Overview

Project Number: S2926

Project Title: Improved Lead Bay Packing

Period of Performance: JAN22 – DEC24

Objective

Current classes of U.S. submarines ships use lead for ballast and balancing. The lead packing process begins with the delivery of painted lead bricks, weighing between 34 and 56 pounds each, to the shop floor. These bricks are then transported to the hull section using an overhead lift and manually placed into position within the hull. Painted lead bricks are hazardous materials which require handling by specially qualified lead workers. The physical demand upon the individual necessitates increasing the number of qualified lead workers needed to support lead packing. Qualified lead workers require specialized training and periodic medical surveillance tests and physical exams, must suit-up in cumbersome full-body protective personal equipment including respirators, and require decontamination at the end of each shift. This adds to the activity’s span time with extra tasks for setup, breakdown, and clean-up. Inadvertent mishandling of heavy bricks poses both a serious injury hazard, not only to lead packing personnel, but also to any non- lead packing personnel working near lead handling. Damaging the painted lead brick surface could result in exposing the work environment to lead. Specialized training, medical surveillance testing, and physical exams reduce the availability of highly skilled trades. Supervisor manually collects and reports the weight of lead packed into each bin, which is non-value added and time consuming. The manual calculations must be checked by Naval Architecture.

This project is expected to reduce cycle time for lead bay packing processes by approximately 30 percent and, where feasible, replace manual weight logging with an integrated digital weight collection and reporting interface. It is also expected to minimize human exposure to lead and physically demanding activities (manual lifting and repetitive motion – such as bending and twisting) – this is an ancillary goal that will not be quantitatively measurable but is an important aspect of this project.

Benefits/Payoff

Once implemented, General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) anticipates that this project will improve efficiency and safety in the lead bay packing process. Implementation of new technologies / products developed under this project is estimated to result in savings of $713K per VIRGINIA hull and $1.65M per COLUMBIA hull, creating a combined five-year return on investment (ROI) of 8.96:1.

Implementation

GDEB will implement the solution in a production environment beginning in the 2Q FY2027 on multiple ship platforms, including the construction of VIRGINIA Class submarine (VCS) and COLUMBIA Class submarine.

*Prepared under ONR Contract N00014-24-D-7001 as part of the Navy ManTech Program.

*DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. DCN# 2024-10-17-189