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NNS080123-09. NHB Sailors Volunteer for Special Olympics
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (AW/NAC) Eric J. Rowley,
Fleet Public Affairs Center Det. Northwest
SILVERDALE, Wash. (NNS) -- Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) Sailors
volunteered to help out for the 2008 mid-winter Northwest Region Special
Olympics Basketball Tournament at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds Kitsap
Sun Pavilion, Jan. 20.
Approximately 20 NHB Sailors volunteered to help out in many ways
including refereeing, keeping score, handing out awards to tournament
winners, general clean up after the tournament, providing emergency
medical technician support and a lot of moral support for the athletes.
"I want to find what my niche is for volunteering, so I'm trying to do
different things like this to see what I want to do," said Hospital
Corpsman 2nd Class (SW) Ken Boyce, NHB patient administration. "This was
a lot more fun than I expected. The athletes really seemed to be
enjoying themselves. It was great to see them having fun."
The NHB color guard also participated by performing in the opening
ceremonies.
"I volunteered because my niece has a disability and I can't do anything
for her because she's in New York," said Hospitalman Alicia Beck, NHB
obstetrics. "This is the closest I can get without actually being
there."
This year, there were about 90 teams with a maximum of 10 players per
team for approximately 900 athletes, which is about 100 more athletes
than last year.
"I like seeing the athletes compete with each other," said Postal Clerk
3rd Class (SW/AW) David Perez, NHB. "It has nothing to do with who wins
or loses. It's about how they feel and the reward they get for playing
in a competition. I did this last year, too, and it reminds me about why
we compete."
Games were held at the pavilion, Olympic High School and Bremerton Jr.
High School gymnasiums.
The players traveled throughout the West Sound to compete in the event.
For some of the hospital's volunteers, the event gave them an
opportunity to reach out into the community and get a sense of pride for
helping out.
"I got to keep score and then present awards at the end," said Beck.
"Doing this makes me feel good because they're having fun and this is
the most I could do to make sure they were having a good day."
"I think it's important military members come out and show their
support," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Brian Sandau, NHB. "It helps
give back to the community and it's a great morale booster. We get to
come out and help the athletes and see the smiles on their faces."
For more news from Naval Hospital Bremerton, visit
www.navy.mil/local/nhb/.
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NNS080123-07. Everett Reflects on Life, Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (NAC) Jason Beckjord, Fleet
Public Affairs Center, Det. Northwest
EVERETT, Wash. (NNS) -- Sailors and civilians gathered at the Grand
Vista Ballroom on board Naval Station (NAVSTA) Everett for a remembrance
ceremony for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jan. 18.
Sailors and civilians from NAVSTA Everett, as well as some the base
tenant commands, came together to honor the fallen civil rights leader
for his actions by hearing excerpts of his speeches and listening to
children from the child development center sing two songs in Dr. King's
memory.
After an invocation by NAVSTA Everett Chaplain, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin Carroll,
the guest speaker, Navy Region Northwest Chaplain Capt. Rondall Brown,
came to the podium and addressed the audience.
"It has been four decades since Dr. King's physical voice was silenced,
but his message and values have carried on and have grown," said
Carroll. "We continue to celebrate his values of equality and tolerance.
This holiday has grown from a remembrance to a day of service and is
observed in many nations."
Many Sailors share the views of Brown and wish to continue the work of
Dr. King in any way that they can.
"I think it's important to honor people like that, all throughout our
history, not just Dr. King," said Religious Programs Specialist Seaman
Clayton Brownwood, NAVSTA Everett. "I think that having this day in
honor of Dr. King is important to remind us how important diversity and
equality are, and that the struggle is not really over. There are a lot
of prejudices still going around and it's important just to relive the
whole situation in his memory."
Brown concluded the memorial with a challenge for everyone to take home
and think about over the next year.
"As we leave today, let us rededicate ourselves to follow the example of
Dr. King and the values he espoused: courage, truth, justice,
compassion, dignity, humility and service. Remember, celebrate, and
act," added Brown.
"Being partly minority, and seeing what 40 years has done so far," said
Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Hopen, NAVSTA Everett operations officer, "we are not
complete by any means, and I'm looking forward to the next 40 years."
For more news from Naval Station Everett, visit
www.navy.mil/local/everett/.
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NNS080123-06. Lean Thinking to Improve Ike's Efficiency, Streamline
Processes
By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Zachary Martin, USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower Public Affairs
ABOARD USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (NNS) -- Aboard the Nimitz class
aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike), manufacturing
jobs and repetitive processes are an everyday occurrence. A new program
is expected to cut waste and eliminate defects involved with those
processes.
As part of the new Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) program, a
business practice known as lean will become part of everyday jobs aboard
Ike.
The concept of lean is deceptively simple: Eliminate repeated steps in a
process, streamline supply chains and produce 100 percent defect-free
products with every job.
Developed and made famous by multi-billion dollar companies like Toyota
and Honda, the strategy also deals with reducing overproduction, human
error, wasted inventory, transportation time, wait times and effectively
reducing costs across all processes.
Ensign Stephanie Chelone, current Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance
Department IM2 division officer and soon-to-be head of CPI aboard Ike,
said the lean process is something Ike's Sailors can accomplish every
day by "lean thinking."
"Lean thinking is all about cutting the fat," Chelone said. "We look at
ways to eliminate the eight forms of waste."
Those forms are transportation, excess inventory, motion, waiting,
overproduction, over processing, defects and underutilization of
employees.
"Transportation is best described as the movement of essential tools or
other aspects of a job. When there is too much, wasted time [it] becomes
a huge factor," Chelone said. "I have guys in my shop who use spray
paint and they have to walk all the way across the hangar bay to get it.
Then they have to walk all the way back to put it away. When you look at
it, it's about 25 wasted minutes just for a can of paint. We fixed this
by putting paint and other items in a storage locker in our spaces."
Motion is the physical movement of people between steps of their job.
Henry Ford, of the Ford Motor Company, recognized the benefit of
arranging workspaces in a logical order, and his ideas gave birth to the
assembly line. Instead of walking across a huge warehouse several times
to build a car, Ford arranged his workers in a logical line to cut
wasted steps.
"Let's say it takes you 742 steps to do a job. Lean is designed to
reduce those steps, which reduces time, which reduces cost," Chelone
said.
Another problem, waiting, is something all of Ike's Sailors can relate
to, and the impact on work efficiency is larger than many people
realize.
"So you wait for an hour in line for chow," Chelone said. "It may not
seem like much, but multiply it by five days a week and several thousand
people, and you begin to see the big picture of how waiting and doing
nothing affects work."
Overproduction, too, causes great waste in both time and inventory. A
printing job, for example, may be produced before an order is actually
placed with the intent of "staying ahead of the game." If the order is
for only 50 flyers, and the time and expense to create 5,000 were spent,
then there's a problem.
Another part of Navy life is over processing. Basically, this is the
idea that decisions require too many sign-offs or approvals, slowing
down the production process.
Defects cause waste in massive proportion as well, Chelone said. Even a
99 percent acceptable rate is not high enough over the course of several
thousand jobs.
Capt. Dee L. Mewbourne, Ike's commanding officer, recognizes this too,
with his Planned Incremental Availability goal of "Do it right the first
time."
Doing it right the first time revolves around having the right people
for the job. Underutilizing employees is essentially having five people
for a two-person job, where there may be another job requiring those
extra personnel, Chelone explained.
"Essentially, the lean system comes down to deciding what steps, people,
or movement in a process add value to the finished product, and removing
those that don't," Chelone said.
"The value-added time is really only a very small percentage of the
total time involved," she added.
For more news from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, visit
www.news.navy.mil/local/cvn69/.
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NNS080123-15. Daily News Update for January 23, 2008
From the Navy News Service
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Daily News Update features six newscasts each day -
one two-minute newscast and five one-minute newscasts.
Two-minute newscast-
- Headlines from around the fleet: Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm.
John Harvey talks about individual augmentee assignments; now is the
time to register to vote or receive an absentee ballot; the DOD is
seeking nominations for its Women's History Month Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math Role Model awards.
First one-minute newscast-
- Africa Partnership Station works with Project Handclasp in the Port
Gentile community.
Second one-minute newscast-
- Naval Station Rota celebrates the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Third one-minute newscast-
- Naval Station Rota conducts a 2008 weapons rollback.
Fourth one-minute newscast-
- Children of Sailors stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base participate in
the "Fit Factor" program.
Fifth one-minute newscast-
- Special Forces personnel assess recruits' physical readiness through a
screening test.
Naval Media Center produces six Daily News Update (DNU) newscasts: a
two-minute newscast and five one-minute newscasts. DNU can be seen
throughout the day and evening on the Direct-to-Sailor (DTS) satellite
television service available aboard 160 ships of the fleet and via the
Navy Web site at
www.navy.mil. Check your local DTS program schedule for
air times. DNU can also be seen throughout the world on the Armed Forces
Radio and Television Service (AFRTS).
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NNS020108-13. This Day in Naval History - Jan. 24
From the Navy News Service
1942 - During the World War II Battle of Makassar Strait, U.S.
destroyers attack a Japanese convoy in the first naval surface action in
the Pacific.
1986 - The Coral Sea (CV 43) and Saratoga (CV 60) carrier battle groups
conduct freedom of navigation exercises in and near the Gulf of Sidra,
demonstrating the long-standing United States' refusal to recognize
Colonel Khadafi's attampt to include the gulf in Libyan territorial
waters,
1991 - Helicopters from USS Leftwich (DD 984) and USS Nicholas (FFG 47)
recapture the first Kuwaiti territory from Iraqi forces.
For more news from the Naval Historical Center, visit their Navy
Newsstand page at
www.news.navy.mil/local/navhist.
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Navy News Service is the official news wire service of the U.S. Navy,
containing stories recently posted to the Navy Web site at
www.navy.mil.
It is a product of the Naval Media Center, 2713 Mitscher Rd. SW,
Anacostia Annex, D.C., 20373-5819. Reprints should be credited to the
Navy News Service (NNS).
To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the Navy News Service, visit
http://www.news.navy.mil/tools/subscribe_navnews.asp.
Stories for publication consideration should be submitted by e-mail to
navynewsservice@navy.mil or be submitted online at
www.news.navy.mil/submit/.
For the latest in Navy news from around the fleet, visit
www.navy.mil.
For all Navy-related questions, review the FAQs posted at
www.navy.milor visit the Naval Historical Center's Web site at
www.history.navy.mil.
Media queries should be directed to the Navy News Desk at (703)
697-5342.
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V/r,
LT Jennifer Cragg
Naval Media Center
2713 Mitscher Rd.
Building 168
Anacostia Annex, DC 20373-5819
(202) 433-0574
Jennifer.cragg@navy.mil 
