MT Magazine May/June 2025

FEATURE STORY

MAY/JUNE 2025

17

company, Chinese and European automotive companies are developing unboxed operations to achieve significant savings. While some people who don’t manufacture cars might think this isn’t relevant to them, they must consider: (1) It very well may be relevant if what is being manufactured requires the assembly of other elements (although a redesign may be required to perform a modular build efficiently); and (2) Henry Ford installed his first moving assembly line in 1913 – isn’t it likely that incremental improvements have run their course, and a disruptive approach is necessary? It is reasonable to think that what you’re making now – and how you’re making it – is keeping the lights on and sustaining your business. Gigacasting and unboxed assembly may be interesting, but they don’t fit into what is presently paying the bills. Still, some are doing things differently, which may undercut what you are doing, and the market you are serving may slowly (or quickly) cease to exist. Consider an approach from 1943. Lockheed was a supplier of aircraft to the military that did things in a traditional way. The Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) came to Lockheed and said it wanted a jet fighter developed in 180 days. Given that it ordinarily took years to deliver a prototype, not a handful of months, imagine what the folks at Lockheed must have thought when the guys from ATSC left the room. Instead of laughing it off (or taking the contract and then operating business as usual), they formed a new division: Skunk Works. Under aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson, Skunk Works was a small team comprised of fewer than 30 engineers who worked independently from Lockheed’s main operations. They delivered the XP-80 prototype – which was to become the P-80 Shooting Star – in 143 days, 37 days faster than their allotted time. How did they do it? One key factor was codifying 14 rules for fast, innovative, and efficient product development, including: “The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems).” If Lockheed had put the ATSC job in the hands of the traditional product development team rather than creating this new group, that assignment would have eventually been fulfilled, but … Creating your own independent group that can apply “first principles” thinking may give you a competitive advantage that continuous improvement cannot. Do It Differently How can you address this?

Although Elon Musk is getting plenty of attention for making changes to manufacturing methods, when it comes to product development, Kelly Johnson, the first head of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, is still preeminent in his approach to small-team, fast operations, and his lessons are still valuable 80 years later. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

If you have any questions about this information, please contact Gary at vasilash@gmail.com.