Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is continuing its efforts to keep the worker at the center of gravity by supporting the efficient execution of their work. This commitment is reflected in the recent completion of the consolidated Paint, Blast and Rubber Facility.
Delivered by the Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC), PNSY, the new facility directly supports the workforce while aligning with Naval Sea Systems Command’s goals under the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP).
Housing the Coatings and Coverings Shop — which includes the Plastic Fabricator and Painter Blaster Shops— the new space has created numerous opportunities to increase efficiency and throughput, ultimately resulting in better support of timely schedule execution through facility and machining upgrades.
Previously, the Coatings and Coverings Shop was spread across several different buildings — an arrangement that often required a single job to be moved between multiple locations, leading to a high failure rate and unnecessarily complex work processes.
The facility is equipped to directly support mission-critical work completed at PNSY, including attack submarine maintenance and modernization projects and other productive work. “This is both a showpiece for the shipyard and a symbol of our workforce’s valuable support of the [warfighter],” said Coatings and Coverings Shop Superintendent Dave Veino. “The project serves as validation from the Navy that the daily dedication and sweat equity our mechanics invest is truly valued. I can see a significant shift in pride, confidence, and morale that was not quantifiable in the past.”
The new facility also enhances safety and working conditions for plastic fabricator staff. “The building brings operations into compliance with state-of-the-art life-safety and industrial ventilation requirements needed for the special functions carried out by the plastic fabricators,” said Deputy OICC Nathan Maher.
In addition to the safety improvements, the facility includes machinery and equipment upgrades that enable production employees to provide higher-quality work. The painters now have a powder-coating machine in the plastisol coating area, along with a plexiglass shaping area and rubber gasket inspection and packaging space. The number of paint blast booths has doubled and upgrades to the powder-coat line equipment now enable a level of production throughput that was previously unattainable.
The facility will also house new rubber-mixing equipment designed to minimize downtime and eliminate the need to transport material between multiple locations. Having one facility allows all of the environmental controls, required for many plastic fabrication processes, to be together in one area which will enable levels to be monitored and stabilized more easily reducing duplicate work. “In the past many parts of our processes had to be completed in different areas all over the shipyard, the new facility eliminates most of that,” said Plastic Fabrication General Foreman Mark Jewell.
This consolidation was the final piece of PNSY’s strategy to co-locate the majority of the structural and preservation shops to a common enclave in close proximity to the dry docks, improving efficiency through the adjacencies of related work and teams. “This state-of-the art facility will save well in excess of $2.5M a year just in rework alone, and the safety improvements for our workers are priceless,” said PNSY SIOP Director Russ Gagner. “This facility is focused on getting modernized submarines back to the fleet more efficiently to execute our national priorities, safely and with Portsmouth excellence.”
By bringing these crucial functions under one roof, the shipyard is positioned to better support the Chief of Naval Operation’s tasking to build a strong industrial Foundry that forges the Fleet to Fight. This step streamlines its processes and increases efficiency while also sending a clear message to its workforce — their contributions are valued, and they deserve a modern, safe, and effective environment in which to perform their vital work.
SIOP is a comprehensive, long-term recapitalization effort that is delivering integrated investments in infrastructure and industrial plant equipment at the Navy’s four public shipyards, expanding shipyard capacity and optimizing shipyard configuration to meet the Navy’s nuclear-powered fleet maintenance requirements. Recapitalizing the shipyards’ century-old infrastructure increases maintenance throughput, enhances readiness, and improves quality of service for the Navy’s 38,000 shipyard employees.