Automotive Lean Manufacturing Techniques Revamp Wisconsin Maker of U.S. Navy Warships

The Wisconsin shipyard where U.S. Navy's coastal warships are built, was revamped using automotive industry's lean manufacturing techniques. Italy's Fincantieri SpA, the Freedom variant warship builder, manufactures in this shipyard for their major contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

Fincantieri also poured $100 million worth of investments for the past several years to bring the 1940s shipyard back to life.

Reuters reported that Fincantieri and Lockheed plans to use the resulting savings to contend in a multibillion-dollar U.S. Navy competition that will start in 2017 for 20 upgraded versions of the LCS. The Navy plans to purchase 32 LCS models from Lockheed and Australia's Austal Ltd. However, by 2017, the Navy will decide whether to continue buying from both providers, or just stick to one of the companies.

Just this Friday, The Pentagon announced that Lockheed overtook Raytheon Co in a contract with the US Navy worth $428 million to continue modernizing the Aegis combat systems in their ships.

Wall Street sell-side analysts expect Lockheed to report earnings of $2.71 for this year's fiscal quarter, according to The Market Daily.

Jan Allman, who was recently named president of Fincantieri Marinette Marine in 2014 after working in the automotive and truck business for almost thirty years, roams around the shipyard everyday to gather tips from workers on how to improve the company's production. One worker told Allman that she saved hundreds of dollars every month by giving small amount of titanium grease for the daily use of employees, instead of distributing $20 can that will end up in the garbage by the end of the day.

Allman said she gets 200 suggestions during quarterly meeting from almost 1,500 employees at the shipyard, just north of Green Bay.

Navy program executive officer for Littoral Combat Ships, Rear Admiral Brian Antonio, said, "We like what we see, from the way she's energizing her workforce. It makes a big difference in quality and the amount of rework because people are taking more pride in their job."

Presently, there are seven Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) being built in the shipyard, including three functional ships that have been launched.