Electric Boat Wins Quality Improvement Awards

Electric Boat has been chosen to receive four Connecticut Quality Improvement Award (CQIA) Innovation Prizes in the fall.

EB will receive the Innovation Prizes for four specific process improvements:

• Implementing a Common Parts Catalog at EB, Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding;
• Developing a new process that eliminates the hardcopy distribution of various documents and drawings to outside customers;
• Creating the Critical Supplier Program, which provides consistency for audits and reduces the cost of supplier oversight;
• and Establishing a secure Vendor Information Request (VIR) system by which shipyards and their suppliers can submit and receive data electronically.

"The Innovation Prizes are a great recognition for the company," said Nancy Beckwith (323), a senior quality control specialist who worked on the Critical Supplier Program and who will accept one of the prizes on EB’s behalf at an awards ceremony in October."They recognize some really good things that the employees are doing in the areas of process innovation and teaming."

Ray Filosa (436), manager of information and document management, said EB employees are constantly looking to improve the way they do things, so being recognized by a statewide organization "validates that we’re on the right track and that we’re setting the standards that other people can look to." Filosa and recent retiree Jim Hammel co-sponsored the creation of the new document and drawing distribution system, which was worked on by a team that included Rich Morel (436) and Carrie Pfieffer, Kathy Doyle and Ron Raymond (all of 455).

Also receiving the CQIA prizes in October will be Darcy Peruzzotti (330), a purchasing agent who led the VIR efforts, and Barry Espeseth (447), a material systems staff specialist who was the EB lead in the development of the Common Parts Catalog.

"It’s a great honor," Peruzzotti said, "because what we do with VIR involves the shipbuilding industry, not just Electric Boat. We’ve made it easier for suppliers to do business with various shipyards, which will help maintain the supplier base."

"The thing that really surprises and pleases me," Espeseth said, "is that the CQIA group, which really didn’t know anything about shipbuilding, understood how important the Common Parts Catalog and the other enabled process improvements were for our shipyards and customer."