What’s in a Name? Knowing the right ones can mean the difference between getting your foot in the door with a new customer and being left out in the cold.
At Lockheed Martin Corp., for example, there is no Mr. or Mrs. Lockheed, noted Craig Owens, program manager corporate SBIR/STTR, during his keynote address at the HOUSTEX show in late February. Worldwide, the company has more than 114,000 employees, making it virtually impossible to find the person you need to sell the benefits of your latest widget—unless you do your homework. For starters, Owens said, you need to know how a company is organized. At Lockheed, there are four business units:
Aeronautics; Rotary & Mission Systems; Space; and Missiles & Fire Control. Each has a business lead and supporting engineers and staff for SBIR/STTR, which is short for Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer.
That makes Craig Owens a very important name to know. He said Lockheed depends on small businesses (especially partners that can tap into the federal government’s SBIR research budget) to help drive innovation, and the company is constantly on the lookout for new products, investment opportunities, and other types of collaboration.
Once you make the initial contact, it’s important to be courteous, professional, and responsive to all requests and interactions. And don’t take rejection personally. Remember, companies don’t have emotions but the people who work at them do, so it’s critical to build and nurture positive relationships.
The two other keynotes at HOUSTEX, which is co-produced by SME and AMT as part of their regional Manufacturing Technology Series of events, also offered some sound advice. Mike Carroll, vice president of innovation and transformation at Georgia-Pacific, stressed the importance of understanding what you’re working on so companies can create solutions rather than merely addressing symptoms. This requires adaptive capacity—the ability to learn and store knowledge in a changing environment —and creating value at the same rate data is generated.
Meanwhile, Knudt Flor, a former BMW senior executive who retired in 2021, said companies need to fully embrace digital tools, including autonomous robots, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, smart logistic AGVs, smart analytics, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the virtual factory. On the analytics side, this means collecting, structuring, and visualizing data to improve products and processes. While implementation is often difficult, Flor said the potential return on investment can be the difference between success and failure.
The same could be said about several of the topics covered in this month’s issue of Manufacturing Engineering, including advances in additive manufacturing, medical machining, and the most important asset of all: your workforce. Enjoy!
Connect With Us
