Original Date: 07/21/2003
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Electric Boat Company was established in 1899 to implement submarine designs by John Phillip Holland, an Irish schoolteacher, dreamer, engineer, and single-minded genius whose love of the sea and superior talents for machine design made him the architect of the modern submarine that has revolutionized naval warfare. On November 23, 1973, Electric Boat opened its Quonset Point Facility (EBQP) in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, on Narragansett Bay. The 169-acre facility has access to water, air, rail, and interstate highway systems. Here, major submarine components and hull cylinders are cut, machined, and formed using digitally controlled machines. This precision process is driven by the electronically transmitted digital design data from the design team at Electric Boat’s Groton, Connecticut Facility. The completed submarine hull cylinders are outfitted with tanks, propulsion and auxiliary machinery, cruise missile and torpedo tubes, piping, wiring, and lighting, and are then barged to Groton or Northrop Grumman at Newport News, Virginia, for completion.

EBQP hosted its first BMP survey in March 1999. The survey focused on Quonset Point’s unique fabrication capabilities to manufacture submarine hull cylinders and major components using digitally controlled machines. The survey team documented such best practices as the company’s employees’ assistance program, process improvement program, safety quality action team and safety action reviews, cost-of-quality program, off-hull outfitting, automated frame and cylinder system, and barging from Quonset Point to Groton.

EBQP enthusiastically hosted its second BMP survey during the week of July 21, 2003, with the entire facility becoming involved. The company once again demonstrated its experience, technical expertise, innovation, and motivation, clearly indicating that continuous process improvements, the environment, its workforce, and success are part of its culture. EBQP focuses not only on its manufacturing processes, but on the health, safety, and development of its employees as well. It has aggressively enhanced training and education programs, encouraged employee involvement in leadership and communication, and improved safety and health programs. EBQP has implemented advanced manufacturing resource planning, installed advanced manufacturing techniques, executed a comprehensive quality improvement program, and modular design and construction, which enables end-loading of its submarines. This is exemplified by the construction of the Virginia Class Attack Submarine, U.S.S. Virginia (SSN-774), the first major warship designed entirely by computer.

Electric Boat has been a vanguard of submarine technological development with its establishment of a standard of excellence in the design and construction of submarines for the U.S. Navy. It provided the Navy with its first welded submarine, U.S.S. Cuttlefish (SS-171), the first nuclear powered submarine, U.S.S. Nautilus (SSN-571), and the first fleet ballistic missile submarine, U.S.S. George Washington. EBQP’s innovation, technical expertise, implementation of Lean Six Sigma manufacturing practices, and continuous improvement program have equipped the U.S. Navy with a submarine force that is second to none. The BMP survey team considers the practices in this report to be among the best in industry and government.

TABLE OF ACRONYMS:
The following acronyms were used in this report:

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.