Industry Interview: The Boeing Company
Dennis Muilenberg
Vice President of Global Services
and Integrated Defense Systems
The Boeing Company
Q: Please provide some background on Boeing Integrated Defense Systems [IDS] and its Global Services & Support [GS&S] business.
A: IDS is one of the world’s largest space and defense businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, IDS is a $32.1 billion business with 71,000 employees. GS&S is a 17,000-person team providing global after-delivery support for military airplanes and other systems, as well as a broad array of defense and government services.
Q: Please indicate the primary business areas of GS&S, and briefly explain the functions of each.
A: GS&S capabilities include integrated logistics and supply-chain management supporting the F/A-18, F-15, C-17, AH-64, V-22, AV-8B, CH-47 and other military airplanes and systems; maintenance, modifications and upgrades on aircraft such as the KC-135, A-10, B-52, KC-10, A-10, C-130, C-32, C-40 and other aircraft in the executive fleet; defense and government services such as infrastructure support, logistics command and control, ISR services, support operations and managed communication services; and live, virtual, and constructive training and simulation. GS&S has key international operations in Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, as well as a field services team in 170 global locations.
Q: Boeing is a major player in the military logistics arena. How do you plan to meet your customers’ objectives?
A: We recently announced acquisitions of Tapestry Solutions and Federated Software Group to enhance logistics command and control. Our operations where we perform heavy maintenance and upgrades return aircraft to the fight faster, it seems, with each plane. We are adding solutions to airplanes originally built by competitors—re-winging the A-10, for example, and putting new glass cockpits in C-130s for a modernization solution making them more capable than new “J” models at one-seventh the cost.
Q: Is Boeing’s GS&S business doing anything new?
A: GS&S recently launched our Defense & Government Services division to better serve customers in the $400 billion services market. We are confident this division will add tremendous value for our customers and grow our business profitably. We’re already doing work in these markets very successfully, and we want to do more. Boeing is performing in, or engaged in active proposals for, several service market areas. Examples include range services for groundbased midcourse defense; networked technical services such as logistics command and control, satellite operations, launch support and SBInet maintenance; managed network and communications services like the Boeing Broadband Satellite Network for the U.S. executive fleet; integrated facilities management for the U.S. government; and other aviation and logistics services such as field maintenance and modifications and ISR services.
Q: What are the main challenges facing GS&S in meeting 21st century warfighter needs?
A: Four things come to mind. First is affordability. We must offer lean, best-of-industry answers, partner with government in ways that make sense, and present solutions our customers can afford at a time of intense budget pressure.
Second is responding to what’s next in the global war on terror. Whether it’s a drawdown in Iraq, additional troops to Afghanistan or something else, equipment is being utilized at higher rates than anticipated. We must refurbish and return equipment to the fight even faster, and it’s good we have a talented work force dedicated to continuous improvement.
Third, we must extend our industry-leading performance-based logistics in aviation support onto ground vehicles and other non-aviation systems. This is a business model that works, achieving superior levels of system readiness and reducing operating costs. It needs to be replicated. And finally, our challenges included helping all of usfrom the supplier base, to our own people, to the customer—visualize a net-enabled, globally connected future across the logistics enterprise.
I have every reason to be confident that we will meet these challenges. We are making progress in every one of these areas, and perhaps our greatest strength is the innovative spirit of our people. Their ability to find a way and propose just the right solution is one of Boeing GS&S’s core competencies. ♦