Humanproof selected for Offshore Patrol Cutter Human Factors Support

Posted by Eugene St. Clair on September, 29 2016 in

Humanproof to Provide Human Factors Engineering Support on the Largest Acquisition Program in US Coast Guard History

Arlington, VA – September 2016 – This month, Humanproof was selected to provide Human Factors Engineering services and support on the final design and hull construction of the US Coast Guard’s new Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC). If the Coast Guard replaces its aging fleet of Medium Endurance Cutters and builds all 25 proposed cutters, it will be the largest acquisition in US Coast Guard history—worth more than $10 billion.

Humanproof worked closely with Eastern Shipbuilding Group, the prime contractor, during the preliminary design (Phase 1) of this initiative. The OPC includes increased range and endurance; powerful weapons; a larger flight deck; and improved command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) equipment and capabilities, and will accommodate aircraft and small boat operations.

Ensuring both the safety of sailors and the efficiency of the OPC features are a US Coast Guard investment priority; the OPC will be the most sailor-centric cutter ever built.

Developing a human-centered design early in the ship design process and then optimizing it through the engineering and testing phases increases both the mission- and cost-effectiveness of the system. Humanproof analysts, using advanced 3-D human modeling and simulation tools, will accurately assess key factors such as sailor access, egress, safety, habitability and occupational health. Additionally, Humanproof will develop and execute a rigorous modeling, simulation, testing and evaluation program to ensure total system effectiveness and usability. A sound, human-centered design can reduce injuries, improve system and subsystem effectiveness, and optimize human performance.

Humanproof is the only company constructed at its core on the principles of Human Systems Integration: the science of building effective and efficient interfaces between people, technology, and the context within which they function.

In a statement, Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft said, “whether combating transnational organized criminal networks off Central America or patrolling in the increasingly accessible Arctic, the Offshore Patrol Cutter will ensure our nation’s maritime security and economic interests are preserved for decades to come.”

“We are excited to be an integral part of the design in the next generation of cutters. The opportunity to demonstrate the full potential of Human Systems Integration (HSI) to something so important to our homeland security fulfills the vision of why we started Humanproof in the first place,” says Eugene St.Clair, President and CEO of Humanproof.

The final design work in this Phase 2 construction contract was chosen from three bids, with Eastern Shipbuilding and its team of subcontractors successfully winning over design approaches from Bollinger and General Dynamics. The first OPC is expected to be delivered in fiscal year 2021.

Humanproof is a Virginia-based company that focuses on ensuring the highest possible level of human performance on the systems design of large-scale, complex systems. For further information, contact Mr. Eugene St.Clair at Eugene.st.clair@humanproof.com, phone (800) 541-9624, or visit www.humanproof.com.

Capturing Decision Making Needs for Design Affordability and Flexibility: Bridging the SE-HSI Gap

Posted by Eugene St. Clair on January, 17 2014 in Human Factors

In the design of complex systems under conventional practice, an effective embrace of system and system users that drives requirements
from the top down is difficult and rare. In fact, perhaps the single greatest technical challenge in engineering complex systems is that of building systems around the people who will be using them. For naval vessels, the challenge is to build the ships around the sailors who will be sailing them 30-50 years after initial commissioning. Understanding the needs of the sailors over the ship’s entire service life is one of most important concerns in budgeting for total life cycle costs. In this effort, Systems Engineering and Human Systems Integration (HSI) methods and tools are often applied separately, with many HSI concerns addressed after the fact instead of when it would most benefit design, contributing to operability issues and complicating initiatives for more affordable ships.

Like many others, this paper affirms that an integrated Systems Engineering-HSI approach is fundamental to addressing these challenges, but it also recommends a structured, top down, decision oriented method for achieving this end. The method presented provides a framework for realizing improved traceability from desired capabilities to functional requirements and supports a robust negotiation for flexible and affordable solutions.

This paper describes an approach based on understanding the decision landscape of system users/operators as decision makers and founded on the premise that every system can be described as an evolution of knowledge punctuated by decisions supported information and expertise. The paper explains how the method, known as Decision Oriented Systems Engineering (DOSE), bridges the gap from desired capabilities to functional requirements, how the approach closes the Systems Engineering-HSI gap, and in so doing provides several design benefits.

To view the full story, click here.

Posted by Brooke Paulshock on January, 13 2014 in Management

The toughest challenge of organizational leaders today is to manage at the speed of change. With the breathtaking pace of technological advancement which will only continue to escalate, and the doubling of knowledge every 5 years, leaders face tremendous pressure as they try to gain support for change. Regardless of how good or necessary a change may be, resistance should be expected. A survey of 500 executives conducted by William Schiemann (1992) concluded that resistance was the main reason why organizational changes fail. A study by Hammer and Associates found that 60% of the reengineering projects that failed were due to employee resistance (Moomough, 1999). In a survey of 2,200 executives, managers, and employees conducted by Aguirre, von Post, & Alpern (2013) report that transformation efforts fail for three main reasons:
change fatigue, lack of skill in sustaining change, and resistance to change. While preventing resistance completely is an unrealistic goal, the ability to manage resistance effectively has emerged as an essential skill. This article will help you do that by offering a conceptual framework for understanding resistance, and also practical suggestions for assessing and overcoming it.

To view the full article, click here.

Assessing and Changing Organizational Culture

Posted by Brooke Paulshock on January, 13 2014 in Management

INTRODUCTION

Culture, sometimes called organizational culture or corporate culture, has been described as “the way we do things around here.” Every human group has a culture, including nations, subgroups within nations, and business organizations. Culture consists of:

Beliefs, which are underlying assumptions, conclusions, and predictions
Values, which are standards of importance based on beliefs
Norms, which are standards for behavior based on beliefs and values

Values and beliefs are psychological constructs, internal to a person. Organizations as such don’t have values and beliefs, but their cultures are shaped by them to the extent that they are shared or aligned.

To view the full article, click here.

Humanproof selected for Offshore Patrol Cutter Human Factors Support

Capturing Decision Making Needs for Design Affordability and Flexibility: Bridging the SE-HSI Gap

Managing Resistance to Change

Assessing and Changing Organizational Culture

User-Centered Design in a Large-Scale Naval Ship Design Program