Meeting Notices - Dallas-Ft. Worth

“Defense Contracting on the Global Stage – Leading Large Complex Contracts”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter January 12 meeting

For many reasons, defense corporations are looking overseas to grow their businesses. The transition from domestic to international program leadership is not seamless and requires additional capabilities to be successful. Leaders working in this environment must have both a global mindset that aligns with global expectations as well as the proper skills to be successful in the global environment

Please join us in McKinney, TX on Thursday, January 12, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30-9:00am) when Anne Guevara, Director of Proposal and Program Leadership – Raytheon Company Space and Airborne Systems will discuss factors and considerations for successful Global Program Leadership

The meeting is limited to US Citizens and 20 attendees. Registration closes at 7am on January 5.

The meeting is free for A&D Forum members and $40 for non-members ($30 Early Bird until January 4). For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwjan17.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter is sponsored by BellNunnally and the University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).

“Advanced Manufacturing Technology for Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter November 17 meeting

The F-35 Lightning II is the newest 5th generation fighter entering the fleets of the US Air Force, Marines, and Navy as well as many of our allies over the next few years. The program is preparing to transition to rate production and is uber-focused on Affordability. Manufacturing Technology is one of the key Affordability enablers for the program including the use of automated drilling equipment, robotic coatings, and non-contact metrology.

Please join us in Arlington on Thursday, November 17, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when Dr. Don Kinard, Senior Technical Fellow, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Production Operations with give a brief overview of the program and discuss some of the manufacturing technologies being applied.

The meeting is free for all. For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwnov16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter is sponsored by BellNunnally and the University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).

Knowledge-based Automation for the Next Industrial Revolution

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter October 13 meeting

Automation science in the post-renaissance era has revolutionized the manufacturing, operations, and services by making them faster, cheaper, better, and safer. Mobility and manipulability are the two widespread applications of robotic automation in the industrial era. Historically these domains have been treated separately, where the mobile robots are seen as the primary enablers of unmanned systems while robotic manipulators branch into the manufacturing sector. Only a few highly specific areas, such as mining and construction vehicles, specialty defense machines, witness the combination of both. Furthermore, these implementations require high skill human supervision and/or operation. Multi-robot cooperative operation is also a rarity in such areas. These issues warrant for new techniques for rapid deployment, accelerated training, and safe operations in multi-agent scenarios.

Additionally, increasing growth in today’s product complexity and diversity, shrinking product life cycles, and intensifying cost competitions in the global market emphasize the need for new manufacturing paradigms that can swiftly and inexpensively adapt to the rapidly changing production demands. Such a radical shift from conventional rule-based automation to novel knowledge-based automation is best brought forth through flexible, intelligent, and cooperative robotics that can adapt to the varying system dynamics, planned and unplanned, and allow easy and quick reconfiguration of the manufacturing framework for on-demand production. Extremely useful in today’s market, this approach is even more indispensable for the sustainability of rate-independent or low volume manufacturing, especially in early stages of new product development.

The on-going research and development in the Autonomous and Intelligent Systems division at the UT-Arlington Research Institute aims to bring in a disruptive transformation in the field of dynamic multi-robot deployment and control optimization and execution.

Please join us in Arlington on Thursday, October 13, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when Aditya N. Das, Ph.D., Lead, Autonomous and Intelligent Systems Division, UTARI, will present on the above topic, and then take us on a tour that will show (1) multi-robot cooperative control, and (2) modular hybrid manufacturing

The meeting is free for all. For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwoct16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter is sponsored by BellNunnally and the University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).

Airshows: How to successfully navigate the “Flying Circus”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter September 8 meeting

The excitement and overwhelming circus of airshows and global supply chain events can be a daunting task for anyone. Participation at these events is a critical success factor for any business, but determining your company’s costs, participation, and preparation in order to maximize your return is too often overlooked. Expectations can fall short without proper preparation and the return on your investment may appear a waste, resulting in diminished interest in future events, ultimately resulting in missed opportunities to further develop your crucial business relationships.

Learning how to define your objectives and, sufficiently preparing for and conducting meetings are just a few elements of effective airshow strategy. Too often the participant shows up on the first day, unsure what to expect, with a logistical nightmare of overbooked meetings, only to be late to half, no-shows for the other half, and unable to call the customer/supplier because the phone service disconnected halfway through the morning coffee rush.

Airshows and supply chain events are typically described in one of two ways: (1) the amazing experience with successful meetings and champagne filled receptions, or (2) the dreadful horror stories of logistics nightmares, hours-long waits to get back to the hotel, and soaking wet shoes resulting in a week’s worth of blisters, with mediocre-at-best meetings where it seems that you’re not getting anywhere…

How can you make your experience more of the former and less of the latter?

Please join us in Arlington on Thursday, September 8, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when Michael Shields, Vice President, Safran North America Purchasing will share a recap of lessons learned, guidance and recommendations from his years of experience working in Purchasing and Supply Chain and attending countless airshows and events – for the before, during and after – to help make these events throughout the year a meaningful part of your business, and to maximize your investment when attending these air shows.

The meeting is free for all. For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwsep16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter is sponsored by BellNunnally and the University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).

“The Threat of Terrorism and its Impact on American Businesses”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter April 14 meeting

There has always been violence in the world and the motivation behind the violence varies from simple financial gain to the elimination of entire cultures and governments. In the past many of the regional conflicts and motivating factors for violence really did not impact the USA. However, with the advent of the Global Marketplace and the need for us to interact both physically and virtually in at risk regions of the world, we now have major exposures to our personal and corporate well-being on a regular basis. In addition to the foreign based threat we also have domestically based extensions of these same threat groups here in the USA.

The rapid expansion of Terrorist organizations in the past ten years has greatly increased the rate of incident occurrence and the associated losses with each attack. Many of these “attacks” are not publicly known and some may not even be “violent” in their nature. But, they still involve serious losses. The tragic killing of villagers who comprise the local workforce in an undeveloped country, the kidnapping of one of your brightest engineers, a cyber-attack against your firm’s intellectual property, an attack on the national government of a country where you have invested millions of dollars in development funds – could any of these situations impact your business?

Please join us in Arlington on Thursday, April 14, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when Kevin Mellott, CEO and President, ERASE Enterprises, will address various types of targeting methodologies used by terrorist organizations against business interests, the various types of countermeasures that you should implement when working abroad in destabilized areas, actions that you and / or your firm should avoid taking so that you do not increase your terrorist targeting profile, and some of the important government resources available to you to combat physical and cyber threats from terrorist organizations.

The meeting is free for A&D Forum members and $30 for non-members. For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwapr16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

The Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter is sponsored by BellNunnally and the University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).

“A Pilot’s Comparison, U-2 & SR-71”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter March 10 meeting

Please join us in Arlington on Thur, March 10, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when Stormy Boudreaux, Test Director – Manned Tactical Simulator, Lockheed Martin ADP, will give a pilot’s comparison of two Lockheed Skunk Works legendary aircraft. Stormy is one of only twelve pilots who have flown operational sorties in both U-2 and SR-71 aircraft.

This talk will primarily compare the two very different designs for high altitude flight that came out of the Skunk Works in the Fifties and Sixties. The long-winged jet-powered glider, the U-2 Dragon Lady, flying tens of thousands of feet above the world records for altitude that existed at the time; and the triple sonic, and still the fastest manned air-breathing aircraft, the SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird was secretly flying at three times the speed of sound while other “experts” were insisting that the feat was impossible.

You will be privy to the earlier missions and flight characteristics of these high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, as well as the manufacturing and assembly secrets that made these aircraft so advanced for their time.

Meeting is free for A&D Forum members and $40 for non-members ($30 Early Bird until March 3). For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwmar16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

Tour of Raytheon McKinney CMC

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter February 11 meeting

Please join us in McKinney, TX on Thur, February 11, (checkin & networking at 9:15am, tour 9:30–11:00am), for a tour of the Raytheon McKinney CMC plant, including the Assembly and Test areas of the CMC Value Streams:
• Airborne Electro Optical Assembly
• Test Shared Services including Electro-optical test bays and Environmental Stress Screening
• Low Volume/High Mix Value stream
• High Volume Value Stream
• Mission Support
• McKinney CMC Advanced Manufacturing Center (tent)
• Circuit Card Assembly production area (tent)

The tour is free for A&D Forum members and $40 for non-members ($30 Early Bird until Jan 31). Registration closes at COB on Feb 4. For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwfeb16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

“Solving Aerospace Challenges in Today’s Global Environment: Bell Helicopter’s R&D Strategy”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter January 14 meeting

Please join us in Ft. Worth on Thursday, January 14, 2016, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when Vince D’Arienzo, Director, Engineering Operations, Bell Helicopter Textron, will discuss Bell Helicopter’s approach with respect to North American Aerospace reduction in R&D funding and lack of skill sets entering today’s aerospace industry. He will describe a program format to help focus our industry’s R&D effort towards a common pre-competitive approach in the aerospace industry. Some successes will be highlighted based on Colleges, Government, Industry, and Universities cost sharing and partnering

The meeting is free for A&D Forum and Arizona Technology Council members and $40 for non-members ($30 Early Bird until January 7). For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwjan16.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.

“How The Evolution of Aviation a Century Ago Provides a Roadmap for Where Space is Headed”

Dallas-Ft. Worth Chapter December 10 meeting

Just as the early pioneers of aviation commercialization experienced, the many players in today’s space market are finding a fluid and dynamic market for products, services, investment and strategic direction.

Please join us in Ft. Worth on Thursday, December 10, 2015, (networking at 7:00am, meeting 7:30–9:00am), when John H. (Jay) Gibson, II, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman, Board of Directors of XCOR Aerospace, Inc. will discuss how the ultimate success of any organization positioned somewhere in the vertical chain will be navigating and positioning itself among the funding, strategic and market demand for products and services both short and long term. Flexibility, awareness and adaptability and speed to market will be valuable traits in this rapidly emerging market.

For the rest of 2015 the meetings of the DFW Chapter are free. For more information and to register to attend the meeting, go to http://adfdfwdec15.eventbrite.com.

Click here for more information about and to join The Aerospace & Defense Forum.