SurgeMain Pilot Program to Increase Fleet Response Capability
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS051209-03
Release Date: 12/9/2005 6:59:00 AM
By Sean Hughes, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Public Affairs
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- The Navy’s second SurgeMain team was officially established at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNS) Nov. 7, following the first at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) approximately six months ago.
Both pilot programs are returning improved maintenance capability to the Navy.
“We have only been providing support for half a year as a pilot, and already, 428 people have provided 4,787 man-days of support,” said Cmdr. Chuck Fidler, SurgeMain program manager at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).
SurgeMain, short for “Surge Maintenance,” is made up of a part-time, flexible, fully qualified maintenance work force. These teams of reserve component Sailors become a mobilization force when the Navy needs to “surge” its maintenance infrastructure to support fleet readiness and the Fleet Response Plan.
“Over the years, our maintenance infrastructure has gone from a force of about 250,000 people to about 70,000,” Fidler said. “SurgeMain is meant to provide a trained and integrated work force to mitigate – and ultimately mobilize, if needed.”
“With the soaring operational tempo in today's Navy, each maintenance hour and day are vital currency in our nation's defense,” said Capt. Frank Camelio, PHNS commander. “Times like these call for our organizations to rise up and accept challenges.”
“Beyond the pilot, SurgeMain should prove to be very successful in helping the shipyards fulfill their missions,” said Fidler. “The objective of the program is to provide depot-level skilled workers during peak workload periods without impacting Naval Shipyard mission funding, and without adding any additional man-days to project completion.”
Fidler said aligning trained people - those with substantial civilian skill sets - to the right requirement is key to the program’s success. The rest, according to Pearl’s SurgeMain program manager, is in building rapport with the waterfront.
“By doing familiarization and the mandatory Shipyard training on drill weekends using our reserve instructors, we have streamlined to deliver our SurgeMain reservists to the shops the first workday they report,” said Lt.Cmdr. Leonard Laforteza, PHNS SurgeMain production and resources manager.
“Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard really accepted me, and I feel like I’m really helping them out,” said Storekeeper 1st Class (SW) William Kop, a Navy storekeeper by rating, with more than 11 years experience as a senior heavy vehicle mechanic for the State of Hawaii’s Board of Water Supply. In his civilian career, he repairs and maintains diesel trucks, air and hydraulic brakes, hydraulic systems and cylinders, air compressors, water pumps, cranes and trailers.
“The example I heard coming in to SurgeMain was that if you’re a [reserve component] yeoman, but you’re a plumber or an electrician on the outside, SurgeMain needs you,” said Kop, an active-duty storekeeper for four-and-a-half years before transitioning to the civilian mechanic trade, and concurrently the Navy Reserve, several years ago.
“The Shipyard people accepted me just like another one of the workers,” Kop said, after his first week on the job helping to repair valves at PHNS. “They didn’t treat me as an outsider at all. They trusted me; put me right in on the job, working with another two guys, and it’s just like any other work day.”
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawaii’s largest industrial employer, employs more than 5,000 workers, 700 of whom are uniformed military personnel assigned to positions ranging from senior shipyard managers to waterfront mechanics.
Pearl’s proven reserve liaison program has allowed hundreds of Navy Reservists to assist in shipyard projects in recent years, including last year’s emergent repair of USS San Francisco (SSN 711) in Guam.
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