Business Leader Assignment

Business Leader Assignment

Jason Anderson

Fort Hays State University

Author Note

Jason Anderson, Studying Bachelor’s Degree in Management.

This research was supported in part by meeting in person and recording all conversations had with Martin McBride

I chose to write this essay using my direct manager at Spirit Aerosystems, Martin McBride (Marty). Marty possesses every good quality any company would look for in a manager. He is motivating and inspiring. He drives performance excellence to all of his employees. Marty is responsible for monitoring quality, compliance and regulatory aspects between Spirit and third party manufacturers including relationship management, technical issues, schedule conflicts, quality issues, vendor selection and evaluations.  He identifies potential new contractors and responds to feasibility requests. Along with the afore mentioned Marty develops, manages, and reports on compliance with supplier management and procurement policies and procedures, company policies and procedures, and regulatory requirements. Some of his main goals are to identify and implement improvements to our processes, optimize the supplier base. Marty’s day is mostly filled with interfaces with other supplier management and procurement personnel, customers, suppliers, company legal advisors, and government agencies.

Spirits history in the U.S. dates back to 1927, when aviation pioneer Lloyd Stearman moved his factory, Stearman Aircraft Company, from California to Wichita, Kansas. Two years later, Boeing purchased Stearman Aircraft Company. In 1996 Boeing purchased Rockwell International’s operations in Oklahoma, which produced components for the 737, the International Space Station, the Joint Strike Fighter and the Nimrod MRA4. In Scotland, Spirit’s history begins in the 1930s with Scottish Aviation Ltd in Scotland’s Ayrshire countryside. The facility was an essential producer of aircraft during WWII. In the 1970s, the Scottish Aviation Ltd facility at Prestwick later became BAE Systems Aerostructures. In 2005, Boeing sold its Wichita Division and Oklahoma operations. The new company, Spirit AeroSystems, began the transformation from a single-source supplier into an independent global supplier with multiple customers and platforms. The following year, Spirit AeroSystems acquired the Aerostructures business unit from BAE Systems, including its facilities in Prestwick, U.K. This operation is now known as Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Limited. Spirit Europe is one of the largest airframe suppliers to Airbus and is a key supplier of major wing structures. Spirit Europe also produces wing structures for Boeing programs. Since our founding, Spirit has strategically acquired operations of other leading aerospace companies, and we have expanded our manufacturing and engineering operations globally. We opened facilities in Malaysia in 2007, France in 2009, and in North Carolina in 2010. Spirit AeroSystems is one of the world’s largest independent producers of commercial aerostructures. Our core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components. We have long-term agreements in place with our largest customers, Boeing and Airbus. Other major customers include Bell Helicopter, Bombardier, Mitsubishi, Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce, and Sikorsky. Based in Wichita, Kansas, we operate sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. We also provide aftermarket services, including MRO services, through our Global Customer Support & Services organization. (Corporate Profile, 2017)

Marty’s background is extremely diverse, he was born and raised in Belfast Ireland and left school at 16 to play professional soccer but after three years and not making a solid wage decided to go into a less competitive career.  His aerospace career began as an entry level administrative clerk at which point he realized he needed to gain a higher education, in a ten year time span Marty was able to complete several certificates and received an Industrial Management Diploma (equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in the US). During this time he was fortunate in his promotions, “it seemed I was getting a promotion every time I completed a certificate!” ending up as a senior manager of fabrications. Marty stayed a senior manager for two years then was offered a General Manager of Parts Logistics position within the Bombardier Company. That position required him to manage multiple teams worldwide. In 2005 Marty decided he no longer wanted to part of the aerospace industry and moved to Seattle where he became the Vice President of Operations for company call Pre-Core, they specialized in composite exercise equipment. During his four year tenure with Pre-Core Marty moved the entire manufacturing facility to North Carolina without missing any commitments to his customers. In 2009 Marty was offered a position with Learjet as the Director of Materials Management for the Lear 85 project, this was the first composite aircraft Learjet had ever attempted. Between 2009 and 2013 Marty held two other positions within Learjet, Director of Aerostructures Operations and Vice President of Learjet Operations. In mid-2013 he joined Spirit Aerosystems as the Director of Supply Chain Management for our Airbus customer. Marty had a mild heart attack in 2015 which made him realize that work was not the most important thing in life. After his heart attack he stepped down to the Senior Manager of Transfer of Work which is where he is today.