Shipbuilders,

Two weeks ago, we celebrated our Model of Excellence winners, recognizing 260 shipbuilders from across the company. These employees model our values and represent the best of what our company stands for in every part of our business.

That same day, I shared with you that some welders self-reported through the OpenLine that they and other welders had not consistently followed established welding procedures. We continue to investigate these reports and assess the potential impact of the welds involved.

Let me make this clear: Our unwavering commitment to high quality work is essential for the safety of those who live and serve on our ships, and for maintaining the trust and confidence of our customer. We cannot allow the actions of some to diminish our 138-year legacy of “Always Good Ships,” and I want our full workforce to understand the importance of this issue and our response.

We have taken immediate and near-term actions that support waterfront operations, including:

• Holding quality discussions with all welders and waterfront leadership to reinforce expected behaviors.
• Reviewing job preparation and work completion requirements.
• Increasing oversight and monitoring to confirm welding procedures are understood and followed.

Our actions are not limited to the waterfront. As president, I hold myself and my leadership team to the same values and standards I expect of all shipbuilders. As such, we have also taken action to ensure leadership alignment, learning and transparency. These actions include maintaining open lines of communication with our key stakeholders and leadership, and establishing an executive oversight council, led by Vice President of In-service Aircraft Carrier Programs Rob Check, to work full-time on this issue and develop a response plan.

While we work with urgency to resolve this, we are deliberately ensuring we understand the root causes and learn from them. Our oversight council will continue providing transparent communications on additional actions we take.

In the meantime, you can rely on me and our oversight council to provide information as we learn more from this matter. It is critical that everyone stay focused on the safe, quality execution of your work. Ask questions when you are unclear. If you see questionable behavior or actions by others, speak to your supervisor or report it through the HII OpenLine by calling 1-877-631-0020. Our work is too important for anything less.

Respectfully,
Jennifer Boykin
President, Newport News Shipbuilding