Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company held its annual Supplier Conference 2000 on Nov. 13 and 14 with 190 major suppliers to address lean supply chain principles and practices. The theme of this year's conference was "Lean Supply Chain of the Future: A Competitive Advantage TODAY."

  Keynote speakers and their topics were as follows:
  -- Dain Hancock, LM Aeronautics president, discussed why and how Lockheed
     Martin consolidated its aeronautics business into a single company
     earlier this year.
  -- Tom Burbage, executive vice president and general manager of the
     Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter Program, presented what the
     company is doing to improve customer focus.
  -- Maj. Gen. Michael Mushala, U.S. Air Force Acquisition Program Executive
     Officer for Fighters and Bombers, expressed the customer's expectations
     of the supply chain.

Other presentations by executives from Lockheed Martin Corporate headquarters and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics addressed the following topics:

  -- Small-business awards.
  -- How Exostar enables a lean supply chain.
  -- Lockheed Martin's LM21 Operating Excellence program.
  -- Value of lean implementation throughout the value stream.
  -- Lean supply chain of the future.
  -- Two lean supplier success stories.
  -- Status of LM Aeronautics' major current programs and new-business
     potential.
  -- LM Aeronautics' two-way performance reporting system with suppliers.

The speakers emphasized that, since suppliers are responsible for 60-70 percent of the cost of today's aircraft, we must work together as a team in leaning out our processes to provide value to our customers.

"This conference was a good opportunity to meet with executives from our supplier base to show them where we are going, emphasize their vital role in improving product costs, schedules and quality, and give them some ideas on how to implement improvements," said Mike Walters, vice president of Material Management at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "It was also a good opportunity for the supplier representatives to informally exchange ideas, both with us and among themselves."

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is a leader in the design, development, systems integration, production and support of advanced military aircraft and related technologies. Its customers include the military services of the United States and allied countries throughout the world. Products include the F-22, F-16, F-117, C-5, C-27J, C-130, P-3, U-2, X-33 and Joint Strike Fighter, among other renowned aircraft. LM Aeronautics is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp. , headquartered in Bethesda, Md. Lockheed Martin is a global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and services. The corporation's core businesses are systems integration, space, aeronautics and technology services.

For information on Lockheed Martin Corporation, visit: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/.

For information on Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, visit: http://www.lmaeronautics.com/.

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company