In the beginning there was an altimeter - Meggitt PLC

Stop a $70 million
aircraft for a $10,000
fuel tank that leaks.
That is a good way to
lose a customer
When Skubina first joined Rockmart,
the company had to scale down
before it scaled up but he was
quick to retain the “star quality” in his
management teams. Those stars are with
him today. “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.” Sometimes it wasn’t about
choosing individuals but retaining the
only representative of a key discipline.
“I remember having to fight to retain
the only engineer we had on the V-22
programme. Today that programme is
worth tens of millions of dollars a year and
now we have substantial engineering team
working on it.”
Over the last ten years, Skubina
says that he and team have worn
many different hats, every member
exceeding their job descriptions and
enjoying the fruits of their labours. In the
last four years alone, sales have doubled
and, despite the downturn, Rockmart is on
track for further expansion this year. The
sense of possibility born of huge confidence
in the future of the business is palpable.
While Skubina scans his hawk-eye
over the defence horizon, looking to
provide the next decade’s security for
Rockmart’s employees and healthy returns
for shareholders, he knows that he is as
good as the plant’s ability to deliver on the
promises he makes to customers. He can’t
emphasise enough what quality and on ontime
delivery means to the success of the
MPC Rockmart business model. “We are a
very labour-intensive shop here, probably
the most of all Meggitt businesses, so
making things intelligently, using all
the Lean manufacturing tools we can is
critical. The future of MPC Rockmart is
quite literally in the hands of everyone who
works here. We can command a premium
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REVIEW | WINTER 2010
and our customers will pay it if they know
that every time they order a part from us,
it is delivered on time and fits the aircraft
perfectly and works the way it is supposed
to. The last thing they want to do is stop a
$70 million aircraft for a $10,000 fuel tank
that leaks. That is a good way to lose a
customer.”
Meggitt has been good for Rockmart,
Skubina affirms. Setting aside substantial
financial investment to complete the
composites facility and the services of
Meggitt’s in-house Lean and continuous
improvement teams, there have been
significant introductions to new customers
and aircraft programmes. Further, as
the new Meggitt Polymers & Composites
division beds in with common processes,
common information systems and
shared services, Skubina believes there
will be more opportunities to reap the
benefits of the division’s critical mass.
“We are creating a powerful design and
manufacturing capability from conventional
to cutting edge, from component to system,
from regional to international—crossing
three continents if you count Meggitt’s
strategic manufacturing base in Xiamen,
China—with multiple currency options.”
While Skubina has acceded to a
division-wide role from his former focus
on Rockmart as its president, he intends
to represent Rockmart’s interests as
vigorously as ever. “The only difference
now is that I’m walking in to see customers
We are a very labourintensive
shop here,
probably the most of all
Meggitt businesses, so
making things intelligently,
using all the Lean
manufacturing tools we can
is critical. The future of MPC
Rockmart is quite literally in
the hands of everyone who
works here
representing a significantly enhanced
polymers and composites capability—right
in line with our one-stop shopping model
vision. That’s one big business created from
four small independently operating entities,
with the collective talent of all of them at
the customers’ disposal. There’s a $600
million market for us out there in aircraft
interiors and composite structures, fuel
cells and ice protection and while Meggitt
has healthy proportion of it, we can do so
much more in the new organisation.”
Growing the composites side of the
business, targeting components and
secondary structures in particular is
an area Skubina finds extremely exciting.
“The composite structures market is
growing at an incredible rate—it is worth
about $24 billion dollars and it is growing
as more and more metal is being converted
into lightweight composite alternatives.
We are used to creating incredibly complex
extreme environment composites for our
electro-thermal ice guards here and in our
UK facility and there is real demand out
there for quality products that only Meggitt
Polymers & Composites craftsmen and
women can deliver.”
he expresses his business aims with simplicity.
The former EFC, Meggitt Polymer Solutions
and Dunlop Ice Protection & Composites
businesses will operate using the power of
the Meggitt brand within the new polymers
and composites division, delivering more
capability, more innovation and more
initiatives to deliver excellent and costeffective
operations. “Now Meggitt has
bought Rockmart, it is no longer part of a
holding company that looks at our financials
alone. It can be proud to be part of a big
business that thoroughly understands
our markets and gives us resources to
make us more competitive we simply
could not afford to develop on our own,” he
says. He talks about greater security and
career opportunity for employees, access
to investment in the fabric of factories
and the investment needed to win and
sustain big manufacturing programmes.
Regulatory support in any defence business
is critical and Meggitt’s programme
is highly regarded internationally. The
group’s procurement function is improving
buying power for common products and
services. There is access to cost-effective
IT and HR services and a group-wide
engineering system to tap into, never mind
the combined resources of the new division.
He is also keen to benefit from shared best
practice. “We’ll share what’s good about
the way we do things here with our sister
facilities and vice versa.”
The philosophy of the new Meggitt
organisation is meat and drink to Skubina.
“If you can run similar businesses
together, they cost less to run and deliver a
streamlined management structure that is
easier for customers to do business with.”
He concludes: “Operationally, marketingwise,
we will be so much stronger than we
could have envisaged pre-Meggitt.” ●