3 l 12 l 2018
A weekly publication of Newport News Shipbuilding
Tim Bulles, left, and the Service Desk team participate in a crew talk. Photo by Matt Hildreth
Service Desk Wait Times Improve Earlier this year, a directive that requires all production leadership to hold crew talks each Thursday was issued. T54 Manager Tim Bulles, who is responsible for the Service Desk, also decided to implement weekly crew talks for his area.
Shipbuilders walk into the new CVN Carrier Café in the North Yard after the ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, March 9. Photo by Matt Hildreth
CVN Carrier Café Opens in North Yard A ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, March 9, marked the official opening of the CVN Carrier Café on the first floor of Bldg. 1744 in the North Yard. “This is just the beginning of an important effort to improve the quality of life for our shipbuilders,” CVN Program Trade Director Joe Dvorak told employees at the ceremony. Part of Newport News Shipbuilding's initiative to reclaim spaces to benefit shipbuilders, the café serves employees on all three shifts with timeclocks, vending machines, an ice machine, microwaves, picnic tables and computers that allow access to the company’s intranet. “This is really nice. I think it was an excellent idea,” Jeffery Davis (X31) said as he stood in the doorway of the newly opened café. Food vendors like Bojangles’, Chick-fil-A, King’s Pizza and Firehouse Subs will serve breakfast and lunch in the Carrier Café. The company is also working to make food vendors available for all three shifts. CONTINUED ON PG 2
“Finding a single opportunity to talk to my entire Service Desk staff at one time has proven to be challenging through the years as calls coming in rarely stop. When I heard about the crew talk initiative across the yard, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to follow suit as the call volume should be lower during this window,” he said. “My team has welcomed this rare opportunity as we use this time to focus on our weekly goals, talk about accountability and involve everyone in Process Improvement discussion while ending the session with a time of recognition.” Bulles and the Service Desk team have worked to reduce wait time to less than two minutes when shipbuilders call 688-HELP. The team has implemented a new skillsbased approach to get callers to a Service Desk agent much faster, which also results in a quicker resolution. Earlier this year, the Service Desk team achieved the two-minute goal for the first... CONTINUED ON PG 2
Nominations Underway The Model of Excellence (MOE) Award is presented to any individual or team demonstrating extraordinary performance that aligns with Newport News Shipbuilding's core values and business objectives in safety, quality, cost and schedule. Shipbuilders can submit nominations through March 31 to their division's representative using form NN 9134, available in the Forms Viewer. For detailed information about the program, visit the MOE website or contact Yasmine Robinson (O29) at 380-2428.