Jane's Defence Weekly
For more than a decade Newton has been involved in some of the highest-profile defence programmes.
Read the interview with Newton's Head of Defence and Aeropsace - Phil Sunley.
The challenge of this is often underestimated. Aligning data, processes and people is difficult in
the face of complexity. Skills are being lost as gaps between equipment programmes increase.
New technology offers opportunity but also risks increasing complexity.
Once the programme pressures start to bite, teams start to improvise. This leads to a culture
of firefighting, rather than a culture that rewards planning ahead of time.
Everyone knows change is needed, but how do you know where to start?
Whether it’s schedule delays or ballooning costs, there’s often a misplaced focus on where problems in defence programmes are most visible. But often the root of a problem can be found much earlier in the life cycle.
Solving these takes a whole enterprise approach and the tenacity to see it through. We can work to improve systems, planning and collaboration. But this doesn’t go far enough.
The solution requires that silos be broken down, and a shared vision created.
In the absence of root and branch change, systematic control of costs and schedules becomes almost impossible:
This means the value of new platforms and programmes will get called into question more and more. With less activity comes less innovation, and that’s when UK competitiveness on the global stage starts to suffer. Yet, hidden in all of this complexity are fixes that could save £millions.
We’ve supported the delivery of unheard-of improvements in programme performance and delivery, including:
With you?
Anything is possible.