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| Archive COAST GUARD PRESS RELEASE "All-Hands Award" Ceremony Is a Yard Triple Header!During an "All-Hands" celebration held at the Coast Guard Yard on October 2nd, four members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation and the Coast Guard's Assistant Commandant for Systems presented three prestigious awards to the shipyard's work force. Employees of the Yard, its tenant commands and invited guests numbered nearly 900 and enjoyed the mid-morning festivities on the parade grounds of the l0l year old shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland. The honors recognized outstanding achievements by Yard employees in the areas of government reinvention, environmental management, and maritime excellence.The Hammer Award The ceremony opened with U.S. Senators Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski's presentation of the Vice President's Hammer Award to the Coast Guard Yard. The Hammer Award is Vice President Al Gore's special recognition for teams of federal employees who have made significant contributions in support of the principles of the National Partnership For Reinventing Government. These principles are: putting customers first; cutting red tape; empowering employees, and getting back to basics. The Yard's Hammer Award recognized the 49' BUSL (Boat Utility Stern Loading) Production Team and Gainsharing Initiative, the latter permitted under the Yard's Reinvention Lab Status attained four years ago. Early in the 49" BUSL construction program, the Yard designated a team of in-house experts to reengineer the project's production line in order to streamline time and cost of building the new workboats. The restructuring resulted in a simplified production of each successive boat. The key changes involved breaking down the construction production sequence into ten work modules per boat. Selected workers from a mix of trades stayed with their construction module as each BUSL boat passed thru the assembly production line. The initiative resulted in improved production management as the team of experts repeated the learned task on consecutive BUSLs. Actual labor savings of $1 million were realized, along with decreased production time. With the success of the restructured BUSL production line, the Yard instituted gainsharing, a motivating technique used to encourage cost savings by rewarding employees for efficient work. The Coast Guard Yard is the first organization in the U.S. Coast Guard to successfully implement a gainsharing program. In the BUSL gainsharing initiative, the Yard's customer - the U.S. Coast Guard - received more than 90% of realized savings. The members of the BUSL team received a portion of the remaining savings. Ultimately, the U.S. taxpayer benefitted in lower project costs. ISO l400l Certification (Environmental) U.S. Congressman Ben Cardin presented the Yard's newly attained ISO l400l Certification to members of the Yard Safety & Occupational Health Staff and Facilities Management Division. The Coast Guard Yard is the first organization in the U.S. Coast Guard and the first shipyard in the United States to achieve the ISO l400l Certification. The Yard reached this success after completing an intense examination of its environmental management systems, a journey begun four years ago. ISO l400l Certification requires a comprehensive environmental policy; a planning and implementation process which incorporates the environmental policy into day to day business; management review of the business processes, and checking/auditing the reporting compliance to the standard by both Yard personnel and outside auditors. Attainment of the world class pollution prevention standard pledges the Yard to good stewardship of its surroundings and continuous improvement of environmental management practices. ISO l400l commits the Coast Guard Yard to keeping the Chesapeake Bay and its waterways "green" or environmentally friendly for present and future generations. A milestone for improved local and global environmental protection, ISO Certification recognizes the Coast Guard Yard as a leader in environmental excellence within the shipyard industry. Coast Guard Unit Commendation U.S. Congressman Robert Ehrlich and Rear Admiral Ronald Silva, Assistant Commandant For Sytems, U.S. Coast Guard, bestowed the Coast Guard Unit Commendation to the employees of the Yard.The Coast Guard Unit Commendation recognizes the Yard for exceptional work performed during the period September l, l997 thru June 30, l999. The timeframe highlights excellence in the areas of new construction, repair, renovation, ordnance overhauls, physical plant improvements and commemorates the Yard's l00th Anniversary last year. |
