SPOTLIGHT: Todd Pacific Shipyards Corporation
By GORDON I. PETERSON, Senior Editor
Sea Power: Todd Pacific Shipyards has been in the shipbuilding-and-repair business in Seattle [Wash.] for 80 years. Today your yard is ISO-[International Organization for Standardization] certified. What does this certification represent to your customers?
WEBB: ISO certification means a great deal to our customers, but most of them don't know it! Until the advent of ISO, and its application in shipyards, each ship owner--and indeed each shipyard--would have their own expectations of what the word "quality" meant. A shipyard working for a handful of different customers could expect to have specific--but different--processes and results expected of them on each vessel. This led to confusion and higher costs. In the absence of a specific demand from an owner, a shipyard could do the absolute minimum-quality work that an owner would accept.
ISO requires a company to live up to a universal standard and apply that standard to all its customers--not just the ones who ask for it. We believe that ISO has made us a much more predictable shipyard with more accountability for our actions. It is our benchmark for quality work. We now have a universal standard as our reference for quality.
What do you mean when you tell your customers that you are a "best-value" shipyard?
Value is somewhat of an abstract term, but it is far more meaningful than the term "low cost." When an owner assigns value to on-time delivery, quality work backed by a guarantee, the ability to surge a work force to accommodate growth, and the convenience of getting all his work done at one place--in one consolidated time period, with an experienced and effective management team, and at a predictable cost--then he is considering "best value." That is what we represent. Best value is our hallmark.
Are there any new trends emerging in the ship-repair work and maintenance availabilities you perform for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard?
Yes, there are. The most visible change in recent months has been the institution of force-protection measures at commercial shipyards due to the events of 9/11. There are stories of widely differing standards of protection being required at different sites around the country, but at least in our case it is significantly more difficult to get in and out of our yard, or to approach the piers where naval vessels are docked. The other major change is the compression of time available for work. The acceleration of deployment cycles of Navy ships and Coast Guard cutters means it is now normal to work around the clock on these ships. The quality of life for crews while their ship is in the yard also has become a greater challenge. Todd works constantly toward improving performance in these areas.
Most important of all, however, are the steps that are being taken to finally apply modern management techniques to the ship-repair industry. Our company is partnered with Atlantic Marine under an NSRP [National Shipbuilding Research Program] grant to apply the techniques of "lean manufacturing" to the shipyard world. The potential of this application is stunning, and we believe it will make Todd a far more effective shipyard. All of our customers are asking for more work at a lower cost, and we see the whole industry becoming far more effective than it has ever been. Credit has to be given to the Navy for funding in some way most, if not all, of the improvement initiatives that are underway in the industry.
The Navy often is challenged to strike the right balance in apportioning ship-repair work and availabilities between its naval shipyards and the private sector. Are the nation's private yards getting a "fair share" of work?
I can only answer this question in a regional context. Even prior to 9/11 the amount of work that our neighbor PSNY [Puget Sound Naval Shipyard] was sending out to private industry was expanding and would qualify as a "fair share." Since that date, Todd and PSNY have really worked together toward sharing resources, processes, and anything else that makes sense to keep the Navy's ships at sea.
In the future, after we win this war, the public/private ratio issue will, of course, return. There will always be some tension between public and private shipyards, but this serves to keep both parties on their toes! That is a good thing for the Navy--and the nation.
Your yard built a number of guided-missile frigates for the Navy some years ago. Could you describe your new-construction work today?
Todd is not currently doing any new construction. Re-entry into new-construction Navy programs is not practical unless a massive naval buildup is undertaken--at a scale beyond the capacity of the nation's existing builders. We constructed new ferries for the state [Washington] in the last few years and would consider doing so again, but we currently focus on the repair-and-conversion market.
Because the United States is a maritime nation, the size and modernization of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S.-flag Merchant Marine fleets are important for both economic and national-security reasons. Are you concerned by the trends of recent years?
I am past the point of concern. Short of massive government intervention the U.S. Merchant Marine will only continue to shrink. The ability--more correctly, the willingness--of the nation to fund the cost of new warships and the like is limited. I don't see the fleets getting smaller, but I do see the ships getting older. From the point of view of a manager of a full-service ship repair yard that is not such a bad thing!
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