site, which had recently lost a mainstay contract that in prior years had helped the site support up to 150 employees. Leanne Phillis, a 10-year Smithfield employee who has spent the past three years in program management, recalled what it was like. “When Boeing bought us, I thought, What does a small site like this one mean to big Boeing? We’re just a handful of people in a small town in Pennsylvania. So let’s just say that we waited with bated breath.” But in 2012, the site became part of Boeing’s Electronic & Information Solutions organization, and work from other parts of the company began flowing to Smithfield. It made good business sense because the Smithfield team’s capabilities were a strategic asset worth keeping, according to Derek McLuckey, director of Operations for Electronic & Information Solutions. “The team in Smithfield is flexible, agile and quick to set up new things and adjust to program changes,” McLuckey said. “They’re extremely competitive commercially and can go head to head with outside companies in terms of capabilities, infrastructure and overhead costs. It’s actually a PHOTO: Dan Monticelli, left, and Mike Putt prepare a Nixie decoy for acoustic testing in Lemont Furnace’s 500,000-gallon (2.3-million-liter) tank. Frontiers September 2014 31
Frontiers September 2014 Issue
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