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Contact:
Barbara Anderson |
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Contact:
Barbara Anderson |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
97-60
ST. LOUIS, March 6, 1997 -- By aggressively pursuing
a variety of acquisition reform initiatives, McDonnell Douglas
gained government approval to proceed with several streamlined
processes last year that will save the government more than $40
million annually.
Key among the new processes is an advanced quality
system based on commercial standards (ISO/Q9000) rather than traditional
military standards (MIL-Q-9858 and MIL-STD-1520). By introducing
a variety of self-inspection processes and a streamlined corrective
action system, the advanced quality system is expected to save
about $35 million alone.
"Shifting to a commercial quality system is
one of the highest priorities of the defense industry," said
John Steurer, vice president of quality at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace.
"Many companies have adopted the standards, but we're the
only large aerospace company to actually implement, under the
acquisition reform initiative, a new quality system based on those
standards."
McDonnell Douglas' advanced quality system was authorized
by the Department of Defense as a "block change" in
1996. Granted under the DOD's Single Process Initiative (SPI),
this authorization allows the company to use this process for
every DOD contract it works on, regardless of product or military
customer.
Besides the new quality system, McDonnell Douglas
also led the industry in 1996 for block change submittals on other
streamlining initiatives, many of which have since been approved.
These include establishing a comprehensive subcontract plan, submitting
annual representations and certifications for proposals, sending
vouchers directly to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service,
and making autonomous Class II changes.
"McDonnell Douglas has been aggressively pursuing
acquisition reform initiatives since 1994," said Roger Witte,
the company's vice president of contracts and pricing. "Several
of our successful initiatives laid a foundation for industry-wide
participation."
The St. Louis-based aerospace company was one of
the first to establish an acquisition reform management council
to improve communication and cooperation between industry and
government for implementing reforms. "The results were so
successful, the DOD has been pushing for other companies to form
councils as well," Witte said.
Expanding on this concept, McDonnell Douglas is the
first large defense contractor to form a corporate-wide management
council in addition to its individual site councils. The purpose
of this council, formed in August 1996, is to evaluate and recommend
acquisition streamlining initiatives that could apply to more
than one -- and possibly all -- components of the corporation.
In another industry first, the company entered into
a non-disclosure agreement with Motorola, Honeywell and AlliedSignal
in 1996 to share streamlining concepts, lessons learned and other
insights pertaining to acquisition reform. Its second meeting,
held last month, was also attended by Marialane Schultz, SPI team
chief for the Defense Contract Management Council (DCMC), as well
as local DCMC and Defense Contract Audit Agency personnel.
According to Witte, McDonnell Douglas will be implementing
more block change processes in 1997. "We have submitted numerous
concept papers proposing changes that could save McDonnell Douglas
and the government significantly more money," Witte said.
"In fact, we expect to get block change authority very soon
on a key manufacturing initiative in work."
In 1996, McDonnell Douglas submitted 22 SPI concept
papers, received block change approval for 10 and block change
authority for six, most of which were implemented across the corporation.
Twenty more SPI concept papers are currently in work.