EYE ON INNOVATION
CODE 950 BUILDS FIBER OPTIC INSTALLATION KITS AS PART OF SHOP MODERNIZATION EFFORTS STORY BY KRISTI BRITT • PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST PHOTOS BY DANNY DEANGELIS • NNSY PHOTOGRAPHER
10 • SERVICE TO THE FLEET • MARCH 2020
Imagine working each day with delicate, transparent fibers the size of a human hair. These optical fibers are used to transmit light between two ends of the strands as part of fiber-optic communications, permitting transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidth than electrical cables. It is a complex science working with fiber optics and requires the precise tools for the job to work with these cables. For Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s (NNSY) Code 950, the tools needed have to be fitted and ready to go at the drop of a hat, whether to be used at America’s Shipyard or to be transported with flyaway teams across the world. However, when purchasing prepackaged kits, team members found they were spending a lot of money on oversized carrying cases with outdated equipment that did not fit their needs. “We needed something that specifically fit the shipyard’s mission and was able to be portable for our mechanics who are constantly on the move to the job,” said Fiber Optics Subject Matter Expect (SME)/Instructor Chris Nocon, who is no stranger to innovation at America’s Shipyard. In 2012, Nocon developed a fiber optic work station innovation that increased the effectiveness of the work and produced at an efficient speed for the worker. The innovation turned an originally four-person job into a one-person job. So when he was tasked by Shop Director Mike Davenport
