Lockheed Martin Full Spectrum Leadership

Lockheed Martin is a global leader in the aerospace and defense industry with 98,000 employees worldwide. Although they are headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed has a business presence in over 70 nations with nearly 600 facilities across the United States. Lockheed Martin is a publicly traded Fortune 100 company, accruing $46 billion dollars in annual revenue. The company’s key customers consist of the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. federal government agencies with 33 percent of company sales derived from their aeronautics business area. With a mission statement of “We solve complex challenges, advance scientific discovery and deliver innovative solutions to help our customers keep people safe,” Lockheed Martin is on the cutting edge of innovative solutions to the world's largest dilemmas.

Leadership is the foundation on which the culture at Lockheed Martin is based.

The concept of full spectrum leadership is instilled in all employees in order to create a company culture that will allow it to adapt to a dynamic environment and continue to grow. The five columns of full spectrum leadership are: Deliver Results, Shape the Future, Build Effective Relationships, Energize the Team, and Model Personal Excellence, Integrity, and Accountability. Since its introduction in January 2006, full spectrum leadership has been a successful platform for selection and evaluation of leaders at all levels of the Lockheed Martin hierarchy. In the words of Rick Edwards, Executive Vice President for Missiles and Fire Control, “Leaders have a responsibility to create an environment where all employees feel valued – an environment where employees feel at ease and can bring their full selves to work every day”, which allows the company to sustain a culture that promotes ethical conduct and continuous improvement that can be seen in the company’s aeronautics

division.

The headquarters of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is Fort Worth, Texas. Within the 4.9 million square foot facility, three different variants of the F-35 Lightning II are manufactured: CTOL, STOVL, and the CV. The F-35 Lightning II is a fifth generation fighter, utilizing the world’s most advanced stealth, speed, and sensor technology. The F-35 variants were intended to provide the majority of the manned airpower for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marines. The CTOL will be used by the U.S. Air Force and accounts for roughly 70 percent of production at the Fort Worth plant. The STOVL variant is the world’s first supersonic short take off vertical landing stealth aircraft. It will be used by the Marine Corps and accounts for approximately 25 percent of production. The CV, used by the U.S. Navy, is dimensionally the largest plane and accounts for about 5 percent of production. A large portion of the development and investment for the F-35 has been made by other countries as well and the percentage breakdown of each variant differs by contract. All three variants are manufactured in a single assembly bay that is nearly one mile long.

The single production line in the Fort Worth facility consists of five main build areas: forward fuselage, wing assembly, EMAS (Mate Station), Final Assembly, and Flight Line. The EMAS station consists of both hard and soft stations. At the hard stations, the forward fuselage, wing, center, and aft fuselages are mated together using a laser alignment system. Once the aircraft is structurally sound, it is lifted via crane and moved to the soft station. From there, the aircraft is rolled on its wheels to Final Assembly. Currently, the production line is operating at Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) and will incrementally increase to full rate production by 2020, cutting the EMAS station cycle time from 41 to 21 days. The takt time is currently at five days (one finished plane is produced every five days) and will decrease to 1.5 days at full rate production. Once the production line is at full rate in 2020, the total amount of EMAS stations (hard and soft) will increase from 12 to 20 stations.

Parts and kits are currently brought to the stations per a delivery schedule before they are to be installed. There is some variation in the delivery of parts and there is not a standard process for delivery lead times; parts are delivered anywhere from one to five days before they are installed or consumed. Some parts are considered large and arrive on dollies, but most of the parts are small brackets or fittings and are packaged together in totes. Once parts arrive at the station, they are placed on one of the racks located by the wing, or between the tail and head of each plane.