IT keeps sub maker above water

The Astute class of submarine is currently under construction

As you come in to land at BAE Systems Submarine Solutions’ private airstrip, the sprawling warehouses of its Barrow-in-Furness site look like a grey and depressing place to work.

But on the ground, the mood is considerably better than it was in 2002, when BAE Systems admitted it was suffering cost over-runs and delays on its £3.8bn contract to build three Astute Class nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy.

BAE and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) subsequently hammered out an agreement in early 2003 to invest £250m and £430m respectively to get the programme back on track.

The new dawn began as Murray Easton was brought in as the shipyard’s 10th managing director in 10 years.

Easton quickly identified inefficient use of IT as a significant problem, according to BAE Systems’ outgoing chief information officer (CIO), John McCormick. “Murray came in and identified IT as a key area that needed to improve to deliver the Astute Class,” he told Computing.

A year later Easton brought in McCormick from support services group Babcock International, and he began to evaluate the way IT was being delivered across the business.

BAE had an outsourcing deal with supplier CSC that was reviewed, and in 2007 Carillion IT Services was contracted to replace the incumbent supplier. “Previously we were constantly re-baselining, and IT delivery was late,” said McCormick.

The previous model resulted in a churn in project management and often staff had to leave before projects were finished because of delays.

All projects are now planned jointly between BAE and Carillion. Every year around the beginning of October, the manufacturer and its supplier get together to formulate an overall plan for the next year so that resources are ready for when projects get the green light.

Every effort is then made to make sure the correct resources, whether they are staff or technology, stay with the relevant projects until they are finished.

Because of the size of the various construction areas ­ the largest, known as the Devonshire Dock Hall, measures 269 metres by 51 metres ­ a key issue is the need to keep transport times to a minimum. Each worker is given a daily worksheet of parts to collect, move and assemble. Making sure that all parts are in the right place at the right time is vital, and that means careful use of IT for tracking.

BAE Systems uses a “kitting” methodology, where multiple components are grouped to form a predefined kit in an area close to the submarine prior to assembly.
Accuracy of information is vital to ensure the right parts get to where they are needed.

However, in the past changes to work programmes meant that the worksheets given to workers in the morning could suddenly become out of date. To get round this, BAE has pushed its IT closer to the place of assembly.

“A new head of manufacturing came in and applied some lessons from the automotive industry, which was to get the IT as close as possible to the product,” said McCormick.

This was one of the factors that led to the development of yellow modular construction towers close to the submarines.

These house small offices containing IT equipment that can be moved around the hall and plugged in at various different locations. These mobile offices are used by both team leaders and assembly workers.

“If people want information they don’t have to trek around. There is much more immediacy of data than before,” said McCormick.

Efforts are being made to get IT even closer to the submarines. BAE is piloting tablet PCs in some divisions and quality control inspectors are using rugged laptops to check parts.

Unfortunately, BAE Systems cannot use wireless technology to equip workers with constantly updated information because the boats act like a giant Faraday cage and block signals.

The company has the same problem with RFID tagging, meaning that all parts are bar coded.

The firm is looking at using 3G technology to get around these problems, but for now it has got IT as close to the boats as it can, and the new approach has helped enormously.

Productivity has improved significantly and in 2007 the MoD ordered a fourth Astute Class submarine, and long lead-time items are being procured for boat five of what eventually will be a seven-boat class.

Viewpoint: Steve Cole, incoming head of IT

Current CIO John McCormick is leaving BAE to take up a job in the public sector. He will be replaced by Steve Cole in 2009. Here Steve talks about the IT priorities for BAE Systems Submarine Solutions going forward.

I've been impressed with what I've seen of Carillion so far. We don't have to put out a lot of fires now which is a strong position to be in. As the complexity of the boats increase there will be lots of challenges regarding the evolution of the technology.

These include improving collaboration and ensuring interfacing with out business colleagues is robust, incorporating new and innovative information systems, and working to meet the affordability demands of our customers.

It's also important to retain information security requirements. In terms of systems we need to expand the use of as many proven packages as possible. We want to extend our data wearehousing project so that related processes can get better access to information.

Currently business use of systems is a bit isolated - we need better cross-functional use of information. We're rolling out an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) update using a more modern intranet / IP enabled system so ERP data is used to better effect in different areas. We also need more compatability to support better use of how we use digital modeling – widely used in design - in the assembly of the boats. We're also doing a big desktop and laptop refresh over the next couple of years.

The Helpdesk

An onsite IT help desk, staffed and managed by Carillion is situated within the wider BAE Systems IT department in a glass-encased corner of the room.

"Previously the IT dept was on one side of the room and the provider on the other side of room. Now we're all mixed together and that's a good metaphor for how thing are working with Carillion," said CIO John McCormick.

There are 8 staff at any one time on the service desk, soon to be increased to 12. The desk has a results orientated layout, with a screen on the wall showing the amont of calls cleared and pending in the queue.

The desk is also moving to a 24 hour schedule to match to match production cycles. The desks gets call from any part of production process at any time, and many of the cycles run continuously overnight, leading to a backlog of calls in the morning.

Carillion says the desk deals with 3,200 incidents per month and under 50 are left open at the end of the average period. 70 per cent of incidents are dealt with in the first call to the desk.