With the interchange of innovation and technology between the public and private sectors, Vanguard is asking executives to share their thoughts on the changes they have seen within their sector and the future they face.
Jim Albaugh is president and chief executive officer of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, a $32.1 billion, 71,000-person business unit that includes the Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems unit of tactical aircraft, airlift and tankers, helicopter and weapons, and maritime and airborne surveillance programs, and the Network and Space Systems unit of combat systems, command, control and communications networks, intelligence and security systems, missile defense, space and intelligence systems, and space exploration.
A native of Washington State, Albaugh joined Boeing in 1975 as a project engineer at its Hanford, Wash., operations, and has held the presidency of its Space and Communications and Space Transportation units, forerunners of Integrated Defense Systems. He spoke with editor Robert Parkins.
What has changed most dramatically in the past decade in aerospace?
The emphasis on capability-driven solutions verses threat-based solutions and the movement away from a focus on who has the most ships, planes and tanks to one of information superiority.
What will be the most innovative developments in defence aerospace over the next decade?
Predicting the future is very hard and I’m not going to try to do that. My view is that the enduring needs of the warfighter don’t really change. It’s about situational awareness, mobility, integrated command and control; it’s about force projection. Programs come and go but if you invest in technologies that support these areas I believe you will be well positioned to support the customer under any type of threat scenario from cyber to peer.
What do you see as the most significant challenges on the horizon for the sector?
The defense industry faces several unique challenges. Despite flattening defence budgets and shifting priorities global threats remain and are constantly evolving. This requires us to make our armed services more capable, more survivable, and more lethal across a broad spectrum of threats. Presently, along with traditional threats, we also face irregular catastrophic, disruptive threats. As a result, military planners must shift away from total reliance on a traditional portfolio of capabilities designed to address the conflicts of the 20th century to the full spectrum of agile, responsive capabilities necessary to defend against the peer threat, as well as, terrorist attacks, secular conflicts, and cyber warfare.
How well prepared is Canadian industry to meet these?
Rather than speak specifically to the ability of the Canadian defence industry to meet these challenges, in my role leading a global defense enterprise, let me speak about international teaming in the broader sense. As the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing has developed several international teaming arrangements for both commercial airplanes and defense products. But for the future, we must recognize that research and development spending is down. More than ever the industry must tap into the trillions of dollars being invested in technology around the world instead of trying to develop it ourselves. The threats are global; the development of capabilities should also be global. Perhaps by pooling money, talent and the intellectual capacity among all of our friends and allies we can better meet our evolving needs. Companies will be only as good as their ability to utilize technologies from whatever source worldwide. Giving customers the best solutions means giving them the best of industry – whether that comes from America, Canada, Europe or Asia.
How prepared is the aerospace sector for large numbers of retirements over the next decade and how will that affect your ability to meet demand?
The most imminent threat to aerospace is the aging of our industry workforce. The average age of an aerospace engineer today is 54 years old. Meanwhile, we are simply not producing enough of the scientists and engineers of the future. In short, I fear that in coming decades we will have too few workers, with too few skills and too little interest in what we do. How can we prevent this intellectual disarmament? How can we attract the best and brightest? As an industry, we can start by becoming more attractive to younger workers by inspiring them to believe in the importance of what we do. We also need to ensure that we give young engineers the opportunity to advance and be rewarded for exemplary performance. Only by doing so can we keep the best and brightest.
Many large companies often have the dual role of being the leading contractor on certain projects while, on the others, being managed as a supplier by another major contractor. What are some of the challenges in selecting partners?
When people ask me what the core competency of the Boeing Company is, what is it that sets us apart from others in aerospace, my answer is always the same: we are the world leader in complex large scale systems integration. We see proof of this every day on programs like the Super Hornet, Future Combat Systems, Ground-Based Mid-Course Defense, International Space Station and others. These are extremely complex programs and our customers come to us because of this expertise. It’s been our approach to bring together the best of Boeing with the best of industry to offer optimal solutions for our customers’ needs. The most essential element in the success of these teams is ensuring that supplier management disciplines are in place to ensure consistency in understanding requirements, implementing best management practices throughout the team and instilling a culture where problems are identified early on and communicated up through the supply chain.
How has Boeing reduce its environmental impact? Are there technologies/ideas Boeing is exploring for both its civilian and defense aircraft that would make a significant difference?
Climate change and pollution are serious environmental issues that require we take action. As an innovation leader, Boeing’s most important contribution is pioneering new technologies that improve the environmental performance of our air, land, space and network products as well as our support services and operations. Our military customers also are increasingly looking for improved fuel efficiency and energy security, which can include renewable energy sources. We are working on fuel-cells, hybrids, solar and advanced generation biofuels developments that may have significant benefits for our government customers in an oil-constrained world.
What is the best advice you’ve received?
I’ve been fortunate to have worked for great people during my career. I think the best advice I’ve received is that hoping a situation will resolve itself never works. You have to manage risk each and every day and try to anticipate what can go wrong. We work on extremely complex systems, nothing just happens without great focus and attention to detail.
Interview with Boeing’s Jim Albaugh