Photo Album

Our Fall 2005 meeting was hosted by Anne Bednarz of Lockheed Martin. It took place September 29th and 30th at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics' plant in Forth Worth, TX.

	We gathered: Our informal Dutch treat dinner on Wednesday evening was held at Pappadeaux. The fish was superb, and the desserts enormous. From left to right: Anne Schulte, Phyllis Huckabee, Sean Stewart, Shirley Dickson, and John Meyers.
	Mike Dickinson and Bob Megens at the left. (Jacqueline Meyers not pictured.)
	We met: Lockheed Martin hosted our meeting at their Fort Worth plant where advanced fighter aircraft are assembled.
	Lockheed Martin's Anne Bednarz made us welcome throughout our visit. Here she kicked off our meeting with a challenge to identify some of the aircraft built by Lockheed Martin. (Mike Dickinson had an advantage as a former Air Force pilot who flew C-5A jets - among the largest cargo planes in the world and a Lockheed Martin product.)
	Phyllis Huckabee had the first presentation of the meeting. She described Quidel's employee survey - and the challenges involved in administering it.
	After Phyllis' presentation, lunch, and some roundtable discussion topics, we headed for our "scooter tour" of the factory floor. Here we passed through a hallway illustrating the history of Lockheed Martin's aircraft production.
	The Scooter Tour! This was a highlight of the meeting for all of us: a chance to see how advanced fighter aircraft are constructed. Since the plant is roughly a mile long, scooters are a necessity for getting around. Also in use are a fleet of bicycles. In the front scooter are Sean Stewart, Phyllis Huckabee, Jacqueline Palac, Shirley Dickson, and Jacqueline Meyers. (I don't recall our driver's name.)
	Models of aircraft were everywhere. Here's the newest product, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with versions to be used by our Air Force, Navy, and Marines. (The Marine version is capable of vertical take off and landing.) On our scooter tour, we saw the first production F-35 under construction. The technology used in their construction is remarkable, as are the incredibly close tolerances: body parts are accurate to 4/10,000th of an inch!
	The plant also assembles the Air Force's present-day workhorse fighter, the F-16, as well as components of the new F-22 Raptor.
	After our tour we took a walk through the JSF visitor center where we saw exhibits of company products.
	Sean Stewart examines a model of the F-35.
	Before heading back to our meeting room, we posed for a group photo. From left to right, John Meyers, David Partido, Jacqueline Palac, Anne Bednarz, Anne Schulte, Shirley Dickson, Phyllis Huckabee, Fran Hatley, Jacqueline Meyers, Mike Dickinson, Jessie King, Bob Megans, Sean Stewart, Stan Malcolm,Wayne Hays, and Donna Parrish.
	Informal discussions and "roundtable" topics are valuable elements of every STEP meeting. Here Shirley Dickson, and John and Jacqueline Meyers are deep in discussion while Sherry Stripling and Jacqueline Palac have a separate discussion.
	Phyllis Huckabee, Sean Stewart, and Fran Hatley have a discussion while Mike Dickinson, Anne Schulte, and Bob Megans appear deep in thought.
	In the afternoon, Wayne Hays described Solectron's Performance Alignment Review (PAR) process.
	Bob Megens described the Bank of Montreal's Learning Content Management strategy.
	And Lockheed Martin's Ron Terry shared first year results of their Metrics That Matter initiative. After some more roundtable discussions, we closed for the day...
	...and headed to Rio Mambo for an excellent Tex-Mex dinner courtesy of Lockheed Martin.
	Clockwise from the back (under the light) are Sherry Stripling, Mike Dickinson, Phyllis Huckabee, Shirley Dickson, John Meyers, Jacqueline Palac (hidden), Ron Terry, Anne Bednarz, and Dave Partido.
	Clockwise from the far left are Anne Bednarz, Dave Partido, Jacqueline Meyers, Anne Schulte, Bob Megens, Sean Stewart, Mike Dickinson, Phyllis Huckabee, Shirley Dickson, John Meyers, Jacqueline Palac, and Ron Terry.
	In the foreground are Sherry Stripling, Mike Dickinson, Phyllis Huckabee, Shirley Dickson, and at the right, Sean Stewart and Bob Megens.
	We met again on Friday morning but unfortunately I have no pictures to share. Presentation highlights were Phyllis Huckabee's Trust Building for Leaders, Jacqueline Meyers' "Fish!" video, and Sherry Stripling's KM Initiatives at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Ending on a light note, I don't know quite what to make of these pictures encountered on our tour. Take a close look. Anything odd?
Many thanks to Anne Bednarz and Lockheed Martin for hosting STEP. Anne also sent us away with a marvelous selection of gifts: a sports bag, a pen, several lapel pins, and many photos of the exciting aircraft they build. Special thanks to Jessie King for meeting logistics* and Linda Perrin for escorting us (a requirement of tight security).*

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