HII’s Digital Shipbuilding Transformation Earns 2019 CIO 100 Award

NEWPORT
NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division
has been named a recipient of a 2019 CIO 100 Award for adopting
business-aligned IT strategies during its integration of modern technologies
into shipbuilding. The ongoing initiative, known as Integrated Digital
Shipbuilding (iDS), is transforming the way ships are being designed and built.

The annual
awards program, sponsored by IDG’s CIO magazine and the CIO Executive Council,
celebrates organizations that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver
business value, optimize business processes, enable growth or improve
relationships with customers.

Newport
News is being recognized for its use of technology business management
strategies to bolster IT cost transparency and build trust, which helped the
company to embrace a digital-first mindset in adopting leading-edge
technologies.

Since the
company’s digital transformation began two years ago, Newport News has
introduced laser scanning, augmented reality, modeling and simulation, and
additive manufacturing into processes to increase efficiency, safety and
affordability. The digital shipbuilding efforts also include transitioning from
traditional two-dimensional paper-based instructions — the company’s primary
method for conveying design data for more than a century — to digital formats.
The company currently is developing digital work packages for the aircraft
carrier Enterprise (CVN 80), which will be the first ship built completely
paperless, and preparing to go digital with the new class of ballistic
submarines, the Columbia class.

“Digital
shipbuilding is the largest transformative initiative, digital or otherwise,
that Newport News has embarked upon since switching from diesel to
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the 1960s,” said Bharat Amin, Newport
News’ vice president and chief information officer. “I feel proud of my team
for helping to drive change and empowering shipbuilders with the tools to build
today’s warships with tomorrow’s technology. It’s an exciting time to work in
IT and at HII.”

The
company will be recognized at the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards Ceremony on Aug.
21 in Colorado.