ACHIEVING MISSION ASSURANCE - Raytheon

Events
Systems Engineering Technical Development Program (SEtdp)
Graduates First Wave of Students
In mid-2003, Raytheon engineering
and learning leaders from Space
and Airborne Systems (SAS), Missile
Systems (MS), Integrated Defense Systems
(IDS), Intelligence and Information Systems
(IIS), Network Centric Systems (NCS) and
Raytheon corporate came together to
address an impending need for systems
engineers. This need was caused by the
retirement of key members of Raytheon’s
systems engineering population along
with the increased demand for technical
leaders for the Mission Systems Integration
(MSI) and system-of-systems programs of
the future.
Leveraging work done within the businesses
and by the Systems Engineering Council,
they used Raytheon Six Sigma TM techniques
to define the problem and identify a goal:
develop 1,000 new MSI and system-ofsystems
chief engineer candidates by 2010.
A cross-business team of key engineering
and learning professionals worked together
to design a learning approach that exposes
students to important customers, technologies,
domains and competencies — consequently,
the Systems Engineering Technical
Development Program (SEtdp) was born.
The very act of collaborating to address this
enterprise need has added value to the
businesses. Jerry Brown, vice president of
engineering for Raytheon’s Missile Systems
business, reports, “The SEtdp program has
helped MS to create a focus on the importance
of systems engineering to our future
growth and a broader perspective on the
capabilities of the entire company. With
each business creating and teaching part of
the program, our top engineers have the
opportunity to visit other sites, develop
relationships and see the best of what
Raytheon has to offer.”
The SEtdp is structured to allow students to
exercise technical and leadership skills
while developing a broad understanding of
30 2006 ISSUE 1 RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGY TODAY
Raytheon’s customers and company strategy.
It also facilitates the development of
networks of knowledge and encourages
One Company behavior.
In June of 2004, the first wave of SEtdp
students was selected for the program by
their business leadership team. Since then,
the first wave of students has learned with
our best and brightest engineers and technologists
at the IDS business in Mass., MS
at Tucson Ariz., IIS in Garland Texas, NCS in
McKinney Texas, as well as from one
another on cross-business project teams
addressing current Raytheon challenges
and needs.
At each session, the students have participated
in interactive learning activities
focusing on key technologies and domains
at the host businesses. They have heard the
voice of a range of Raytheon customers
and business leaders, and have worked
with both best-in-class and emerging
methods in systems engineering. There are
currently nine waves of SEtdp in progress.
Starting in 2006, eight new waves will be
launched each year. This year, approximately
190 students will graduate from the
program, and approximately 225 in each
year thereafter.
In March 2006, first-wave students will
attend their final session in Washington
D.C., where they will work with our
business development organization and
Raytheon Technical Services Company to
present the results of their class projects to
a jury of Raytheon engineering leaders.
Lynn Dugle, vice president of Engineering,
Technology and Quality for NCS, heralds
this event: “We have chartered new
ground. Wave 1 of the SEtdp are the
pioneers for a program that accelerates
growing our future lead systems and chief
engineers. The projects that they are working
on will benefit Raytheon and NCS for
years to come.”
The program has been challenging for the
students, both personally and professionally,
but their effort shows results.
Students report gaining valuable insight in
areas to which I have never been exposed
and a good understanding of other business
areas and insight to how we can work
together as One Company to deliver customer
solutions. In fact, just three days
after returning home from his first session,
one student writes, “focusing on the
‘need’ helped in a meeting with the Navy
yesterday. I told them to focus on the
‘need,’ not the implementation — [that alone]
may have been worth the tuition.”
Larri Rosser
larri_rosser@raytheon.com
Ambrose Nangeroni
ambrose_nangeroni@raytheon.com