General Dynamics has built new facilities and focused on its workforce to manage both Block V of the Virginia-class submarine and the Columbia-class submarine, the company's chief executive said today.
In a call with analysts, Phebe Novakovic said General Dynamics has "constructed additional facilities" at Quonset Point, RI, to prepare for Electric Boat's "increased work scope on Block V."
She also said General Dynamics began ramping up its workforce years ago.
"We started this about eight years ago working in public-private partnerships with Rhode Island and Connecticut to begin to train the kinds of workers that we needed and in large numbers," Novakovic told analysts. "We have demonstrated over the last four years we have brought new shipbuilders into the yard at a higher initial capability and then they continued to learn."
"We're very comfortable that we can meet our expectations for growth," she said.
Meanwhile, General Dynamics said today sales in its most recent quarter reached $10.8 billion, up almost 4% from the same three-month period a year earlier.
The contractor said quarterly profit hit $1 billion, up 12% from the prior year.
General Dynamics said 2019 sales totaled $39.4 billion, up 9% from 2018. Profit for the year reached $3.5 billion, up 4% from 2018.