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Vol 32 - No 06 - September 2006 Branch news : Scotland - Visit to Babcock Naval Services, Faslane A wonderful drive out through the start of the Scottish Highlands was a relaxing approach to a fascinating visit to Babcock Naval Services (BNS) at HM Naval Base Clyde. The Faslane/Coulport base is host to 7000 staff, half of those civilian, who support Britain's nuclear submarine fleet and mine sweepers, as well as playing host to various visiting ships and international training courses. Dr Neil Grant, Operations Director for BNS, gave an extremely interesting, captivating and humorous presentation on the role of the base and activities of BNS to support it. The scale is indicated by the £180M contribution that the operation makes to the Dunbartonshire economy and £270M to Scotland overall. The base supports Britain's strategic deterrent (Trident), hunter-killer submarines and mine counter measures vessels. Part of the operation to keep the submarines and other vessels maintained is the use of the shiplift (see photograph), capable of lifting the 14,000 tonne Vanguard-class out of the water to aid efficient maintenance. BNS's operation is split into four business units: Fleet Services, Site Operations, Human Resources & Crew Services, and finally Business Services. BNS has set itself ambitious targets to introduce best in class engineering practices from other sectors in order to achieve the cost savings agreed with the Ministry of Defence. Neil Grant described their partnering agreement, which has delivered impressive savings since 2002 and has resulted in them having their partnership with the MoD extended to 2013. The improvements being implemented can be summarised as changes to the business, organisation and operations. These include: business restructuring, the introduction of Sales and Operations Planning (SOP), the business improvement programme and the associated performance measurements. The improvements being made have resulted in a significant improvement in customer perception, as well as winning a number of awards. Following the presentation was a tour of the base which I think is the only time I've been on a company visit that is really a tour around a small town with shops, ski slope, sewage plant, power station, multi-story car park, as well as engineering workshops, office space and hotel accommodation for 2500! The highlight of the tour was a visit to the impressive shiplift. "Unfortunately" BNS were ahead of schedule on their maintenance programme as hours earlier the submarine in the syncrolift had literally just been lowered back into the loch. However, this did mean that that we were permitted to walk alongside the length of the submarine and shiplift enclosure to understand the true scale of the engineering operation. Thanks must go to everyone at Faslane and Babcock Naval Services who made the visit possible, in particular Neil Grant, Jim McCarte, Alan Milby and Sue Absolom to name but a few. Peter Ball, MIOM Related Topics:
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