WEBVTT

00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.120
- Until the enterprise comes
together to solve this problem,

00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:06.400
this isn't a resourcing challenge,

00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:07.960
it's an effectiveness challenge

00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.320
of how you're using the
resources that you have.

00:00:10.920 --> 00:00:11.560
- Doug, welcome.

00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:13.160
Doug, countries around the world

00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:14.880
are facing growing challenges

00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:20.440
in keeping military defense
aircraft mission ready.

00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:22.480
What explains that readiness gap?

00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.800
How significant is it?

00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:29.080
- Yeah, so the gap is quite significant.

00:00:29.080 --> 00:00:35.000
We're seeing fleets generally
across MODs across the world

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:38.280
in the 50-60% mission capable range,

00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.800
and sometimes even lower,
down to 20%, right?

00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:45.480
So for 1 of every 5 aircraft
can fly in that case.

00:00:45.480 --> 00:00:46.840
Despite investment, right?

00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:48.880
There's been significant
investment in this space

00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:49.840
over the last decade.

00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.720
In fact, defense spending for
operations and maintenance

00:00:53.720 --> 00:00:55.200
has doubled in the last decade,

00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.040
but readiness has continued to decline.

00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:01.000
And it's very easy for different elements

00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:02.560
and functions of the organization

00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.480
to point fingers at one another.

00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:06.800
Air crew point at maintainers,

00:01:06.800 --> 00:01:09.800
maintainers point at suppliers,

00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:12.760
suppliers point at program offices,

00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.680
program points at budgets.

00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.040
But really, readiness
is an enterprise effort,

00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.320
and so our premise is until
the enterprise comes together

00:01:23.320 --> 00:01:25.240
to solve this problem,

00:01:25.240 --> 00:01:27.480
this isn't a resourcing challenge,

00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:29.080
it's an effectiveness challenge

00:01:29.080 --> 00:01:32.000
of how you're using the
resources that you have.

00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:33.920
- So who are you pointing at then?

00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:37.000
Whose responsibility is
this to get this going?

00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:38.680
- It starts at the top.

00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:42.280
So this has to start with
the senior-most leadership

00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:45.320
in the MODs and in militaries.

00:01:45.320 --> 00:01:48.640
And really what's essential is

00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.720
they set a very clear north star

00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:55.000
that is grounded in
operational requirements

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.960
that the enterprise can rally around.

00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:00.520
And so that is really step one.

00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:03.560
And from there, you can
assign accountability

00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:04.720
to the different functions,

00:02:04.720 --> 00:02:08.320
but they need to be rowing
in the same direction.

00:02:08.320 --> 00:02:10.520
- You said investment is growing,

00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:12.080
investment in maintenance is growing,

00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:15.560
and yet you gave that
example of 1 in 5 planes,

00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:17.040
only 1 in 5 planes can fly,

00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:18.080
that's all mission ready.

00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:19.400
That's extraordinary.

00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:21.960
- Yes.
- How do you explain that?

00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:27.960
- It's the system has
generally atrophied over time

00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:30.520
and these enterprises

00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:34.280
have become accustomed to
this level of readiness.

00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:36.520
So there's redundancy built in,

00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.960
but at the end of the day
with the demand we're seeing,

00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:41.040
given what's going on in the world,

00:02:41.040 --> 00:02:45.600
they're consuming any readiness
that has been built up.

00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:48.960
And so really when we
approach these problems,

00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:52.480
we don't think of it as an input problem,

00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:56.200
we think, and we have
seen time and time again,

00:02:56.200 --> 00:03:00.640
that your next 30-50% of
readiness improvements

00:03:00.640 --> 00:03:02.320
require no investment

00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:05.840
and can be had within 12 months or less.

00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:09.280
And so what we focus on is the
effectiveness of the system,

00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:12.400
and so those are things like velocity,

00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.320
velocity of maintenance,
velocity of supply chains,

00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:20.720
prioritization, where you
focus those scarce resources,

00:03:20.720 --> 00:03:22.360
demand reduction, right?

00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:25.520
How do we take demand out of the system

00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.040
so that we get more out of
the maintenance capacity

00:03:28.040 --> 00:03:30.640
and the supply capacity that we do have?

00:03:30.640 --> 00:03:32.080
And then, of course, accountability,

00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.280
and that's kind of where the
enterprise lens comes in,

00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.360
how you set up the
operating model and system

00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.120
that holds these different
functions accountable

00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:43.680
to their part of the puzzle
that you need to put together?

00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.120
- What would your message
to defense leaders be then?

00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.280
- Advocate for more
resources in the long term.

00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.280
Of course, more resources help,

00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.280
but look inward.

00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:57.400
The focus should be more in the short term

00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:01.600
on getting effectiveness

00:04:01.600 --> 00:04:03.360
out of the organizations that you have,

00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.400
applying proven commercial best practices

00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:08.240
to the defense industry

00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:11.920
and really expecting outcomes
from your organization

00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:16.240
and not allowing them to use resourcing

00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.520
as an excuse for poor outcomes.

00:04:18.520 --> 00:04:20.400
- Doug, thank you so much for your time.