Lockheed Martin preps digital, process transformation effort

Lockheed Martin said it is embarking on a 7-year companywide program to transform its end-to-end business processes and systems.

James Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, outlined the process transformation effort, called 1LM, on the company's third quarter earnings conference call.

Lockheed Martin has four business units—Missiles & Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, Space Systems and Aeronautics—and is planning to combat inflation and rising supply chain costs with efficiency gains.

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Taiclet said Lockheed Martin is planning to drive long-term growth with its R&D and capital spending approaching $4 billion in 2023. A big part of that growth strategy will be its process transformation efforts.

He said:

"A key driver of this strategy is our new 1LM transformation, or as we call it, 1LMX, a multibillion-dollar, 7-year, company-wide program to transform our end-to-end business processes and systems. 1 will create a model-based enterprise with a fully integrated digital thread throughout the design, build and sustain product life cycle. And part — as part of our ongoing corporate stewardship approach — we are conducting an internal review to identify potential synergies between our 4 business areas, further cost-reduction opportunities and a general portfolio review with the goal of increasing operating efficiency in anticipation of our future growth."

Lockheed Martin said that it is preparing for strong demand across its products and services globally. Lockheed Martin's product portfolio includes the F-35 Lightning fighter, Sikorsky helicopters and various missile and space systems.

Larry Dignan

Editor in Chief (former)

Larry Dignan is the former Editor in Chief of Celonis Media. Before joining Celonis, he was Editor in Chief of ZDNet and has covered the technology industry and transformation trends for more than two decades, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine.