Photo By Victor Pitts | 151202-N-YZ910-002 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Dec. 2, 2015) Douglas Bohn, left, a welder at...... read more read more
By Clifford Davis
Fleet Readiness Center Southeast Public Affairs
Jacksonville, Fla. – The cafeteria at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast’s (FRCSE) Crinkley Engine Facility roared to life Dec. 2 when the ribbon was cut on a set of eight new computers.
FRCSE commanding officer Capt. Chuck Stuart and Workforce Engagement and Inclusion (WEI) Team member Francine Juhlin cut the ribbon on the WEI Team’s exhaustive effort to bring new desktops to a facility where most workers don’t have regular computer access.
“One of the challenges our workforce has is that many employees don’t have ready access to computers,” Stuart told the men and women in the crowded cafeteria. “It’s not like our artisans and mechanics are sitting in a cubicle all day and have this capability.”
The computers meets a serious need for workers at the Crinkley, Stuart said. Artisans at the facility perform maintenance and repair work on engines for Navy aircraft, a trade that doesn’t require full-time access to computers.
“There are two main reasons why we needed this: access to career opportunities and access to training,” Stuart said. “You have to be connected to those things to know what’s going on.”
Juhlin and engines production controller Eugene Mackey, both WEI Team members, took on the challenge to get the computers as part of an AirSpeed Green Belt project. But another team member, Roger Wright, an engine welder at the facility, helped bring the need to their attention.
“I wasn’t the only one experiencing a lack of access to computers, though I was probably the most vocal about it,” Wright said. “There were several other people so we put suggestions in our WEI Team box about getting computers.”
From there, the team went to work.
“We began by scouting locations and then started talking with IT to see if we had any computers available – and there weren’t,” WEI Team member Peter Millard said. “So we talked with Richard Eveson, he purchased them and we brought them over. It was a long process.”
The project is an example of why the WEI Team was formed in 2011, WEI Team leader Tisa Wilson said.
“The concept of the WEI team is to bridge the gap between leadership and the workforce, and to improve communication,” Wilson said. “Projects like this are why we’re here, but it takes more than just the WEI Team.
“Richard Eveson, the engines integrated product team lead, was very supportive with the computer area planning, and approving the furniture and computers for the employees in his division. General Foreman Reginald Valentine and Management Analyst James Wiggs were vital to this project as well.”
The Crinkley Engine Facility computer station is only the first step in improving workers’ access to information, Stuart said.
“What you’re looking at here is a pilot project,” Stuart said. “We hope to increase more computer access throughout the facility.”
Douglas Bohn, a welder at the facility, was the first employee to make use of the new computers after the ribbon cutting.
“We have two computers in our shop but, much of the time, they’re both tied up,” he said. “This is really nice.”
| Date Taken: | 01.11.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 01.11.2016 10:30 |
| Story ID: | 186018 |
| Location: | JACKSONVILLE, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 57 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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