Engineering and Design
Electric Boat has more than 3,000 design and engineering personnel with proven technical capabilities, engaged in all facets of the submarine life cycle – from concept formulation and design through construction, maintenance and modernization, and eventually to inactivation and disposal.
Their expertise encompasses a myriad of fields including component and systems development, fluid systems, electrical systems analysis, integrated product development engineering, mechanical systems, naval architecture, software engineering, solid mechanics and structural engineering, combat systems engineering, test engineering, IT systems engineering, production support, signature analysis, radiological engineering, and systems integration.
In the mid-1980s, Electric Boat initiated a project to determine how to apply current information technology to the submarine development and construction process while capturing the knowledge resident in the shipyard. The result was the development of the most efficient processes, the selection of the best tools to support those processes, and creation a team-based organization that encompassed all design, engineering, construction, customer and supplier expertise and input.
This integration of tools, processes, and organization became the Integrated Product and Process Design (IPPD), also known as the Design/Build model.
This IPPD process was refined during the design of the Virginia Class and is now embedded in Electric Boat's culture. IPPD has been successfully applied to the design and construction of USS Jimmy Carter, the conversion of the first four Ohio-class submarines to SSGN configuration and Virginia-class new bow design.
The company is now actively engaged in the development the next generation of the integrated tools, processes and organization that will be used on future programs, notably the Ohio Replacement Program.
