Lockheed Martin and EEI Manufacturing Services announced a three-year agreement today under which Lockheed Martin will mentor EEI, a small, disadvantaged woman-owned HUBZone business, in the manufacturing of printed circuit card assemblies.

The companies signed a Mentor-Protege Agreement at the EEI facility in Clearwater, FL, in the presence of several elected officials from the area. The Mentor-Protege Program is a U.S. Department of Defense initiative that encourages large companies such as Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to share their technical expertise and knowledge of the government contracting process with minority and women-owned small businesses. The program is aimed at helping protege companies such as EEI qualify to compete for business opportunities with the federal government.

"I am so appreciative of the investment that the government is making in EEI and am eagerly anticipating the opportunity with Lockheed Martin in sharing their vast experience, knowledge and expertise with us," said Sue Englander, EEI Manufacturing Services president. "I believe in the American dream, and this takes us one step further, giving others that same opportunity."

"Lockheed Martin is committed to the success of this mentor-protege relationship with EEI," said Joe Myers, vice president -- materials acquisition and management, for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We fully recognize the value that small business brings to Lockheed Martin and the U.S. government customers we serve. We join Congressman Bill Young of the 10th Congressional District in a commitment to work with Ms. Englander and her team to help EEI maximize this opportunity."

Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin anticipates awarding subcontracts to EEI in excess of $2.5 million over the next five years. The agreement was approved by the Department of the Navy, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.

Under the Mentor-Protege Agreement, Lockheed Martin will transfer the electronic manufacturing technologies to EEI to enable EEI to support the significant advances in semiconductor packaging, circuit card assembly and information collaborative integration. EEI will manufacture more complex circuit card assemblies, which will enable it to produce the next higher-level box build requiring systems integration for future use in the SNIPER(R) XR(R) Advanced Targeting Pod, Joint Common Missile and the MH-60 programs.

"This agreement will also provide the training required to allow EEI to fully integrate its manufacturing operation with a robust Enterprise Resource Planning system to become a truly connected enterprise," said Richard Cygul, EEI program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "With collaborative e-manufacturing, information will be shared between business and plant floor applications to allow EEI to better plan, execute and deliver its manufactured product to meet our DOD customer needs."

EEI Manufacturing Services is a contract manufacturing company founded in 1993 specializing in circuit card assembly, design services and systems integration services for instrumentation, Aerospace/Aviation, Ground support, Communication, Flight Critical, Life Critical and Training & Simulation for Military Customers. EEI is a woman-owned, small 8(a) Disadvantaged, HUBZone firm located in Clearwater, FL.

Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2004 sales of $35.5 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin