The untiring efforts of Adm. Rickover had finally succeeded in anchoring the thought of Quality in the American industry associated with the Nuclear Submarine production. In this article an attempt has been made to trace the transition of Rickover from an engineer to a Quality Guru whose success lay in disciplining technology to meet US Navy's requirements.
By Rear Admiral Dr. S. Kulshrestha (retd.), Indian Navy
Introduction
 |
| Admiral Rickover on Time Magazine Jan 11, 1954 Cover / Source: TIME Cover Credit: Boris Artzybaseff |
The first submarine of the Trident class, the Ohio, was launched on
April 7, 1979, but two more years elapsed before she could set sail in Long
Island sound for sea trials amidst raging controversy. Demonstrators protested against the
deployment of the submarine at the Electric Boat Ship Yard. Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the father of the
atomic reactor that powered the submarine had to sneak into the facility and
hide behind a mattress when he boarded the ship to avoid the reporters. The Ohio stopped soon after it made head way
in the sound as a mechanic had forgotten to install a crucial component for its
engine. The trials could resume only
after several hours when the missing part was installed.
Part of the delay was due to the fact that much of the initial work on
the submarine had to be redone as thousand of welds had been improperly carried
out and had to be re-welded and hundreds of pipes and valves were in wrong
place.
The fact that, very strict quality control and inspection form the very
basis of effective modern technology had been accepted. The untiring efforts of Adm. Rickover had
finally succeeded in anchoring the thought of Quality in the American industry
associated with the Nuclear Submarine production. In this article an attempt has been made to
trace the transition of Rickover from an engineer to a Quality Guru whose
success lay in disciplining technology to meet US Navy's requirements.
Rickover the Inspector
Admiral Hyman G. Rickover had acquired his masters in electrical
engineering and belonged to an era where inspection by use of specifications
was well established. The methods to
control variation included both specifications and control charts and the
workers were no longer concerned about the form, function or fit of the final
piece. Their job was to make it to the
specification and leave it to the inspector to segregate the out of
specification products.
However, as products and processes became more and more complex the
need to contain variation, which seemed insignificant before, became a critical
necessity. The American nuclear
submarine program envisaged emphasis on all aspects of precision engineering
and the technological demands saw Rickover expand his vision in the field of
inspection and quality.
Rickover had spent two years (mid 1933 onwards) assigned to the office
of the Inspector of Naval Material.
While at Philadelphia his job was to make sure that the material
manufactured for the US Navy met both specification and schedules. This tenure of his yielded rich dividends
later, when he encountered problems
pertaining to standards of workmanship and material specification. This is well illustrated by the following
episodes on "Welding" in the nuclear submarine projects.
Improper Welds: One particular nuclear plant steam system had ninety-nine carbon-steel
welds. The manufacturer stated that the
welds had been radio graphed and met specifications. But an investigation using correct procedures
and proper X-ray sensitivity showed that only 10 percent met standards set by
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; 35 percent had defects in excess
of the standards; and 55 percent had such rough external surfaces that
interpretation was uncertain. The poor
workmanship was detected on time and remedied, only because Rickover insisted
that manufacturers meet the standards that they themselves had accepted in the
contract.
Welding Electrodes: The nuclear welding was stopped in the Mare Stand Naval Shipyard
because it was observed that the welding electrodes were made of stellite
instead of stainless steel. The yard
personnel started radio graphing cans of stainless steel electrodes and found
to their dismay that several cans had a few electrodes of the wrong
material. The electrodes were being
supplied by five different electrode manufacturers. Rickover realized that he had no choice but
to delve into the material control aspects of the entire welding industry. He had to introduce contract clauses whereby
electrodes for Naval Reactors would be manufactured in such a way as to avoid
this problem.
Material Mismatch: In the salt water piping system of a submarine stainless steel fitting
had been welded into a nickel copper alloy piping. This fitting had been certified as nickel
copper and the same had been etched on it.
Rickover appreciated that had the steel fitting been cleared for use it
would have corroded away and a serious accident could have occurred. Remedial measures included instituting
inspection procedures from the point of material procurement to final supply.
Engineering Ethics: Adm. Rickover has said "Since engineering is a profession which
affects the material basis of everyone's life there is almost always an
un-consulted third party involved in any contract between the engineer and those
who employ him and that is the country, the people as a whole. Engineering ethics ought therefore to
safeguard their interests most carefully".
His commitment to this ideology is best illustrated in the incident of
the bursting of a small steam line in the engine room at Electric Boat. Piping in the engine room was a routine, non
nuclear matter, but Rickover was concerned about the implications of the
accident. After a thorough two week
investigation it came to light that the pipe was not a seamless pipe as it
should have been. It was a rolled and
welded pipe, normally used for stanchions, hand rails etc. and not for carrying
high pressure steam. There was no way to
be completely sure of which type of piping had been used throughout the engine
room, there were thousands of feet of it already installed and insulated. Such a failure at sea could have meant the loss
of a ship.
Rickover did not take long to
decide "Rip it all out and replace it.
Every damn inch". He was
told that this would mean a massive delay in the sea date, but he just said,
"Replace it as fast as you can, but it's got to be absolutely right,
however long it takes. We are not going
to sea with faulty piping". He
further said "We've got to find out how this sort of mistake was made and
how it got through the inspection system.
I want to look back on this as a red letter day, the day we straightened
out the quality control system on piping".
Casual Approach to Specification & Standards: In all the above examples it will be seen that poor workmanship was
part of the cause, but the basic problem was the failure of management to
enforce standards. The fault also lay
directly with the technical associations who established the standards and with
customers who accepted inferior work.
The underlying reason for the malady was the thought that
specifications were considered as desirable goal rather than a firm
requirement. Further, the spirit behind
the specification was not appreciated and hence the importance of adhering to
them got diluted. To his dismay Rickover
found that manufacturers changed the specifications on their own or disregarded
and bypassed them, without intimating the customer. Needless to say that
monetary considerations and lure of profits were also prime movers in supplying
sub standard items.
The demands of the technology of a very stringent inspection from
source to the supply were not being met, had there been any other person these
would have escaped attention and ruthless corrective measures to steer the Nuke
programme to a triumph would not have been instituted. Rickover firmly believed in the philosophy
that the standards set were the barest minimum to be met and that efforts that
came close to the standards were simply not good enough.
Personal Involvement: Rickover elevated inspection to a level of philosophy when he
propounded that the ship yards had to accept the fact that management systems
did not answer and could not answer problems of modern technology. Knowledge of the job i.e. competence was
essential and competence could not be achieved without continuity. However neither competence nor continuity in them
was sufficient, inspection was an essential ingredient. The yard staff had to get personally involved
on the ship floor and not bide their time in their offices.
The inspector in Rickover had become his guiding philosopher
Quality Assurance/ Control
Loss of the Thresher : The
Thresher was lost on 10th April 1963.
She began her final dive at 0747 hrs.
From 0909 to 0911 the ship might have blown its ballast tanks, at 0922
the propulsion plant might have stopped or shifted to a lower speed. At about 0913 the ship reported it was
experiencing minor difficulty and was attempting to blow its ballast
tanks. From 0913 to 0914 the ship might
have blown its ballast tanks again, and at 0918 came sounds that the navigator
of the Skylark identified as those of a ship breaking up.
In the court's opinion, the underlying cause of the disaster was the
rapid change in material requirements called for by the accelerated pace of
submarine technical developments. The
ramifications of the disaster were greater than the tragic loss of
Thresher. The Navy had to adapt to the
technological demands being placed upon it by improving drastically the
practices of both the government and private shipyards. It had to upgrade the design activities,
fabrication techniques, and inspection methods.
Rickover said "I believe the loss of the Thresher should not be
viewed solely as the result of failure of a specific braze, weld system, or
component, but rather should be considered
a consequence of philosophy of design, construction and inspection that
has been permitted in our naval ship building program. I think it is important that we re-evaluate
our present practices where, in the desire to make advancements, we may have
forsaken the fundamentals of good engineering".
The loss of Thresher catapulted Rickover from
the realm of good engineering and stringent inspection to the plane of quality
control and quality assurance.
A brief look at the definitions (collated from various documents like
the BS4778) of Inspection, Quality Control and Assurance at this stage would be
relevant for appreciating the transition of Rickover from an engineer to an
inspector and finally to a Quality Guru.
Inspection: It involves activities such as measuring, examining,
testing, gauzing, one or more characteristics of a product or service and
comparing these with specified requirements to determine conformity.
QC: Quality control, contrary to the general belief that it is the
recycled good old inspection, encompasses the operational techniques and
activities that are used to fulfill requirement for quality. QC has a wider role to play and requires
commitment from the manufacturers.
QA: Quality Assurance is all those planned and systematic actions
necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy
given requirements for quality. For
Quality Assurance to be effective, it requires a continuous evaluation of
factors that affect the adequacy of the design or specification for intended
applications, as well as verification and audits of production, installation
and inspection operations.
Rickover and Quality Control
Rickover's effort to upgrade quality of small components - valves,
switchgear, control equipment etc had been difficult but reasonably
successful. His requirements of quality
control met with the arguments that it could not be done and that the standards
should be relaxed and products accepted.
However, in one case, the Germans came to his rescue indirectly, they
refused to accept that company's quality control procedures could not be
changed. The company finally agreed to
provide special procedures and controls.
Rickover decided to develop his own quality control programs for
required hardware, this represented a fundamental change in the basic
philosophy of the Reactor program by introducing tremendous responsibility
along with breadth of technical coverage.
The consequences to the American industry were noteworthy as they got
taste of the ‘Rickoverian’ concept of quality.
These programs were brilliantly accomplished and ultimately led to
development of a competitive commercial industry.
Rickover spent lot of time and effort at upgrading American industry,
preaching the need of "Zero Defects" and "quality
first". The industries first
reaction was to hire a quality control expert, to bestow titles on promising
executives, and to compose advertisements and slogans. The next step was to publish QC manuals and
voluminous procedures which were largely impractical. Quality circles, seminars and training
programs became the order of the day and the actual up gradation of the product
quality was lost in the background.
Rickover and Quality Assurance
Rickover felt that key ingredient in assuring quality lay not in
physical manifestation but in a frame of mind, a point of view. That he succeeded in forcing the industry to
think about quality and professionalism is evident from the success of his
nuclear submarine program.
The transition of Rickover from an engineer to a Quality Guru was
completed when he expanded his vision to philosophies that quality can only be
assured by personal involvement at each level. Implying thereby that quality
has to be ingrained into a person’s work ethics irrespective of the job he may
actually be carrying out. Rickover propounded the concept of ‘one’s country
being the invisible third party’. Hence implying that personal involvement and
commitment to quality, is a service to
the nation and is patriotic in substance. A person defaulting on quality
intentionally or due to lack of knowledge or hard work, would have to answer to
the nation. He was convinced that quality had to be placed before self and lent
it a patriotic fervor. He had found his mantra to unprecedented technological success.
Rickover’s definition of quality
merits consideration alongside the definition given by Dr. Genichi Taguchi who
says that, “ Quality is a loss function,
a loss to the society”. Dr. Taguchi has in a way put a loss value to quality
and highlighted the economic ramification of the same to society as a whole.
The interpretations given to quality by these two giants have enormous
relevance to emerging technologies in countries like India and China. Nations
which are on the tarmac of rapid industrialisation need to heed to the
‘Rickoverian’ concept for personal involvement as well as Dr. Taguchi’s concern
for loss to the society. This then would form an ideal platform for Quality
experts in marshalling out a clear quality concept at national level suitable to a country’s
thinking and character. It may be
interesting to note that Dr. Taguchi had propagated his thoughts after a long
stay in India, that he was impressed by Indian culture and the thinking
process.
The Price : Quality has to be a Navy's sheet anchor if it has to
continue to perform at peak levels with indigenous spares and armament. The Naval deployment environment being harsh,
in fact merciless, the penalty to be paid in war for poor quality armament and
ships would be tremendous. The need of
the day is to strengthen the foundations of quality by upgrading inspection
methods, quality control techniques and instituting practical quality assurance
procedures. The emphasis has to shift
from "Why the procedure should be followed" to "How it can be
followed". A sense of national
pride should prevent a manufacturer (at least those involved with defence
products) to ask for concessions on accepted specifications, in fact his
product should be better than the standard.
Finally, the quality man too is a professional and would be a valuable
asset to the society. In Rickover's
words "The role of the professional in society is to lead by his special
knowledge, his well trained intellect and his dispassionate habit of
visualizing problems in terms of fundamental principles to whatever specific
task is entrusted to him".
It is only due to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover’s relentless pursuit and embedding of quality in the US Navy’s nuclear submarine programme that the US Navy today proudly sails a formidable fleet of nuclear submarines.
About The Author:
It is only due to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover’s relentless pursuit and embedding of quality in the US Navy’s nuclear submarine programme that the US Navy today proudly sails a formidable fleet of nuclear submarines.
About The Author:
Image Attributes:
Admiral Hyman G. Rickover Potrait / Source: WikiMedia Commons [Link], Uploaded by Defense Visual Information Center
Time Magazine Cover of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover Copyright Held by Time Magazine - This photo is inserted and refereed directly to the Original Publisher.
Kulshrestha,
Sanatan.
"FEATURED | Quality the ‘Rickoverian Core’: A Tribute to Admiral Hyman G
Rickover by Rear Admiral Dr. S. Kulshrestha (retd.), Indian Navy" IndraStra
Global 01, no. 10 (2015): 0339. http://www.indrastra.com/2015/10/FEATURED-Quality-the-Rickoverian-Core-by-RADM-Dr-S-Kulshrestha-retd-INDIAN-NAVY-0339.html.
|ISSN 2381-3652| https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.2064297
