Surface Team One (ST1): A Powerful Approach to Changing the ...

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Surface Team One (ST1):
A Powerful Approach to Changing the Culture of the
Surface Maintenance Community
Authors
RDML (s) David Gale
Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance
Center (CNRMC)
david.j.gale@navy.mil
757-444-3001
Bilyana Anderson
Executive Director, Surface Warfare
(NAVSEA21B)
bilyana.anderson@navy.mil
202-781-2963
ABSTRACT
Over the past 12-18 months, many critical initiatives have been underway within the surface ship
maintenance and modernization community to improve processes so that our ships will meet goals for
expected service life (ESL) and the highest standards of combat capability. The Fleet Review Panel
(FRP), directed by the Fleet Commanders and chaired by Vice Admiral (ret) Phillip Balisle, issued a
detailed report in February 2010 that outlined major gaps in the surface community's ability to meet those
goals, which codified the investments being made by the Navy in the surface maintenance community.
Vice Admiral Kevin McCoy, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), tasked his staff to
fully engage the challenges posed by the FRP. A key component of this was to stand up Surface Team
One (ST1).
BACKGROUND
Over the past 12-18 months, many critical initiatives have been underway within the surface ship
maintenance and modernization community to improve processes so that our ships will meet goals for
expected service life (ESL) and the highest standards of combat capability. The Fleet Review Panel
(FRP), directed by the Fleet Commanders and chaired by Vice Admiral (ret) Phillip Balisle, issued a
detailed report in February 2010 that outlined major gaps in the surface community's ability to meet those
goals, which codified the investments being made by the Navy in the surface maintenance community.
Vice Admiral Kevin McCoy, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), tasked his staff to
fully engage the challenges posed by the FRP. A key component of this was to stand up Surface Team
One (ST1).
SURFACE TEAM ONE – BRIDGING THE GAPS
Surface Team One was established as a unified body of the many organizations that contribute to the
planning and execution of maintenance and modernization on the Surface Ships. ST1 transcends the
customary organizational boundaries to which the surface maintenance and modernization community is
accustomed, allowing better cross-organizational cooperation and sharing of knowledge. It is not a
command nor an official code or organization. Instead, ST1 serves as the coordinating body for
representatives across the surface maintenance and modernization community, providing the structure for
the management of long-term systematic improvements in quality, schedule, and cost performance. ST1
strives to define, champion, and improve cross-organizational processes in order to address the
maintenance and modernization challenges, integrating the efforts of contributing organizations into an
effective total process. While not serving as a technical authority or a substitute for the proper execution
of assigned responsibilities, ST1 serves as a forum for accountability and oversight to ensure all
organizations are operating within the approved and prescribed processes.

Stakeholders in ST1 include the Chief of Naval Operations Staff (OPNAV), Fleet Commanders’ staffs,
Type Commanders’ staffs (TYCOMs), NAVSEA, and every surface ship. A common goal exists across
all stakeholders -- to improve current readiness and to meet the ship’s ESL. Each of these
commands/organizations plays its own part in achieving this goal, and each is critical to the whole.
Because it is common for organizations to maintain their principal focus on day-to-day efforts in very
dynamic Navy workplaces, it is important to have a structure that drives opportunities to share
information across traditional boundaries and account for decisions or actions that may affect others’
efforts. ST1 provides that structure.
The surface community’s interdependency is most visible in the organizational ―hand-offs‖ – those touch
points where one command turns a product over to another – and there are many. An example of these
interdependencies is found in routinely scheduled ship availabilities. Multi-Ship, Multi-Option (MSMO)
contractors conduct the scheduled ship modernization and repair. The MSMO contract strategy is
developed by NAVSEA21, who has a reporting responsibility to Navy leadership. Regional Maintenance
Centers (RMCs) execute contracts with the selected MSMO contracting partners and oversee their efforts
as the Navy Supervisory Authority. Work conducted by the MSMO contractors is funded by the
TYCOMs and the NAVSEA Program Office. Work execution and completion is tracked and reported
through to the TYCOMs, Fleet Commanders, NAVSEA and OPNAV. The many stakeholders range
from the deckplates to Washington, DC.
This is just one example of the complexity of the surface community’s organizational hand-offs, which
involve many people and many commands. Each hand-off is an opportunity for success… or for failure.
The power of the ST1 body resides in its ability to align separate maintenance organizations, allowing
them to operate in a single integrated effort to execute approved processes.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
An essential benefit from ST1 is knowledge sharing. ST1 has established a Knowledge Management
(KM) system for the surface community.
If knowledge is power, then it needs to be exploited to the fullest extent for the most powerful Navy on
earth. Note that knowledge is either explicit— such as manuals, blueprints and instructions, or tacit —
what people know in their heads. Most references suggest that only about 20% of knowledge is explicit
while the remaining 80% is tacit. Consequently, sharing tacit knowledge is where the real opportunity for
learning resides and the point at which the community can leverage the power of our stakeholders to
benefit our Navy. Knowledge sharing allows project teams and community members better achieve
maintenance and modernization goals on a small or large scale, but most importantly, as a network.
ST1 provides a platform for the oversight and management of surface maintenance knowledge processes,
developing ―Knowledge Managers‖ who provide the expertise, tools, and on-line web-supported systems
essential for the effective capture and sharing of community knowledge across the stakeholder
organizations.
Some of the benefits from operating with a well-established KM System are that it:
� takes advantage of existing expertise and experience;
� promotes standard, repeatable processes and procedures;
� allows re-use of the organization’s best problem-solving experiences;
� provides methods, tools, templates, techniques and examples.
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With every group or community there are challenges, and those with a KM system in place are better
equipped to address them by avoiding:
� repetitive mistakes;
� reinventing the wheel;
� inadequate standards;
� lack of knowledge resources - ―we don’t know what we know‖.
Opportunities always exist for improvement. A community operating with KM System is able to
recognize opportunities when they arise and understand how and in what construct one can take action to
improve upon them. Below are some areas where opportunities for improvement exist:
� Effectiveness: taking advantage of existing expertise and experience;
� Learning: communicating important information widely and quickly. An informed workforce can
act in accordance with the leadership’s strategy and direction;
� Repeatability: providing standard processes, procedures, methods, tools, templates, techniques
and examples. The result is consistent products and services of high quality;
� Transportability: making scarce expertise widely available. In other words, key knowledge from
one part of the organization can be applied when needed by another organization, which can
make a difference in saving money. satisfying a customer, or resolving a crisis;
� Efficiency: accelerating product or capability deliveries to customers;
� Leveraging: Bureaucracies are cumbersome, but there’s lots of information in them. Sharing
information enables larger organizations to use their size to their advantage;
� Reliability: an organization’s best problem-solving experiences need to be re-usable;
� Innovation: invention, process improvement, cycle time reduction and creative new ways of
doing things help stimulate growth and make an organization stronger.
Reference: Extracted from “Implementing a Successful KM Program” by Stan Garfield, author of the Ark
Group Report.
CHANGING THE CULTURE OF SURFACE SHIP MAINTENANCE AND
MODERNIZATION
Changing the way business is done within a large organization frequently requires a change in culture.
Moving surface ship maintenance and modernization into a new culture of performance excellence and
driving new practices will require a significant change in organizational mindset, along with strong
leadership. When ST1 was established, the structure was designed to account for culture change and
address organizational challenges and mindsets, ST1 is a deliberately planned effort to take steps required
to establish a new culture – one that incorporates trust, knowledge sharing, and a desire to find new and
better ways to maintain and modernize our surface ships.
The ST1 Construct
ST1 is made up of various levels of effort. Figure 1 below shows the basic structure of ST1, and each
block is described in greater detail below. Note that this construct is continuously morphing to best fit the
requirement of the overall surface maintenance and modernization community as new requirements and
process gaps are identified.
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Figure 1. ST1 Basic Structure
Executive Steering Committee
ST1’s oversight is the Executive Steering Committee (ESC). This senior level (O-7 / O-6, GS-15 / GS-
14) body of representatives from the many Navy maintenance and modernization commands manages
community priorities and provides guidance and support for the many initiatives being put into place.
The ESC is Co-Chaired by NAVSEA21B and CNRMC with Principal Membership made up of the
TYCOM N43s and Fleet N43s. Additional Membership to the ESC includes OPNAV N43, NAVSEA,
Navy Regional Maintenance Center (NRMC), SURFMEPP, Navy Surface Warfare Centers (NSWC) in
Philadelphia and Port Hueneme, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), and the
Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS).
The ESC supports maintenance and modernization efforts by providing guidance and a common vision,
empowering support efforts to accomplish goals, and in assisting organizations in driving changes.
Additionally, the ESC serves as the ―executive memory‖ for the surface maintenance and modernization
community, to make certain that the rationale for decisions made and the impact they had collected in the
knowledge data bank.
The Life Cycle Management Group is a sub-set of the ESC and oversees and executes strategies to
improve engineering, logistics requirements and funding for Life Cycle Sustainment. The LCMG
collaborates on current year execution requirements, improves readiness and ensures requirements and
goals match achieved readiness levels. The group also considers future year maintenance, sustainment,
and modernization requirements.

Key Process Focus Areas – Surface Ship Readiness Initiatives
In early 2010, five major initiatives were born out of an analysis comparing surface ship maintenance
processes to those for the carrier and submarine communities. This analysis resulted in development of a
Surface Ship Maintenance, Modernization, and Sustainment End-to-End Process Map. By mapping out
the community’s processes, distinct gaps in the plan were identified and the culmination of their work
became known as the ―Surface Ship Readiness Initiatives‖ (SSRIs) or the ―5 Big Rocks‖. The SSRIs
included:
� Transitioning the Surface Ship Life Cycle Management Activity (SSLCM) to Surface Ship
Maintenance Engineering Planning Program (SURFMEPP),
� Common Assessments Policy,
� Availability Execution and Work Certification,
� Sustainment Program,
� RMC Capabilities and Capacity.
The SSRIs are key contributors to the ST1 priorities, and their objectives are coordinated and led by
various stakeholder commands on the ST1 ESC. More specific objectives and accomplishments of these
initiatives are detailed later in this paper.
Increasing Power through Knowledge Sharing Networks
ST1 has established several Knowledge Sharing Networks (KSNs), which are cross-organizational groups
focused on specific practices rather than specific tasks or assignments. The goal is to manage the
evolution of those processes over time. Essentially, a KSN seeks to:
� share new ideas, lessons learned, proven practices, insights, and practical suggestions;
� innovate through brainstorming, building on each other's ideas, and keeping informed on
emerging developments;
� reuse solutions through asking and answering questions, applying shared insights, and retrieving
posted material;
� collaborate through threaded discussions, conversations, and interactions;
� learn from other members of the community; from invited guest speakers about successes,
failures, case studies, and new trends; and through mentoring.
Under the ST1 construct, each KSN aligns overarching priorities and objectives of the community, gains
assistance from the ESC in overcoming any obstacles, and communicates suggestions for process
improvement. Additionally, the KSNs share information and knowledge across the Surface Navy
community. Each KSN is led by a Process Master (PM) and also has an ESC Sponsor who champions
the efforts of the KSNs to the ESC. In addition, each KSN’s membership is made up of subject matter
experts from the community. More specific objectives and accomplishments of these initiatives are
detailed below.
IMPACTING THE SURFACE COMMUNITY CULTURE VIA COLLABORATIVE
POLICY AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
Using the powerful tools in knowledge management as described above, and a strong stakeholder
construct that allows for both ―top-down‖ and ―bottom up‖ execution of work, ST1 has been established
as the way business is conducted in the surface community. This is a change in the overall culture of the
community – the results of which, in its short tenure, are plenty. To drive towards strong change in the
way in which the community conducts business, organizational changes have been initiated with
collaborative development of revised policies and processes.
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End-to-End Availability Planning Cycle
The end-to-end availability planning cycle was designed to drive improvements to surface ship material
condition. It is a comprehensive process from the development of, execution of, and feedback into the
requirements. Mapping out the availability planning cycle with technical rigor is the foundation of the
bridge required to address the process gaps. The SSRIs and KSNs impact the overall end-to-end process
map in various manners, and the availability planning cycle is a big piece of that.
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End-to-End Availability Planning Cycle
Avail. Close Out
Deferral Le er
Assessment
Condi on
Plan Long Range Requirements into Availabili es
Class Maintenance
Plan (CMP)
Technical
Founda on Paper
(Class No onal
LRMS)
Execute Availability
Ship Sheets
(Ship specific
LRMS)
Technical Reqts Class Reqts ($) Specific Ship Reqts
($, Schedule)
Availability Work
Package (AWP)
Integrate, Execute, Document and Feedback
Figure 2. End-to-End Availability Planning Cycle
Baseline
Availability Work
Package (BAWP)
Plan FRP Cycle
Document &
Feedback Execute
Integrate Package Plan Availability
Assessment Results
Ship CSMP
Moderniza on
Balancing Technical, Opera onal, and Financial Risk to increase Ao and decrease $$
SURFMEPP u lized best prac ces from SUBMEPP & CPA
The DDG 51 Class was the first to enter this revised end-to-end availability cycle, and 29 DDGs are on
schedule to complete the cycle in FY12. All surface ships are expected to complete the end-to-end
availability planning cycle by January 2017.
Transition to SURFMEPP (a Surface Ship Readiness Initiative).
In order to accomplish the planning cycle, as laid out in Figure 2, it was necessary for the SSLCM
Activity to expand to SURFMEPP with newly defined requirements and functions. In November 2010,
SSLCM stood down and SURFMEPP was established in its place, and since that time the command has
already accomplished a great deal in contributing to the surface maintenance and modernization
community. Some of these accomplishments are identified below, and all are clearly a contributing factor
to the overall ST1 community priorities, which include: getting the maintenance requirement right for
both current readiness and for the overall life cycle, and efficiently and effectively executing the surface
ship annual maintenance plan.
� The Technical Foundation Papers (TFP) have been developed and completed on four ship classes,
including DDG 51, CG 47, LSD 41/49, and LHD 1.
� The LPD-17 Class TFP has been completed and is in review.
� The MCM Class TFP is in progress with an estimated completion date of September 2011.
� Technical studies and analyses have been completed on LCC-19 Extended Service Life (ESL),
LCS Class, DDG-1000 Class, and the 32/8 FRP cycle review.
� 46 Baseline Availability Work Packages (BAWP) across 4 Ship Classes have been delivered.
� 21 DDG-21 BAWPs have been delivered to the TYCOMs.
� Thousands of man-days have been added into the surface maintenance requirement.

Additionally, SURFMEPP is leading the day-to-day operations of the BAWP-AWP KSN. The BAWP-
AWP hand-off process is complex due to the number of organizations and individuals involved with
managing various pieces of the products. SURFMEPP owns and manages the BAWP, while the Type
Commander owns the AWP (an output of the BAWP), and the RMCs execute the AWP in an availability.
The KSN was established to clearly define the roles and responsibilities associated with the product
turnover as well as develop a ―desk guide‖ to assist in communicating the overall effort. As the process
continues to be executed on additional availabilities, the KSN will capture and apply lessons learned.
As SURFMEPP continues to grow as an organization, it ensures connectivity of its many products to the
other stakeholder commands via the ST1 construct. As an integral part of the ST1 ESC, SURFMEPP
interfaces with all the ESC organizations and leverages those relationships to ensure collaboration
continues in the process and product development.
Assessments (a Surface Ship Readiness Initiative)
One of the five key gaps identified in the end-to-end process map was the lack of a common assessments
policy. To address this, a SSRI was stood up with the objective to integrate the assessments conducted by
Ship's Force, TYCOMs, Board of Inspection and Survey, ISEA, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS),
RMC, naval and private sector shipyards, and Planning Yard and Program Acquisition Resource Manager
(PARM) into a continuous effort that identifies, evaluates, and screens maintenance items for completion.
The process:
� takes into account distance support and analysis tools such as (Integrated Condition Assessment
System (ICAS) and Operational Readiness Test System Tech Assist Remote Support (ORTSTARS);
� yields an accurate and real time view of material condition that minimizes surprises and supports
efficient budgeting and scheduling;
� supports current readiness requirements and enable timely assessments to meet ESL requirements.
To date, the Assessments SSRI has accomplished a great deal in its contribution to the overall surface
community in the following manner:
� Fostered the development of the TYCOM and CNRMC-issued common assessment policy to
formerly establish Total Ship Readiness Assessments (TSRA).
� Issued CNRMC ―Coordination of Assessments‖ letter to all Program Executive Offices (PEOs).
� Executed pilot assessments and obtained very positive results. TSRA results have fed the
SURFMEPP process to engineer work packages and reduce overall growth.
The efforts of this group are enduring in that it has taken into account the many stakeholder organizations
required to pull together a common plan for a complex community. This SSRI is implementing change in
the community culture by breaking through the ―stove pipe‖ structure and reaching out to ensure
commonality and strong communication across the board.
Availability Execution and Work Certification (a Surface Ship Readiness Initiative)
The objective of this group has been to incorporate increased technical rigor, standard processes and
formality in the execution of CNO availabilities. The focus is on five specific areas. They include:
� Technical adjudication of growth and new work to ensure proper rigor is applied to growth and
new work identified during technically mandated assessments or repairs.
� Work certification to ensure all availability work is planned, executed, and tested as technically
correct.
� Integrated Test Plan Management to integrate all maintenance activity and ship’s force testing as
well as to support availability certification.
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� Event readiness to prepare standard pre-requisite templates and timelines for propulsion and C5I
Production Completion Date (PCD) events.
� Availability closeout to improve tracking and close-out of all availability completion issues,
Integrated Logistics System (ILS) deliverables, and Safe-to-Operate Validation Testing (SOVT).
This SSRI has implemented pilot processes on five availabilities and is collecting feedback from those
pilot efforts to incorporate into the process build. The result of this effort will be an instruction released
by CNRMC for overall policy on availability execution and work certification that will also be
incorporated into the JFMM.
Sustainment Program (a Surface Ship Readiness Initiative).
To more formally integrate the many activities, programs, and initiatives that support the ship during
periods between major CNO Availabilities, the Sustainment SSRI was tasked to address a variety of
issues. The objective of this group has been to focus efforts on core functions and initiatives to:
� Apply the Navy’s technical expertise (In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA)/Life Cycle Manager
(LCM)/Technical Warrant Holder (TWH)) to surface Navy maintenance and engineering issues;
� Evaluate and improve system technical requirements including training, logistics documentation,
and assessments;
� Develop accurate system life-cycle strategies that ensure Surface Ships meet Expected Service
Life (ESL) and reduce Total Ownership Cost (TOC);
� Improve Fleet Readiness by providing core engineering support to resolve critical Fleet
engineering, safety, corrosion and obsolescence issues;
� Support surface ship maintenance and SURFMEPP efforts (Technical Foundation Papers).
A great deal of collaboration must occur between stakeholder commands in order to accomplish these
objectives. Since its establishment, the Sustainment SSRI has engaged the ST1 ESC to assist in reaching
critical accomplishments, including:
� Program Required Engineering/Program Required Logistics (PRE/PRL) dollars executed in FY11
(approximately 24 million) used to initiate Life Cycle Sustainment Program.
� 24 different systems being reviewed for sustainment and life cycle performance by In-Service
Engineering Agents (ISEAs).
� Achieving Service Life Program established, which has Instituted independent, third party review
of Surface Ship material condition. Additionally, 29 baseline ship surveys will have been
completed by the end of FY11.
Corrosion Control Knowledge Sharing Network
The primary purpose of the Corrosion Control KSN is to emphasize corrosion prevention, control, and
abatement throughout the lifecycle of surface ships from design to decommissioning. This total lifecycle
focus will not only help reduce corrosion related maintenance costs, but will also ensure our surface ships
maintain their mission readiness and meet their expected service life (ESL). The KSN provides a singledup
approach to evaluating corrosion issues facing the fleet, maintaining a reporting structure/mechanism
to address these issues, prioritizing and selecting mitigation efforts for investment, and coordinating and
co-sponsoring budget submissions to reduce the cost of corrosion related maintenance to the Fleet.
The KSN is comprised of members from the operator, maintenance execution, maintenance planning,
engineering, research and development, and program management organizations to ensure that a multidisciplined,
comprehensive approach is followed in serving the fleet.

Surface Metrics Knowledge Sharing Network
The Surface Metrics KSN has established a community of metrics professionals with several key
objectives. The team reduces the duplication of efforts currently experienced in both the development
and implementation of metrics, will develop a central library of existing metrics and resources, and create
metrics standards in surface ship maintenance for consistency in reporting.
This KSN includes membership from the TYCOM N43s, CNRMC and the RMCs, NAVSEA21, and
several other organizations. Additionally, on a quarterly basis, the KSN offers a community meeting,
which provides an opportunity for all members of the community, including industry partners, to
participate and share knowledge with one another.
The above initiatives and networks are examples of the many ways ST1 is bridging the gaps in the surface
maintenance and modernization community processes and policies. Utilizing knowledge management
tools and resources, these teams are working across organizations and ensuring collaborative approaches
to getting business done.
DEVELOPING THE COMMUNITY’S MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONALS TO
IMPACT CULTURE CHANGE
In order to better support the current and material readiness of the Surface Fleet, the maintenance and
modernization community professionals must be a strong and supported part of the ST1 construct. Many
initiatives have been established to allow for proper manning of the maintenance workforce, forums for
sharing information across the many organizations and regions, and professional development to secure
an enduring workforce.
RMC Capability and Capacity (a Surface Ship Readiness Initiative)
In order to accomplish the many objectives included in the policy and process improvements identified
above, this SSRI set out to address determine the appropriate level of staffing to accomplish the
requirements. The objective of this effort includes staffing the RMCs with appropriate skill-sets to
execute the Navy’s maintenance efforts, increasing RMC I-Level capacity by returning journeyman
training to I-Level organizations and re-establishing capabilities in the following areas:
� Hull, Mechanical & Electrical (HM&E) - (Inside/Outside) will include welding, gas turbine and
diesel propulsion, pump and valve repair, machining and fabrication, and electrical systems;
� Services – including weight testing, rigging, crane operations, corrosion control, small boat/RHIB
repair, lagging, tool issue, and diver services;
� Combat Systems - including antenna repair, navigation, sonar, fire control, chain gun, CIWS, and
Internal/External Communications; QA, Tech Library, Planning, Safety;
In June this year, IMA capability was re-established at the Southeast RMC in Mayport, Fla., putting
renewed emphasis on recovering this vital capability, but there is much left to be done. With the many
new initiatives being implemented via the SSRI, the RMC capabilities and required resources must be
taken into account within each of the working groups. SSRI efforts that directly impact the RMC
Capability Plans (CPs) include the TSRA Program, Availability Execution and Work Certification, as
well as the IMA organic capacity. Requirements for these efforts have been included in POM-13 inputs.
CNRMC and SURFMEPP are working closely together to avoid overlaps in requirements.
Integrated Project Team Development
By utilizing the many proven approaches and practices from the carrier and submarine communities, ST1,
with CNRMC in the lead, has stood-up its own Integrated Project Team Development (IPTD) program to
effect positive change in the execution of CNO Availabilities. The focus of the program is to assemble
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integrated project teams, ensure roles and responsibilities of each member are known, promote
relationships needed to ensure success, and develop integrated project plans to drive a high probability of
success.
Most Availability Project Teams will have approximately four to six IPTD events during planning and
execution. These events will build the foundation for repeatable success for all availabilities while
improving overall quality and schedule, and maximizing cost effectiveness. Scheduled IPTD events
develop availability expectations and success criteria, build and validate strategies, and align members of
the integrated project team.
Each IPTD training event is tailored to meet the needs of the maintenance team and will be instrumental
in helping maintenance organizations transition from independent management methods to integrated
management methods. As the program evolves, it will become a continuing forum for developing the
relationships between the many contributors of the ST1 community, including Ship's Force, RMCs,
NAVSEA21, and the Type Commanders.
Each RMC has its own IPTD coordinator, who are forming their own KSN. As the IPTD events become
more common in the community’s processes, the IPTD Coordinator for the KSN will be sharing lessons
learned and best practices across regions with regard to event planning and execution. These events are a
culture change in and of themselves; they bring the Project Teams together in the early planning stages of
an availability, long before the majority of Project Teams typically take shape, allowing for increased
communication and integration of availability planning efforts.
At this time, IPTD events have occurred in San Diego, Norfolk, Pearl Harbor, Everett, and Mayport.
FY12 is expected to see a ramp up of events with full execution to include IPTD events for all
availabilities in FY13.
Lesson Learned Conference Knowledge Sharing Network
The Lesson Learned Conference (LLC) KSN includes representatives from a number of organizations
that manage the overall LLC process. Each ship class conducts a LLC on a quarterly basis. Project Teams
with availabilities scheduled within a month of either A-360 (360 days out), A-120 (120 days out), or at
availability completion, are required to present lessons learned – both challenges and success stories –
during the quarterly LLC. The LLC KSN categorizes feedback received from Project Team so that it
clearly aligns to other ST1 initiatives (including the SSRI efforts as well as the other KSNs). The KSN
then shares that information across the Surface Navy community.
The LLC KSN has membership from Commander, Naval Surface Forces, Pacific and Atlantic,
maintenance offices (N43), each of the RMCs, NAVSEA (Team Ships), and SURFMEPP.
Because the LLC KSN members participate in each LLC, the knowledge gained across all ship classes
and all Project Team presentations, this group is fast developing as subject matter experts on availability
planning and execution lessons learned. LLCs started in January of 2011 and as they continue to be
executed, the LLC KSN will continue to evolve the process with improvements to the best of their ability.
Maintenance and Modernization Performance Review
In April of 2011, the first Maintenance and Modernization Performance Review (MMPR) took place.
This forum was previously referred to as the ―Super Hot Wash‖; the change in name is intended to reflect
the event’s change in scope. Each MMPR will include a ―ST1 Report Card‖ which is a data review of
planning and execution of availabilities for the previous six months; the intent is to better understand the
challenges and what policy or behavior needs to be modified in order to improve across the community.
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It is also the primary conference during which ST1’s initiatives are communicated to a broader audience
as well as an opportunity to gain more awareness of the successes and challenges taking place with
availability planning and execution. The MMPR is a ST1-sponsored event, executed by CNSL N43 that
is open to all stakeholders in the surface maintenance and modernization community. This forum will
take place semi-annually.
Other ST1 Initiatives
In addition to the ESC, LCMG, the SSRI Initiatives, KSNs, and IPTDs, many other initiatives fall under
the ST1 umbrella. The majority of these efforts were well-established before ST1 stood up in November
of 2009. Incorporating each of these groups within the ST1 construct is a sign of the recognition within
the community that any effort to improve or manage surface maintenance and modernization policy and
processes are linked and interdependent. The more deliberate the connections are between initiatives, the
more each group can leverage off one another and build and implement processes and improvements that
benefit the community on the whole.
The following initiatives or groups are considered part of ST1:
� Maintenance Continuous Improvement Team (MCIT), chaired by CNRMC
� Surface TYCOM Advisory (STAR) Board, chaired by CNSP N43 and CNSL N43
� SHIPMAIN Policy Review Team, chaired by CNRMC
� NAVSEA Task Forces (MCM, LPD17, Aegis BMD, SPY), chaired by NAVSEA21
� RMC and ISEA Lash Up, chaired by CNRMC and NSWC Corona
� Contracts Governance Council, chaired by CNRMC and NAVSEA21
Each of these groups manages a different piece of the Surface Community’s processes. As ST1 continues
to develop, the linkage between these groups and the ST1 ESC will continue to strengthen.
CONCLUSION
Since November 2009, Surface Team One has been the entity that has linked the many organizations
working to improve the surface maintenance and modernization community’s processes, policies, and
ultimately, to effect a change in culture. The ESC serves as a hub for knowledge and linkage between
efforts. SSRI working groups have developed, or are developing, policies to address the community’s
process gaps. KSNs are reaching out across the Surface Navy to gain and share knowledge while applying
specific processes across organizational boundaries. Project Teams are using IPTDs to provide work
planning tools and resources for successful execution of CNO Availabilities. The MMPR has become a
key tool for communicating the vision and expectations to a broader audience. These efforts, along with
other ongoing initiatives, contribute to the overall goal of developing ONE Surface Team.
AUTHORS
RDML (sel) David Gale is the Commander of Naval Regional Maintenance Centers (CNRMC)
headquartered in Norfolk, VA. CNRMC seeks to integrate global ship repair, industrial, engineering and
technical support services for surface ships; to sustain the surface Fleet at the highest levels of readiness,
operability and availability for tasking; and to drive maintenance and modernization that delivers a
technologically advanced naval force that can dominate the maritime battlespace.
Ms. Bilyana Anderson is the Executive Director for Surface Warfare (NAVSEA21B) at the Naval Sea
Systems Command. Her duties encompass fleet support for the Navy’s surface combatant, amphibious,
auxiliary, and mine warfare ships. She also leads the Navy’s inactive ships, foreign military sales fleet
support, and ship transfer programs. SEA21 is the focal point for the Surface Warfare Enterprise, and is
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esponsible for the Surface Maintenance Engineering Planning Program established this year in Norfolk
Virginia.
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