BIW Remembers Kenneth "Chip" Faulter '81

BIW Remembers Kenneth "Chip"Faulter

prepared by his co-workers at BIW

Ken Faulter, born in Syracuse, NY, graduated as part of the Webb Institute Class of 1981. He spent his entire 34- year career at Bath Iron Works in Bath, ME, joining the shipyard’s Engineering Department as a Mechanical Engineer in July of '81, and progressing to the significant roles of Director of Design, and Manager of Configuration and Data Management. Ken retired from BIW in 2014.

Ken made significant contributions technically and technologically at the shipyard, seeing the Company through the transition from all manual design with graphite and ink on vellum and mylar, to computer-aided design. When Ken arrived, BIW was well-along in the FFG-7 program with Gibbs and Cox working closely alongside as design agent and had secured a contract to build CG-47 Class cruisers as well. The Navy determined that the next destroyers, the DDG 51 ARLEIGH BURKE Class, would no longer be designed using traditional methods, but would be developed using CAD, creating the design in three dimensions by computer. After a period of Navy/industry collaboration and preparation using CAD in Crystal City, BIW was successful in winning the contract for detail design and construction of the lead ship.

Beginning the DDG 51 design, in particular the structure, using traditional methods, BIW deployed a team to transition the design to CAD and develop the outfit in that system. Ken had a leadership role in that deployment, guiding the design force in the transition to the new CAD technology. Working three shifts a day with a multidiscipline team including Gibbs & Cox, Ken and the team trained hundreds of designers in both Computer-Vision CADDS and AutoCAD, and developed procedures for all aspects of the process; modeling and organizing files, developing library parts, sharing model data with follow yard Ingalls, and plotting drawings from 3D models. During the late 80s and most of the 90s, Ken led the effort and was ultimately successful in producing drawings for part fabrication on the shop floor and ship integration in the buildings and on the ways. He held various supervisory and managerial positions in the Design and Engineering Departments over this timeframe, including Supervisor of Machinery Control Systems in 1987, and Manager of Electrical Engineering in 1988—a testament to his breadth of knowledge in ship design and construction.

In 1997, BIW and Avondale collaborated in the design of LPD 17, the Navy’s newest amphibious warship. Ken was selected to lead the BIW design team at Avondale and moved his family to New Orleans. He took to that assignment with enthusiasm; a new ship design, a new CAD system (Intergraph), and a different shipyard and city in which to learn.

Being a team of Mainers off site in distant New Orleans for Chip meant that his work team became his afterhours expanded family as well. His team members recall weekend barbecues, trips into the French Quarter, holiday parties, weddings, and the enjoyment of just being together. The friendships forged during that time lasted throughout his life.

In 2005, Chip was named Director of Design and again saw BIW through a significant CAD system development, the introduction of CATIA in the startup and Detail Design phase of the DDG 1000 Program. Modeling conventions, criteria and management approaches; developing procedures; and training designers all had to be worked out in a common process framework with Northrop Grumman Ingalls and then integrated into BIW business systems to support ship construction. Chip’s blend of business acumen and technical knowledge, adopting and integrating new CAD systems in collaboration with other shipyards, made him ideal for this role.

In 2010 Chip took responsibility for the BIW Configuration and Data Management (CMDM) Department, establishing many of the processes critical to building a long series of Navy combatants. That team considers itself better today because of his leadership. He made critical decisions for the Department, always for the greater good.

Chip is remembered by his co-workers as being a "straight-shooter," speaking truthfully and always bringing his talent, education, leadership and good old common sense to bear, to improve the people and processes around him. He was a role model and mentor for many in the Engineering Division leadership team at BIW today. His upbeat “just ducky” response to how he was doing, and his passion and talent for detail served him well as a naval architect and extended into his personal life as well, driving his love for model railroading.

Ken is survived by his wife, Mona Faulter, two sons, Ben Faulter and Michael Faulter, and his former wife, Erica Hansen, also Webb Class of '81.