Starting with last week’s blog, I’ve been discussing the expectations I laid out in our all-hands meetings during my first week at BIW. Last week, I addressed my first expectation, “Work Safe,” because safety is most important in all we do. This week I want to cover what I mean by my second expectation, “Do it right the first time.”
During those all-hands meetings, I described how I believe that the daily decisions you make in your jobs impact the company more than many of the decisions I make in my job. That is because you, as an individual employee, are at what I call the “point of execution.” When you are designing a system, welding a part, repairing a tool, buying equipment or carrying out any of the many jobs we have here, executing your task correctly—or incorrectly—has an effect on everything that follows down the road.
The Navy places a great deal of trust in the ships we build. Sailors’ lives depend on us building these ships correctly and to the highest quality standard. But all of your fellow shipbuilders are also depending on you to do your job right the first time, too.
Nobody likes rework. Having to take something out and do it over again doesn’t just cost time and money. It also hurts our co-workers’ morale. Nothing is more demoralizing than to spend hours on a project, putting your best effort into it, going home with pride in your work, and then coming in the next day and discovering someone forgot to do something important or did something wrong and your piece had to be ripped out. And, to top it all off, you have to do yesterday’s work over again today.
No one ever feels as good doing something over again, especially when that error should have been caught by better planning, better communication, better documentation or better execution.
One person having to do rework is bad enough, but if the error is large enough, several workers or even dozens of shipbuilders must all redo their jobs. This wastes material, wastes time, and frustrates everyone, including the Navy. All the Navy wants is our ships, built right, as fast as we can have them ready to sail away.
Doing your work right the first time might require double-checking, asking questions or getting help. It might mean taking a bit more time to find the correct part, tool or answer. It means not taking shortcuts. But in the end, the time saved—for you, for your coworkers and everyone who touches the ship after you—is worth it.
Doing your job correctly each time and every time is a sign of respect for your fellow shipbuilders and for our sailors.
Chuck
President, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works