Ronny Jackson Questions Experts About Use Of Automation In Ship-Building Processes

15 hours ago

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) questioned witnesses about shipbuilding.

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00:00I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Dr. Jackson.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:05Most of my questions have actually been addressed.

00:06I'm just going to ask you one real quick question.

00:08I apologize if this was already addressed before I came into the room,

00:10but I just was wondering with regards to some of the innovative technology that's out there nowadays,

00:16production line automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, could this deliver additional capacity?

00:23I mean, I know it can, and efficiency in shipbuilding.

00:26How aggressive are we being on this front?

00:29And I had another question, and I'm not saying that this is the primary reason by any means,

00:34because my colleagues on the left have pointed this out a few times to me when I brought this up.

00:38But what role does organized labor play in this as well?

00:42Because it seems like when you have a lot of these hardworking blue-collar jobs like shipbuilding,

00:47organized labor has a big part in this.

00:50And they really push back sometimes on automation.

00:52And I think what's been mentioned is, like, look, if we can make things more efficient,

00:56if we can expand the production and, you know, there's more work,

00:58you can keep the same number of people, just employ them in different areas.

01:02But it seems like there's a lot of pushback.

01:04I mean, you know, sometimes organized labor doesn't believe that.

01:07They don't buy that argument.

01:08And when it comes to things like automating the gate at the entrance to the shipyard,

01:12they don't want to automate that because that's someone's job.

01:15So are we overcoming that?

01:17Are we, you know, is this the future of shipbuilding is some of the stuff I mentioned?

01:23And are we working with organized labor to come up with ways to do that and still employ people?

01:29Yeah, so I'll take that question.

01:31Listen, we are spending a lot of effort on modernization of the yards,

01:36trying to drive in advanced manufacturing techniques.

01:40We're also working with our supply chain network.

01:43The MIB monies that we talked about are going toward those efforts.

01:47We have right now quickly over 700 projects with 300 different suppliers across 33 states,

01:55and there's an 11 percent improvement in performance for them that are undertaking those.

02:00From an advanced manufacturing technology perspective, especially an additive,

02:04we'll do an SSGN availability here shortly that will have 33 additively manufactured parts

02:10and would have never been sourced any other way, and some of them will be sub-safe.

02:16So I think we are driving those kind of capabilities into our yards and our supply chain network.

02:23I haven't heard that the organized labor piece is a problem at this point,

02:29and I honestly don't expect it will be, even though I respect what you said.

02:34As a guy who used to work with UAW a lot, too,

02:37I've watched us automate yards in the automotive sector or automate plants,

02:43and there's always some work and some initial pushback, but we typically get through that,

02:47and I expect we can as well in the maritime industrial base.

02:51Okay. I appreciate that.

02:53And before I just have two minutes left, I was going to give you guys the opportunity,

02:56the ones that didn't get to answer Ms. Kagan's question while I go,

02:59because one of my questions also was about our ability to allow some of our allies to help us,

03:05not only shipbuilding but the maintenance and stuff.

03:07I know when I was over in Australia recently talking about AUKUS,

03:10there were plans to build some shipyards and stuff over there so that it could basically help us.

03:16I know that I would prefer that we do everything here in the United States, obviously,

03:20but we can all see the writing on the wall that that's a long time coming before we get to where we need to be.

03:25Is this a way to help us get there faster?

03:28They would provide intermediate maintenance capability, things of that nature.

03:31If we're fighting over in the Indo-Pacific, I think it's a national security asset as well.

03:44Listen, the AUKUS partnership is obviously very important to us,

03:47and we're doing everything in our power to support the 1 plus 2 and 1 plus 2.33 to get there.

03:53I think it does help us, and having strong relationships in that trilateral agreement is certainly very critical.

04:00I'll yield so other folks can have a chance.

04:04I would just make one comment, that there's kind of a delicate balance that has to happen with the industrial base

04:10in terms of keeping the yards that you have existing healthy and inserting new yards into the industrial base.

04:17It becomes a little bit of a balance that has to be made because of the fluctuations in the flow-through of ship programs through these yards.

04:27You know, any one bad year could result in laying off employees in some of our existing yards.

04:32And so I think a real holistic look at what the solutions are to be able to shore up that industrial base

04:39and ensure we have a vibrant commercial shipbuilding industry that then supplements

04:44and augments our naval shipbuilding industry is, I think, a key area, should be a key area of focus going forward.

04:52Thank you, ma'am.

04:53And it looks like I'm out of time, so I'll just leave it there.

04:55And I yield back.

04:56Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ronny Jackson Questions Experts About Use Of Automation In Ship-Building Processes

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