112 Business View - March 2015
production schemes.
Commercially, he said, every product is customized
to some extent, whether by color or attachments, and
customers will also have myriad ordering and delivery
timelines.
“They’re going to put unique demands on us and ex-
pect us to be able to be flexible and agile and make
things on demand,” he said. “That’s the huge evo-
lution that’s gone on here. It’s been reflected in our
warehousing and supply operation, which obviously
have to be deeper and more flexible.
“All of this, then combined with very different timelines
between ordering and delivery have made us a much
more agile and learner company that what we were
before.”
In terms of infrastructure, the parent company provid-
ed capability to reengineer the workforce in terms of
variety of jobs and definition of jobs, along with new
business IT systems to accommodate the complexity
of order and delivery – all while sustaining long-estab-
lished standards for quality.
“It was a major project,” Speakes said. “We didn’t
leave our comfort zone out of choice, we moved out
of necessity. The military market as we knew it had
dried up and gone, and we had to change or we would
not survive. We knew that. It’s been an enormous or-
deal, and now we think we’re ready to explode in a new
burst of growth in both the commercial and military
markets.”
Five years from now, he said, the transition will be sec-
ond nature.
“I see us continuing to be a hybrid company,” Speakes
said. “We’re going to continue to support DoD, but
LOGISTICS
