L-3's new lab not your grandfather's metal shop

Engineering, fabrication occur in one facility

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by JAY FRIESS Peter Ross, facility manager for L-3 Communications' new engineering and fabrication laboratory in Hollywood, holds up a freshly ground metal bracket, carved by the computer-controlled lathe in the background. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Click here to enlarge this photo

There was once a time when metal shop people and computer people circulated in separate professional spheres, but at L-3 Communications' new engineering and fabrication laboratory in Hollywood, they are two sides of the same equation.

The engineering and fabrication branch of L3's ship and aviation engineering division unit held a grand opening for its new facility last week, inviting the public to munch a few crab balls, grab a beer and take a peek behind the scenes at its development and fabrication process.

Peter Ross, the head electrical engineer and manager of the facility, led a gaggle of curious visitors through the facility. Along the way, he explained that the employees are divided up into four teams — engineering, drafting, electrical and machining.

Projects start out as technical specifications from the customer, translated by the engineers and drafted into computer drawing programs by the drafting team. From there, the plans are transmitted to the electrical and machining teams, who then build a prototype on site for testing, before the design is sent out to a manufacturer for a production run.

The layout of the building reflects this workflow. The front of the facility is all business — offices, conference rooms and neckties. The middle section is half cubicles and half open laboratory space, where equipment is assembled and tested. But the back section opens out into a warehouse space, brimming with metal fabrication and painting facilities that can take just about any piece of metal equipment dreamed up in the front offices and make it into a real, physical object.

But what exactly does L-3 make? "An awful lot of work we do is on racks," Ross said.

By this he meant computer server and communications racks. On the floor in the lab area was a series of such small racks, encased in the kind of hard plastic and handles found on concert amps and speakers. Ross explained that the suite of machines could be taken aboard an aircraft carrier, plugged into its aircraft control and communications systems and used to direct the automatic landing of fighter jets.

There are other products as well — custom laboratory displays, input/output panels, communications cables, drone plane components and portable facility outfitting for front-line Marine ground units. The facility's work ranges in scale from tiny audio compression circuit boards to giant steel brackets for transporting P-3 Orion planes via truck.

Ross was particularly proud to mention the lab's certification by the International Organization for Standardization. The lab has held ISO 9001 certification for a year, a distinction it initially resisted.

"We balked at it at first, because it seemed like a pain in the [rear]," Ross said, explaining that the process requires a lot more paperwork. However, since the company has standardized its communication and documentation processes, Ross said its products have not had a single electrical failure once deployed.

One of the reasons that products work better is that the ISO standards require the lab to pull representatives from all four teams once a month to have what Ross called a "gripe session," hammering out design and production problems before they become embedded in the final product.

"We balked at [ISO 9001], but now we embrace it," Ross said.

Bob Schaller, director of economic and community development for St. Mary's County, said he was "very impressed" with the L-3 facility. "We are making things," Schaller said, noting that the facility is an example of the move local firms are making toward fabricating and testing the designs they produce. "That's really encouraging."

Schaller said he hopes the move will eventually evolve into full-blown local manufacturing.

"They have highly skilled machinists," Schaller noted. "It's one thing to have the machine make something. It's another to have a master tell you if it's done right."

L-3 Ship and Aviation Engineering, a business unit of the command & control systems and software division, employs over 400 people locally.

Schaller said he plans to add the facility to a Nov. 10 county commissioner tour of local technology advancements in the county.

jfriess@somdnews.com