New Age Metal Fabricating Analysis

Case Analysis
New Age Metal Fabricating Co., General Dynamics, and G.E. Aviation
Carlise V. Miles
Embry-Riddle University
April 26, 2020
Understanding how different companies shape their policies, principles, and procedures is essential for any business professional. It allows him to be able to understand the best practices that each company has and apply them in the circumstances that his company might face in the future. Accordingly, some of the new core principles that most organizations have tried to embed in their workplace culture are operational efficiency, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. Principles that recognize and address the ever-growing consumer demand as well as the need to balance them with ecological and social responsibilities. Although this might prove to be difficult, especially with companies that require “special processes” in their production processes, certain best practices have proven otherwise.
In this paper, the author would discuss how these companies balance their operational processes in light of (1) the increasing consumer demand and (2) the need for a sustainable and viable future. Specifically, the succeeding sections of this paper would initially provide a piece of background information about the three companies, including their history, clientele, and operational principles, among others. Subsequently, the author would discuss how the companies fulfill their special processes in light of the shifting economic landscape of the country. Finally, the effects of such processes, including their commitment to social and environmental policies, would be analyzed.
All in all, the author believes that vendors for special processes require a tailored operational and safety standard in order to balance their need to meet market demands and commit to their responsibility to the society and the environment.
Background Information about the Companies
This section provides a background about the companies in relation to their operational processes, production processes, and hierarchical structure, among others.
New Age Metal Fabricating Co.
Back in 1979, in Fairfield, New Jersey, the New Age Metal Fabricating Company was founded, the aim of producing its craft to the best quality and standards. The company offers build-to-print manufacturing services, meaning they can manufacture custom metal designs for clients who have a blueprint available, and they use the most highly advanced technique and technologies in order to fulfill different challenges and difficulties the customers’ request might present. Along with its New Age Precision Manufacturing, located in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, in which has 60 years of accumulated experience and refined expertise for aluminum dip-brazing, they are one of today’s top full-service metal fabricators in the Defense and Aerospace industries CITATION Newnd \l 1033 (New Age Metal Fabricating, n.d.).
General Dynamics
General Dynamics is located in Falls Church, Virginia, and is one of the major American defense contractors. The company was founded in 1899 and was first named the Electric Boat Company. It is where, back in 1900, the U.S Navy purchased its very first submarine-- the Holland (Britannica, n.d.). In its earlier years as the Electric Boat Company, they gained a reputation for its unprincipled armature dealings to Russia and Japan from 1904 to 1905, who were at war with each other. The Holland subs were also purchased by an English company named Vickers in the service of the British Royal Navy, and wherein back then, it was viewed as something improper to be used in a “gentleman’s war” because if its crafty nature. Business practices of the company were investigated in nearing the ends of the second World War as it was accused of profiting off the war of other nations. They were also found to unintentionally giving design secrets to the Japanese government. Senator Gerald Nye led this investigation that eventually led to the accusation of unethical practices, graft, and profiteering, in rebuttal the executives of the company responded that they were just forced to make dealings with a foreign government in order to support themselves financially because the U.S Navy suspended all of their significant contracts for ten years. During these times, the hostility of Japanese and the remilitarization of Germany forced the Roosevelt Administration to reevaluate its military measures for defense, eventually placing orders for P.T. (patrol, torpedo) boats and submarines from Electric Boat. Following the declaration of war by the U.S to the Axis powers, the company, along with its subsidiaries, Electro Dynamic and Elco Yacht, begin their production to its maximum. With this sudden surge of the workforce, they experience a grave shortage in manual labor, which was occupied by women who took the responsibility of welding and putting in rivets. During this war, the companies made hundreds of P.T., surface ships, and submarines, providing many shares in the successful operations in the Pacific.
After the war, in 1947, Canadair was purchased by the company from the Canadian government for $22 million, later expanding its avial production. In 1952, as a successor to Electric Boat, and as a parent company for Electric Boat and Canadair, General Dynamics was established. Two years from that, G.D. purchased Consolidated Vultee Aircraft, which later became the company’s Convair division that led the development of the nuclear aircraft program in the U.S. However, even with the full support from the Pentagon, they later abandon this program as they found the impracticality of nuclear in aviation. Though, they made a more significant success with nuclear technology as they develop and launch the very first Nuclear Submarine, the Nautilus.
In recent times, in 1997, G.D.’s I.T. department was built through a series of acquisitions; the Computing Devices International, Computing Devices Canada Ltd, and Computing Devices Company Limited in the United Kingdom. In 1998, the company acquired the owner of the San Diego naval shipyard, the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company. Moreover, in July of 1999, G.D. acquired the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, as they return in the market for aviation production, and later on September of the same year, they enhance their Information Systems and Technology area as they bought three businesses from GTE Corp for a total value of $1.01 billion (FundingUniverse, n.d.).
G.E. Aviation
G.E. Aviation, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a producer of services, engines, and systems in the aviation aspect. With approximately 80,000 manufacturing, services, and engineering facilities all over 19 countries; and with $30.6 billion revenue as of 2018, they continue to develop, manufacture, and design jet engines along with its integrated systems and components for military, businesses and commercial use, as well as gas turbines for marine applications.
All of this started back in 1917, in World War I, when the government of the United States was looking for a company to make the first plane engine, booster as the called it, for the then starting U.S aviation era. G.E. was the first to accept this task, a challenge for them, but another team also accepted this chance to develop this “booster,” also called the supercharger (a mechanism installed on a piston engine that makes use of the engine’s exhaust to drive air to a compressor to boost power in higher altitude). So then, contracts were given in secret to both teams, giving them a go signal to develop, tweak, and test different designs until the U.S Army motioned for a field test demonstration. G.E. won this test as they showed a 350-horsepower engine at 14,000 ft above sea level, giving them the honor of beginning their aviation industry by producing aircraft that can fly higher altitudes with faster engines. G.E.’s accomplishments were made happen by their very first contract given by the U.S government. Among their accomplishments were; (a)the development of America’s first Jet engine on April 18, 1942, as the company’s engineers develop and successfully make the I-A engine; (b) the first turbojet that can travel twice the speed of sound through their development of j79 turbojet engine; (c) and topping that, between the 1950s and 1960s, they were also the first to develop the technology that makes the airplane go beyond at three times the speed of sound through the development of the J93, with specifications of having six 28,800 pound thrust turbojets propelling a 500,000 craft at an altitude of 74,000 ft. Their creation of the J93 engine was so advanced at that time that even today, the technology that pioneered its creation is still in use in today’s commercial and military engines.
Ge Aviation now is furthering the limits of aviation technology, along with its partner companies, and with more than 65,000 engines ready to be used, they established the world’s biggest fleet for their operations. In the military aspect, their T901 and T408 engines are paving its way for the future innovation of cutting-edge aviation technology (G.E. Aviation).
Globalization and Process Management
Globalization has shifted the way that all companies due to their work. Even for special process companies such as the three mentioned herein, the increase and shifting demand, as well as the shift in global consumer mindset, has paved for new modes of production. However, globalization has also brought a complex mix of benefits and disadvantages to the world. As special process companies that specialize in the aviation sector, this means that principles like sustainable development and corporate social responsibility should be given significant consideration in the core operational processes of companies like G.E. Aviation, General Dynamics, and NAMF Co. among others. Here are some of the causal relationships of globalization and the aviation industries, as well as the reasons why such corporations play a huge role in the process.
On the one hand, the aviation sector plays one of the most significant roles in the benefits of globalization. In a study conducted by Goyal (2006), he noted how trends in globalization (i.e., increase in the tourism sector) had improved the economy of different impoverished areas around the world. These improvements are brought by an increase in the delivery of goods, the interconnectivity of individuals, and the overall increase in tourism around the world. For example, current estimates have predicted that by the year 2036, around 97.8 million jobs would be created by the airline industry alone, contributing around $5.7 trillion to the global economy of humankind CITATION Avind \l 1033 (AviationBenefits.org, n.d.). In addition to this, aviation has also improved the supply chain systems and logistical models in light of this fast-paced economy. Several studies have noted that post-industrial globalized economies are heavily dependent upon airline shipments in order to meet their customers’ demands CITATION Dmi19 \l 1033 (Dmitriev & Novikov, 2019).
In line with the topic at hand, it could be seen why special process companies dealing with aviation technologies play a huge role in the survivability of the whole global economy. Since most economies (both developed and developing) are dependent upon international trade in order to support their policies, then special process companies should be able to assure those airline technologies should be up-to-date and cost-efficient in order to meet these needs.
On the other hand, the rapid expansion of the aviation industry due to globalization has also brought about certain repercussions in the environment. For example, one study conducted by Goetz and Graham (2004) showed that one of the main problems in today’s current economy is the dilemma between the short-term financial crisis that the aviation industry is facing, and the long term needs to focus on sustainability. Particularly, the financial crisis that some aviation companies are facing acts as a hindrance to utilizing more sustainable technologies (i.e., biomass) in order to ensure their survivability CITATION Air04 \l 1033 (Goetz & Graham, 2004). Today, the necessity for meeting these short-term financial crisis brought about by the recent pandemic could also contribute to the difficulty in meeting long-term goals of reducing their environmental footprint and prioritizing corporate social responsibility, among others.
In light of all of this, it could be seen that special process companies have a great responsibility to ensure that their products can meet the demands of profitability and su...