Vigor goes from 100+ Corrective Action Requests (CARs) to zero with TruQC

Vigor Industrial, a leader in shipbuilding and repair, experienced serious reporting difficulties on the USS Gridley project. Objective Quality Evidence (OQE) deadlines were missed. 103 Corrective Action Requests (CARs) were raised by the Navy — and 60% were coatings / OQE related. 480 hours were spent cleaning up paperwork discrepancies.

Before commencing their next Navy project —the USS Kidd— Vigor overhauled their quality assurance (QA) program to streamline their processes and ensure greater accuracy. One of those changes was taking their reporting process and workflow paperless with TruQC. The result? Zero CARs, a clear audit trail and a “consistent, clean and quick” OQE review process.

Vigor and TruQC

Vigor took a three-pronged approach to optimize their QA program before the USS Kidd project:

  1. Use third-party inspectors for greater objectivity.
  2. Take inspection authority away from subcontractors.
  3. Leverage TruQC for document management and reporting.

Employing third-party inspectors and removing the subcontractors’ inspection authority gave Vigor greater control over the OQE review process. This also streamlined the process because subcontractors couldn’t go directly to the government — and Vigor was able to schedule and conduct preliminary inspections before calling in the Navy.

TruQC’s impact at a glance

  • Without TruQC: 103 CARs. With TruQC: 0 CARs.
  • Fewer than 15 admin revisions made on USS Kidd project.
  • TruQC eliminated 480 hours of review time.
  • Consistent, clear, accurate OQE packages handed off to the Navy.

Integrating TruQC results in a smoother review process

Vigor has been building and repairing ships to a high level of quality for years — and they didn’t need to reinvent their proven workflows. Instead, they needed a reporting solution that optimized the accuracy and speed of their existing processes.

That’s why they turned to TruQC — a paperless reporting application that transforms existing reporting processes into secure, digitalized workflows. TruQC collaborated with the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) to build out the eight appendices for NSI 009-32, making TruQC the perfect tool for meeting the strict compliance requirements of the U.S. Navy.

On-site training and support from the TruQC team

As Vigor was first implementing the software, the TruQC team provided on-site, hands-on training sessions. This lowered the learning curve and allowed the Vigor team to ask questions.

The USS Kidd Navy team was included in these sessions. This helped to establish expectations and allowed the Navy to give input into how TruQC would be used on their project. Several ship building specialists from the USS Gridley team also were present, offering insight into the process problems TruQC was aiming to fix.

All standard items and specifications available within the app

TruQC eliminated the need to carry binders of documentation in the field. All applicable documents —specifications, standards such as NSI 009-32 and all reports and appendices— were contained within the TruQC Document Library. And because TruQC automatically syncs to the cloud when a connection is available, inspectors had up-to-date access to every document they might need both in the office and the field.

“I can’t even put a dollar sign on my ROI because it was that drastic.”

That’s what Lindsay Docherty, Director of Quality Assurance at Vigor Industrial, said after implementing TruQC. Even the ship building specialist on the USS Kidd project, Mark Donaldson, said the “review process for OQE packages is consistent, clean and quick” with TruQC.

TruQC allowed Vigor’s inspectors to conduct preliminary inspections on the iPad before bringing in the Navy, minimizing admin errors. Plus, all applicable documents were readily available within the app to be included in the appendices.

Implementing TruQC didn’t come without its challenges — namely that the Code 132 / QA team wasn’t present at the initial training and as a result was hesitant to embrace the new technology. However, after seeing TruQC’s success on the deck plate they were willing and eager to utilize the tool, further proving the project a resounding success for Vigor.

Looking forward: Leveraging TruQC on the USS Sampson

The USS Kidd project is now complete, and the results are in: no OQE packages were returned due to admin issues and no CARs were raised by the Navy. Now, Vigor is using TruQC on the $42.2 million USS Sampson project.

To learn more about TruQC and its potential to promote accuracy, efficiency and compliance across industries, request a consultation with our team. We’ll discuss how we can configure our reporting software to your proven workflows — and how it can drive down cost and risk throughout your organization.