through all the puter programming took place in the basement, with departments that made up Materials Management. I keypunch cards of ones and zeroes. Our inventory worked at Quonset Point for a time; Material Engi- management system consisted of long green tubs and neering Services was located in big, long red yellow cards with part numbers.