BREMERTON –
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Lescher, visited Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility, April 27, 2021, to tour PSNS & IMF facilities and discuss how the Public Shipyard Improvement Plan and the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program will enable PSNS & IMF to fully support the Navy the nation needs.
Lescher met with representatives from the Product Delivery and Infrastructure Executive Steering Committees to discuss how infrastructure upgrades and process transformation efforts help maximize productivity and ensure the on-time delivery of submarines and aircraft carriers.
Throughout the tour, Lescher learned more about how PSNS & IMF and the other public shipyards will be using the Navy’s Public Shipyard Improvement Plan and the Naval Sustainment System – Shipyard program to develop an optimized shipyard workforce, reduce production costs and improve schedule performance.
“It was a great opportunity for us to have Adm. Lescher visit our shipyard,” said Capt. Jip Mosman, commander, PSNS & IMF. “He was able to engage with our people and hear first-hand how we plan to accelerate improvements and better deliver ships on time out of availabilities. I appreciated the VCNO’s interest in what we do at the shipyard, his commitment to empowering our workforce and his willingness to remove barriers so we can successfully execute our mission. His message to our team was poignant and motivating – 'Get Real and Get Better.'”
Lescher stressed the need for the shipyards to leverage a data-driven approach to accurately forecast work, eliminate obstacles and facilitate the development and adoption of improved efficiencies.
“PSNS & IMF and the other public shipyards are doing the hard work right now to change behavior and drive outcomes so we can 'Get Real and Get Better,'” said Lescher. “We have good Americans who are trying to muscle through processes that just aren’t working well. The velocity of improvement comes when the mechanic sees things are getting easier for them. We want to make these improvements enduring, and I was glad for the opportunity to see the status quo is already changing at PSNS & IMF.”