"Business is Good"

On Dec. 3, 2008, TBE President Rex Geveden and Mike Ogles, Vice President of Aerospace Systems, gave their “all hands” speeches in front of a packed audience of almost 600 Teledyne employees of the Aerospace Systems group

The meeting, which was held in the Morris Auditorium at the Marshall Space Flight Center, was an opportunity for Geveden and Ogles to bring everyone up to date with the growth and direction of the company.  Held much like a stockholders meeting, Geveden and Ogles gave status updates on current programs, the company’s projected income, and new avenues of business that have been solidified and are being exploring as well as awards and achievements bestowed on the group throughout the year.

Ogles was first to speak and focused on all pertinent programs and projects associated with Aerospace Systems.  With the current economic predicament and regime change in Washington, part of Ogles’ speech was to assuage any employees’ fears of marginalization or downsizing of programs.  He mentioned that since 2005, the number of TBE employees supporting NASA contracts has increased an impressive 52%.

With nearly 600 employees currently, Aerospace Systems makes up the largest division of TBE and also one of the most acclaimed.  Over the last 4 years, 27 TBE employees were awarded NASA’s prestigious Silver Snoopy award, the astronauts’ personal award.  Individuals are selected as recipients of this award for their outstanding performance and contributions to flight safety and mission success.  Another 14 employees also received the Space Flight Awareness award, which is one of the highest tributes paid to individuals by NASA for their dedication to quality work and flight safety.

The speech that Geveden gave was broader in scope, covering the remaining divisions of Teledyne, while maintaining that Aerospace Systems is our “growth engine” and that it alone is bigger than 80% of other companies under the Teledyne umbrella.  He mentioned that despite the pursuit to increase TBE’s manufacturing capability and that the opening of Plant 2 has more than tripled our manufacturing capacity, the company’s goals are not centered on volume, but rather strategic focus – that we strive to do better than everybody else.  Geveden went further, acknowledging the Company’s uniqueness and its ability to compete with the large aerospace primes.  He said that in an effort to keep the Company competitive, we need to continue highlighting our horizontal growth capabilities coupled with our vertical depth – our ability to turn complex concepts into reality.  This is where the term “Engineered Systems” stems from:  fully integrated systems from concept to construction to clean up.

With the Aerospace Systems Group grossing over $100M in revenue in 2008, nearly doubling its business in 5 years’ time, the words of Geveden sum it up best: “Business is good.”