In the beginning there was an altimeter - Meggitt PLC

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IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME Above: John Skubina was one of the architects of the MPC Rockmart facility’s astonishing turnaround over the last decade. After relieving Sikorsky of its non-core composites production by thinking laterally about the capability that resided within Rockmart’s iceguards business, not to mention a mix of ice protection and fuel tank wins on new helicopter programmes and the USAF’s faithful KC-130 stratotanker, he is applying his entrepreneurial flair and shrewd financial brain to all Meggitt’s polymers and composites businesses. 00 44 REVIEW | WINTER 2010 Boeing’s KC-135 stratotanker, the airborne gas station that refuels military aircraft on the fly. Its fuel tanks amount to two thirds of fuel tank turnover and at least half the factory floor. Right: John Skubina, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Sales & Marketing: “Now I’m walking in to see customers representing a significantly enhanced polymers and composites capability—right in line with our one-stop shopping model vision.”
it might not play well in your magazine warns John Skubina, formerly general manager of MPC’s Rockmart facility and now the new Meggitt Polymers & Composites division’s Senior Vice President, Strategy, Sales & Marketing. It is about his early career choice. “The truth is, I was 17 years old and trying to date this girl and she was doing accounting …” The young sophomore changed the course of Skubina’s life again a decade or so later when, now his wife, she accepted an interview on his behalf at Engineered Fabrics Corporation (EFC)—a little way away from the Long Island suburb where they had made their home. ‘Where’s Rockmart?” was all he could manage after an 80-hour absence on the road auditing the internal controls of a defence company’s warehouses and manufacturing facilities. At the top of his game in this sector in 1999, he was ready for something new. The prospective interview with an ex-colleague intrigued him. You learn a lot about how to be a good manager by surviving a down-cycle, learning how to identify key people you absolutely have to hang on to for the future, the ones that will be there for you, five, ten years down the line to help bring products to fruition A fter graduating from the New York Institute of Technology in 1986, Skubina broke into defence, demonstrating his numeric and analytical skills as a production scheduler for Hartman Systems, a high tech electronics outfit. This early operational exposure delivered a lesson that guides him today. “The best laid plans can go wrong, so you need to know how to adjust and adapt to keep to your path,“ he says. It is no accident that the programme management capability of EFC—now Meggitt Polymers & Composites, Rockmart—is well-developed and that Skubina’s management style is coloured by constant planning and preparation. “That first role really showed me what operations go through to get the product out of the door.” The year’s production scheduling led to a dedicated cost-accounting role at Hartman, then internal audit work for Ademco, a defence-oriented alarm system business, then rapid promotions after a move to another high tech electronics business, Microwave Power Devices. Moving South held no terrors for Skubina. “At that time, EFC was a company falling on hard times with one terrific product line—fuel tanks—and another with huge potential—ice guards and composites. It just needed turning around. I was excited by the scope of the opportunity.” Then began a fruitful partnership with then ‘EFC’ President, Roger Mart. Mart’s engineering strengths and Skubina’s financial acumen laid the foundation for MPC Rockmart’s current success. Then, turnover was $29 million. In 2009, the workforce delivered well over $100 million worth of business. “What you see today,” says Skubina, “was really created five to seven years back when we had regained our footing. Today, we are working on 2014.” In common with the managers of all Meggitt’s aerospace and defence businesses, he plays a long game. Today’s multi-million dollar fuel tank business was greatly enhanced six years ago when the US Air Force asked MPC Rockmart to supply new fuel tanks as part of a major retrofit programme for the KC-135 stratotanker. MPC Rockmart is now providing 16 fuel tanks for each of the 500 aircraft in service. The V-22 tilt rotor, > REVIEW | WINTER 2010 00 45
Page 1 and 2: A MAGAZINE FOR EMPLOYEES WINTER 201
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In the beginning there was an altimeter - Meggitt PLC

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