Phantom Works is best known for its research into advanced technologies, but it has also become central to Boeing's philosophy of business integration.
Officially, Phantom Works is the "catalyst of innovation" for Boeing, but the research and development organisation plays a key role as integrator across the company's various business units and cultures. The unit is also at the heart of Boeing's own transformation to a network-centric environment.
"The word 'catalyst' is significant," says Phantom Works president Bob Krieger. "We work on advanced systems and technologies, bring them to Boeing product lines, help them change and upgrade systems, then pull back into the Phantom Works and do it again - like a catalyst." In the process, Phantom Works interacts with all Boeing business units and product lines. "We know what's going on in BCA, IDS, ATM and Connexion," says Krieger. "That turns us into an integrator and lets us bring the organisation together. One 10min phone call can cover 7E7, UCAV and ATM. So the Phantom Works is catalyst, integrator and innovator."
Phantom Works has three major sites in St Louis, southern California and Puget Sound, and has a presence in Huntsville, Mesa, Philadelphia and Washington DC. With over 4,000 people at the various sites, the organisation is "kind of the right size", says Krieger. "We have got to be fast and flexible, and not like a large business."
The R&D unit has two major sources of funds - one-third internal from Boeing and two-thirds external from the US government. Technology work - in material systems, avionics architectures and software tools - is funded from a common pool, for application across Boeing. Advanced systems work, for example the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS), starts off in the PhantomWorks, with IDS contributing funds, then moves to the business unit.
Boeing puts about 3% of revenues into R&D each year. "A big chunk goes to the business units, for the 7E7 for example," says Krieger. PhantomWorks gets less than a quarter, which is still substantial, but boosts it with funds from sources including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA, the Office of Naval Research and the US Air Force Research Laboratory.
PhantomWorks can play a role in bringing new business in. The first test is whether the requirement is for a clean sheet or derivative design. Second is who the customer is, for example DARPA or the USAF, and third is whether the programme is conceptual, a demonstration or a prototype. The unit wonthe DARPA/USAF unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstration contract. Programmes move to the IDS business units at the start of development. FCS transitioned in May and UCAV will move in early 2004. They are PhantomWorks' biggest programmes, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The relationship with Boeing inSeattle is newer, and different. "We play a technology support role," says Krieger, "providing design tools, including database managers; advanced materials, including composites and metallics; and more-electric subsystems. Over 200 milestones within PhantomWorks in these three areas are lined up with the decision point on the 7E7."
People are cycled through the Phantom Works, rather than hired in. "The goal is to rotate 10% of the people each year," says Krieger, "bring them in to work the technologies, then move them out with the programmes. PhantomWorks is a great learning ground for programme managers. We have hundreds of small technology programmes involving two to four people, but the issues are the same as in a big programme."
The organisation's performance is measured by the value of the technology transferred to the business units. "Each year we develop a research plan linked to the business unit strategies," says Krieger. "We also identify what technology will be transferred in that year. When friction-stir welding was transferred to the Delta IV programme, it saved $10,000 a tank."
Added up across the Phantom Works, the value of technology transferred was over $4 billion in 2002. "Technology transfer is the number one visible benefit to the rest of Boeing," says Krieger. "There are some sceptics - pockets of 'not invented here' when it comes to accepting Phantom Works-developed technology - but it's getting better and better."
Capturing and prioritising technology requirements across Boeing is difficult because there are hundreds of product lines, each with its own strategy for technology insertion. "The business units do a product-by-product technology needs analysis," says Krieger. "Integration teams representing multiple business units then look at the needs - several product lines may want new lightweight structures, for example - and agree common research activity."
Funds are set aside for work on enabling "blue sky" technologies. "Strategic innovation planning is based on Boeing's 2016 vision of the world," says Krieger. "We have to carve out part of the budget for this or it will be driven to zero." Some technologies will be developed internally; others will be secured through partnerships with suppliers and universities, or through venture-capital investment.
Boeing's research and technology centre in Madrid, Spain - the first outside the USA - is part of Phantom Works. "Conceptually, Madrid is just another Phantom Works site, although we have to watch ITAR [technology transfer] issues," says Krieger. Madrid has three technology focus areas: air traffic management, environment and safety. "These support the European and US aerospace industries - Airbus as well as Boeing," he adds. The next research and technology centre is planned for Asia in 2004.
Phantom Works in focusing on six "technology thrusts" - advanced platform systems; affordable structures and manufacturing processes; lean and efficient design processes and tools; lean support and services; network-centric operations; and safe, reliable and environmentally preferred products. In a sign of the increasing integration within Boeing, advanced platform systems combines the previously separate thrusts of autonomous systems for IDS and more-electric subsystems for BCA.
PhantomWorks is not restricted to working in traditional areas. "We purposely take new initiatives that are not just technologies, but how to operate a business," says Krieger. "It is part of our charter. We are starting to look at how the PhantomWorks can work like a network-centric operation. We function virtually anyway, and we are looking at operating the Phantom Works through a web-based approach."
Source: Flight International
