newsletter from the army's oldest operating arsenal - november 2017

Story on Page 3

SALVOU.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal - Since 1813

November 2017

Local college helps showArsenal the future

Salvo November 30, 2017

The Arsenal Salvo is an authorized monthly publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of the Salvo are not necessar-ily the official views of, or an endorsement by the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or the Watervliet Arsenal. News may be submitted for publication by sending articles to Public Affairs Officer, 1 Buffington Street, Bldg. 10, Watervliet, NY 12189, or stop by office #102, Bldg. 10, Watervliet Arsenal. The editor may also be reached at (518) 266-5055 or by e-mail: [email protected]. The editor reserves the right to edit all information submitted for pub-lication.

Commander, Col. Joseph R. MorrowPublic Affairs Officer, John B. SnyderEditor, John B. SnyderPhotographer: John B. Snyder Arsenal Facebook Page @https://www.facebook.com/WatervlietArsenal?ref=hlCover Photo by John B. Snyder

Colonel Joseph R. MorrowCommander’s Corner

First, on behalf of every worker here, I offer Fred Campbell’s family and friends the command’s sin-cere condolences. Fred passed away on November 13th. He was a Machine Tool Inspector Supervi-sor who had worked here about 11 years, as well as served in the Air Force for approximately 22 years. Although I am well beyond the mid-point of my command, I am not yet ready to start reflecting on my tenure here. After all, there is too much left for us to do over the next eight months of my command to now start reminiscing about the good old times. But having said that, it would be difficult for me not to have a sense of reflection and appreciation for all that we have accomplished as a team. Our telling the public that we achieved nearly $126 million in revenue last fiscal year does not tell the whole story about how hard we worked to support our Soldiers’ and our allies’ readiness. To support each sale, there are often hundreds of communication and coordination activities made, and that does not even count all the machining and quality control actions performed on each part. From business development to procurement to production planning and control to assembler to even our ap-prentices, every employee here has a critical part to providing the tools that have made and will make our troops more lethal and more survivable on the battle-field. At the end of the day, what we send to our troops

will truly enhance their ability to return safely home from battle. I don’t know how to measure the impact of what we do other than to ask you to watch just one Soldier’s homecoming in the news and you will soon see that our impact is significant. As we are now in the midst of our holiday season, it will be easy for us to focus our attention and our thoughts on family and friends. And, rightfully so. What I do ask of you, however, is to keep in your hearts and minds that while you are enjoying the holiday season there are deployed troops who will not spend this holiday season with their families. And so, we owe it to those troops to make our deliv-ery schedules so that they, too, will someday be back home. The holiday season is also filled with unsafe ac-tivities, from working on ladders to hang lights in 30 mph winds to overloading electrical connections to drinking and driving. So, please take a moment to think through your holiday activities before you become a statistic. After all, you are too valuable to your family and to the Arsenal to lose. Take great care and have a safe and joyous holi-day season!

mailto:[email protected]


Story continues on page 4, “Readiness”

By John B. Snyder

Arsenal commander goes back

to school to build readiness

Hudson Valley Community College Professor David Larkin, left, showing Arsenal Commander Col. Joseph Morrow the layout of the new Ad-vance Manufacturing Skills center that the college will open in 2019.

Photo by John B. Snyder

The Arsenal has a significant challenge, but it is a good challenge to have ̶ How to double its manufac-turing capacity in the next four years to better support increased Soldier readiness needs? Although the recent announcement that the U.S. Army will invest more than $40 million in new equip-ment at the Arsenal is a good start, equipment is only part of the overall strategy the Arsenal must now ex-ecute to improve its manufacturing readiness. After several years of inconsistent defense budgets that negatively impacted the number of contracts di-rected here, recent contract numbers are hitting multi-ple year highs, and more multimillion-dollar contracts are in reach, said Commander Col. Joseph Morrow. “With a need to double our manufacturing capabil-ity in the next four years to meet rising Soldier readi-ness requirements, simply adding new machines is

not enough,” Morrow said. “We also need to increase our workforce size, but do so with skilled, capable people.” Given the immediate need to increase manufactur-ing capacity, which is the number and or volume of products that can be produced in a defined time frame, Morrow has challenged his subordinate leaders to break the paradigm of new employee development. “We no longer have the luxury of time to welcome and train new employees before they become a viable and productive part of our workforce,” Morrow said. “We need to work hard the on-boarding process so that new employees are fast tracked into our manufactur-ing center. They (new employees) must be productive on their first day of work.”


Readiness Cont.Earlier this year, Arsenal appren-tice Jeff Empie, right, explained to instructors from the Hudson Valley Community College's Ad-vance Manufacturing the operation he was performing on a howitzer tube. As a requirement of Empie's apprentice training, he attends Hudson Valley Community Col-lege for four years, while attaining 8,000 hours of hands-on training at the Arsenal.


In order to break the paradigm, however, Mor-row said he understands the importance of recruiting high quality job applicants as step one. The problem, however, is that there is a national shortage of em-ployees who will or want to become machine tool operators and machinists. To address this shortage, Morrow traveled re-cently to Hudson Valley Community College where he met with college President Andrew Matonak and Manufacturing Technical Systems Professor David Larkin. The College has for decades worked with the Arsenal in the development of machinist apprentices who after four years of education and 8,000 hours of hands-on training become Department of Labor certi-fied machinists. Although Matonak and Larkin were sympathetic to Morrow’s dilemma, they had little to offer in the near term. “The challenge is that you need our graduates now, but until our Advance Manufacturing Skills center opens in 2019, there is little the college can do to increase your numbers here,” Matonak said. “But we are sympathetic to the Arsenal’s needs, as well as to its mission, and will work with the Arsenal to offer alternatives to better support you.” Larkin said the college is flexible, if the Arsenal would be flexible, too. “Because of the high degree of technical learning required to become a skilled machinist or machine tool operator, you can’t take this course online,” Lar-kin said. “But what you (the Arsenal) can do is to be creative in how you send your employees here for

education.” The Arsenal’s apprentices currently work full time during the day and then attend night school a couple of days a week. Larkin suggested that having stu-dents work Friday through Sunday and then attend school on their off days or to have students attend school during the day and work at night might open up a few more opportunities. But even with a modified work schedule, the Arse-nal will be competing for student seats against other local manufactures who also have a great demand for the college’s graduates. "Last year, every advanced manufacturing tech-nology student had a job when they graduated,” Lar-kin said. “There is a shortage of skilled machinists throughout our country and it will only get worse. We believe that when we open the Advanced Manu-facturing Skills center in 2019 that some of the ma-chinist shortages will be met, but not all.” The Arsenal currently has three apprentice classes in session with the next class graduating in 2019. The maximum number of students the college’s night school can handle for the Arsenal is 14, which has been maxed out through the years. As Morrow left the college, he turned to his chief of manufacturing, John Zayhowski, and apprentice program supervisor, Robert Day, and challenged them to draft initiatives and to do it now. After all, given the significant amount of workload that is al-ready on the books, the Arsenal cannot wait until 2019 to solve this challenge. Which is a good challenge to have.

British force War Department to establish arsenal in New York


Story continues on page 6, “News”

Arsenal at Gibbonsville

Since U.S. President James Madison declared war on the British in July 1812, the U.S. Army has suffered many defeats due in large part to an under strength and under supplied force. To better provide sustainment to its Soldiers and militia, the War Department has selected three locations as forward deployed logistical hubs, one of which will be at Gibbonsville, N.Y.

Gibbonsville, N.Y. (July 14, 1813) -- The U.S. War Department announced today the purchase of 12 acres of land in the Village of Gibbonsville, N.Y., for the purpose of establishing an arsenal that will provide ord-nance supplies and munitions to soldiers in the northern and western frontiers.

When the U.S. Congress voted for war to redress the wrongs of England in June 1812, the U.S. Army was virtually nonexistent, said Col. Decius Wadsworth, Col-onel of the Ordnance. Since that time, the War Depart-ment established the Ordnance Department with the first order of business being to form forward-base ordnance stores from which Army units may draw from.

Wadsworth, who once served as the superintendent of the military academy at West Point, said that he spent nearly a year traveling throughout upstate New York and Vermont for the right place. Weary of his travels, and the embolden presence of the British in Canada and the Great Lakes, now was the right time to decide on a strategic forward-base location from which to supply the troops. “What a great location for the arsenal at Gibbons-ville,” said Wadsworth. “If the British attack at Lake Champlain, we can quickly resupply using the Hudson


U.S. forces capture Fort George on May 27, 1813, after suffering 41 killed in action and 113 wounded.Fort George is the western most of the British fortified posts on Lake Ontario situated on the western bank of the Niagara River near its mouth. The British suffered 52 killed, 44 wounded and 262 missing.

News Cont.

River and Lake George. If the British attack from Lake Ontario, supplies could be quickly shipped along the Mohawk River. And, if New York City came under at-tack, we can provide quick shipment to the south. This is the perfect site.”

James Gibbons said he was pleased to sell 12 acres of his farmland to support the war effort.

“My wife, Esther, and I bought a large parcel of land in this area in 1805 and never thought that it would be of such value to our country,” Gibbons said. “Although 12 acres is not much to me, it will become such an im-portant part of the war effort in the western and northern frontiers.”

Wadsworth explained that he will establish three main establishments from which to support the war ef-fort. The principal foundry will be at Georgetown, near Washington, for casting cannon, mortars, and howit-zers. Pittsburgh arsenal has been selected to construct gun carriages. And the Gibbonsville arsenal will be the principle establishment for making fixed ammunition and all the small articles of equipment.

Other key considerations made by Wadsworth in selecting the small site on the Hudson River is due to its close proximity to Troy, N.Y. The citizens of Troy have long held that their community is the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution due in large part to the significant number of manufactures in the local area.

The Arsenal will have a high and immediate demand to hire skilled laborers to not only build the arsenal, but also to man production areas.

Additionally, the Army’s main provider of food ra-tions in the New England area of operations is Samuel Wilson, who has his business located in Troy. Wilson said that he will keep the Arsenal well supplied.

Although the commanding officer of the Arsenal is Maj. James Dalliba, Capt. Thomas Campbell will be in temporary command of the Arsenal as Dalliba is cur-rently stationed at an Army depot in Buffalo.

“My first order of business is to hire carpenters, bricklayers, and masons to begin construction of 10 buildings in the next month or so,” Campbell said. “Once the buildings are in place, I will hire laborers at a great rate of $9 a month. Due to a shortage of male labor, Children, 12 and older, as well as women may apply.”

Campbell added that this Arsenal is only temporary and will probably close once the British threat has been removed.

It is not known if the U.S. War Depart-ment had sent out a news release in 1813 about this arsenal. But if it did, this is what it may have looked liked. John B. Snyder

By Benson Lossing - The Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, Public Domain.


Sometimes working here is not fairBy John B. Snyder


Oh, Jodi Sellie is such a tricky trickster. As some here may recall from last year about this time, Jodi invited me to attend a fair that would be con-ducted on the Arsenal. And so, I saved up my dollars for several months to play carnival games and to buy fried dough. It turned out that the fair dealt with health benefits for the workforce and their family members. There was no petting zoo for me to visit between arcade games, let alone fried dough. Jodi is a Human Resources Specialist in the Arse-nal’s Civilian Personnel Advisory Center who is a very nice person with a warm smile. But having said that, when she invited me to this year’s health benefits fair, I was ready.

As I walked up to the fair location, a couple of ladies from the command group were walking out holding large bags and protecting them as if they had just come from a Black Friday sale. I asked them if I could have a look at what was in their bags. Immediately, both ladies moved the bags to their hip furthest from me and told me that if I wanted to know what they had that I had to visit the fair, and to be swift because the freebees were going quick. Freebees??? My favorite word. My step quicken and I busted in through the doorway to the fair site only to be met by ̶ you guessed it ̶ tricky trickster Jodi.

Story continues on page 8, “Fair”

Even Arsenal retirees attended the Health Benefits Fair on November 15. Former safety officer Richard Clickner, left, with Human Resources Specialist Jodi Sellie at the fair. The annual Benefits Open Season began Monday, 13 November and runs through midnight on Monday, 11 December 2017. This is the time of the year to make changes about health, dental, and vision needs.


As what seemed like hundreds of Arsenal employees, family members, and retirees stuffing shopping bags full of free stuff, Jodi felt compelled to hold me back to ex-plain to me about the fair, the Arsenal's history, and War and Peace. As I stood next to Jodi, more folks pushed passed me cleaning off vendor tables as quickly as the tables could be replenished. Jodi explained that fair is important be-cause there have been changes to the prices for health, dental, and vision plans and getting that information out to the employees is critical so they can make an informed decision to either stay with their cur-rent plan or change to another plan. I nodded, but became more nervous as the fair site was filling up. She continued to tell me that she and a new Human Resource Assistant by the name of Joelle Zwack had worked since September coordinating and planning for this event that she hoped to have about 300 attend. So noted, I thought, as I started shuffling toward the freebees. When Jodi got to the part that if someone is happy with their current plan, then there is nothing that they need to do. That is when I made my break. I told her that I am good because I don’t plan on changing anything and moved toward the door as if I was leaving. She smiled and said goodbye and then I waited just outside the door until she latched onto an-other employee. Poor soul. I then made my move to the tables. En route to the tables, Machinist John Maroney stopped me to show me the goodies that he was able to snatch. He said that while he was stuffing his shopping bag at the various tables that he was able to get informa-tion on how much his health insurance was going up.

Which he said was his original intent on attending the fair. Yeah, right. I quickly moved past John only to be corralled by Financial Program Coordinator Dave Madsen. While Dave was struggling to hold onto his year’s supply of toothbrushes, he explained to me that because his health insurance company does not provide vision or dental coverage, he was comparing various company plans to get the best coverage for the price. I don’t know if Dave was talking about me when he said, “This is a strange benefit fair this year. It used to be that people just came here for the free stuff, but today

it seems as if people are actually asking questions.” If only Dave knew what my goal was for the day. It had not changed from last year. I finally made it to my first table as Manufacturing Sup-port Division Chief Tim Allard grabbed the last toothbrush. I waited patiently for Von Ahouse, from Delta Dental, to reload the table. Instead, Von spent the next 10 minutes

talking to me about the enhanced benefits his company is offering this year. By the time I got done with John, Dave, and Von, the tables had been cleared of anything of value. Not even a shopping bag was left. Well, there went my wife’s Christmas present. As I was walking out the door with no freebees, Jodi stopped me again. I explained to her that I was disap-pointed in this year’s fair because I was leaving with nothing other than flyers and brochures. Jodi said she didn’t understand my dissatisfaction be-cause it appeared to her that I had a successful morning. Huh? She went on to say that the goal of the day was to ensure that people left with the information that they needed to make smart decisions about their health care. Obviously, Jodi and I have a different measurement of success.

Fair Cont.

Arsenal Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Specialist Sheryl Melican, right, and Arsenal Manufacturing Support Division Chief Tim Allard, standing left, getting critical infor-mation during the Arsenal's Health Benefits Fair on November 15.



Most don't like to talk about it, but some thrive in it ... snow

By John B. Snyder

Story continues on page 10, “Snow”


While the Arsenal’s machinists have recently been working overtime to make tough production schedules, another team here has been quietly working behind the scenes to ensure that adverse weather will not slow the machinists’ efforts. “We are ready for the winter,” said Marc Kouff-man, the Arsenal’s Public Works Operations Supervisor. “Over the last several weeks, we have put together a great team who will keep the Arsenal’s parking lots and roads clear this winter.” It has been about six years since the last article about the Arsenal’s snow team was written, and through the years, much has changed. In 2011, then Arsenal Public Works Supervisor Thom-

as Herold said that he had 20 snow team volunteers and that they came in only after being called. Today, Kouff-man has 28 volunteers, or about 40 percent more people than Herold, who will be told before they go home if they need to come in the next morning. “This is my third year with the snow team and I have learned that if people know the day before that they need to come in early that they will be better rested,” Kouff-man said. “I and others on the snow team used to lay in bed waiting for a call that may or may not come.” But even with prior planning, Kouffman said some-times the weather changes in a matter of hours. What he

From left: Public Works Operations Supervisor and Snow Team Leader Marc Kouffman, and snow team members Edward Klementowski and Jacob Gilchrist standing by one of the newest snow plow blades that can be switched out with the traditional scoop in less than five minutes.

As with most operations here, it takes a team to maintain the Arsenal. The motor pool crew directly supports the snow team by ensuring the snow removal equipment is operational.

may have thought the day before was a good plan, sometimes became overcome by events. Never-theless, about 95 percent of the snow team’s ef-forts last year were prior planned. According to Kouffman’s 16-page snow plan, his team will go into action when two inches of snow accumulates on surfaces, or when ice pres-ents a hazardous condition. Kouffman said this includes weekends and holidays. But with 143 acres of land and 2.1 million feet of office and manufacturing space, Kouffman’s snow team can’t do it all. “Building occupants must clear snow and ice from building entrances and calcium chloride is provided at every entrance,” Kouffman said. “Additionally, those who live in post housing are responsible for removing snow and ice from their resident’s steps and sidewalks.” On a cold mid-November morn-ing when snow flurries were drift-ing along the roads, two of Kouff-man’s snow team, Edward Klemen-towski and Jacob Gilchrist, were preparing equipment just in case a snow storm hit during the Thanks-giving week. “This is my third year on the snow team and you can never be too ready,” Klementowski said. “Be-cause I live about one hour away, it is very important that I make sure my equipment is ready to go prior to the snow falling.” Gilchrist said this will be his second year on the snow team and because he is one of the few em-ployees who have a CDL license, he will work with Klementowski driv-ing the heavy snow plow trucks. “I enjoy driving the plow trucks and with the new plows purchased for this winter, my job will get a lot easier,” Gilchrist said. “But as good as my equipment is, we were very successful last year because we had

a good team.” Both Gilchrist and Klementowski said that one of the main challenges to being on the snow team is that there is no

such thing as a standard day. Dur-ing a heavy snow storm last year, Klementowski spent the night not wanting to fight traffic getting home only to turnaround a few hours later and drive on snow and ice back to having to clear roads at the Arsenal. Kouffman said that in actuality, his snow team includes every Arse-nal employee and resident. “There is nothing that makes our job easy, but it is certainly more manageable if everyone has patience and supports our clear-ing efforts,” Kouffman said. “Our biggest safety issues every season are when vehicles that remain over-night are not parked in a designated long-term parking areas, and when people do not take the extra time to clear snow and ice off of their ve-hicles." When asked if this winter is shaping up to be a tough season for him and his team, Kouffman said that he has planned for the worst case by already having 100 tons of salt on hand and another 200 tons on order. There are many here who hope he doesn’t use one ton.


Snow Cont.

The Arsenal snow team clearing a road during a March 2017 snow storm.

Most roads and sidewalks are cleared before the workforce arrives for work. In this 2015 snow storm, about two feet of snow fell in about 12 hours.




Lean Corner by Joshua O'Leary

Cost of Quality Quality management accounts for the plans, processes, tools, techniques and activities that de-termine the quality policies, objectives and responsibilities undertaken in order to meet a variety of requirements faced by a business. Modern quality management approaches seek to minimize variation and to deliver results that meet defined requirements. Cost of quality is one of these approaches, used to determine the extent to which business resources are employed to ensure quality. Cost of quality includes all costs incurred over the life of the product or service by preventing nonconformance to requirements, appraising the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failing to meet requirements. Failure costs are categorized into internal (found by the performing entity) and external (found by the customer). These cost categories can be further rolled up into two primary sources of quality cost: Cost of conformance (costs incurred to avoid failure) and cost of non-conformance (costs incurred as a result of failure). See Figure 1. Prevention costs are the costs incurred to prevent or avoid quality problems. These costs are associ-ated with the design, implementation, and maintenance of the quality management system. Example: Product or service requirements, quality planning, quality assurance and training. Appraisal costs are associated with measuring and monitoring activities related to quality. These costs are associated with the suppliers’ and customers’ evaluation of purchased materials, processes, products, and services to ensure that they conform to specifications. Internal failure costs are incurred to remedy defects discovered before the product or service is de-livered to the customer. These costs occur when the results of work fail to meet requirements and are detected before they are transferred to the customer. Examples include: Waste (remember “DOWN-TIME”), scrap, repair and rework. External failure costs are incurred to remedy defects discovered by customers. These costs occur when products or services fail to meet requirements and are not detected until after transfer to the cus-tomer. Example: Servicing, warranty claims and complaints. Cost of quality must be a true measure of the quality effort in order to accurately assess quality man-agement and provide insight into problem areas, opportunities, savings and action priorities. American Society for Quality or ASQ (http://asq.org) is a great resource for learning more about COQ. If you’re uninterested in creating an ASQ account of your own, but would like to view more of the resources they have available for account holders, contact me at [email protected].

Figure 1


TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE, IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE. I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE, AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE. I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE, NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE. NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND, ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS. WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS, A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND. FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY, I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY. THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE, CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME. THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER, NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER. WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I’D JUST READ? CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT, OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT. SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY, AND GROWN UPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY. THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR, BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE. I COULDN’T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE, ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME. THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE, I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY. THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE, “SANTA DON’T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE; I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON’T ASK FOR MORE, MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.” THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP, I COULDN’T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT’S CHILL. I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT, THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT. THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE, WHISPERED, “CARRY ON SANTA, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.” ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. “MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.”

Anonymous

During your holidays, please do not forget about our customers

newsletter from the army's oldest operating arsenal - november 2017

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