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January 2012 www.sname.org/sname/mt (professional development )At Ingalls Shipbuilding, we build complex warships for the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard. ese ships include Legend class high endurance coast guard cutters, Arleigh Burke class destroyers, San Antonio class LPD, and America class LHA amphibious warfare ships. When I?m asked about the work we do, I?m proud to say that these programs are truly the Olympics of heavy construction?among the most complex con- struction projects anywhere on the planet. Among the many challenges we face is providing the craft personnel who are properly trained to produce those ships; as of this writing, we employ more than 8,000 craft personnel and expect to hire thousands more in the coming years. In recent years, industry focus on cost cutting has been widespread as rms attempt to remain competitive. Where in the past companies have had robust training programs that enable the development of personnel, many of those programs have been allowed to atrophy in order to shed overhead dollars. In addition, non-tradi- tional learning methods?distance learning, simulation, and virtual training?have gained favor in some areas as a substitute for hands on training. Today personnel requisitions are often prefaced with the requirement ?journeyman only,? indicating the need to hire only very experienced personnel and avoid spending training dol- lars. One of the negative results of this has been a gradual decline of standards as pressure to hire these personnel increases as industry fails to invest in their future. At Ingalls, we believe that we can signicantly change the trajectory of our company by ensuring that our train- ing programs provide high-quality craftsmen and women to our workforce. We require all production person- nel to come through training; to receive a consistent evaluation of skill sets for hiring purposes; and to be provided the right training and set of expectations that enables them to be productive in the workforce on day one of their assignment. In the last year, we?ve focused our training around two key concepts: craft competencies and what we call reality- based training. Our competency-based model requires that we dene the skill sets that we expect a journeyman An Evolving Approach to Training Craft competencies at Ingalls Shipbuilding BY JOþÿ h nHN þÿ LLOþÿ t s h a wTSHAWA shiptter works on tting a structural member in the Ingalls Shipbuilding mockup. 01_25_FDept_SNAME_Jan12_P4.indd 1112/22/11 3:36 PM