In the high-risk high-reward world of Department of Defense (DoD) procurement, there has been a sea change in requirements. Requirements are now requiring digital engineering and sustainability goals. The opportunities and threats of technologies such as AI, ML and IOT (IYKYK) are becoming increasingly large components of vehicle and weapon systems.  These changes do not affect a Defense Contractor’s Procurement group as much as they have a profound impact on an organization’s Engineering and IT groups. Many Engineering and IT departments’ digital engineering transformation efforts tend to place heavy emphasis on the DIGITAL and light emphasis on the ENGINEERING aspects. ArcherGrey strives to create a more balanced approach to digital engineering transformation.

ArcherGrey was founded 2002 as a PLM services company and provided the talent, experience, and prioritized focus to get highly technical, enterprise PLM projects job done. The company’s mission has always been to deliver value every day.  Now that mission is to expand upon our technical (i.e. “Digital”) services success by providing services that make our Client’s engineers and their IT support teams successful more directly.

In conversation with Lewis Kennebrew, Senior Director of ArcherGrey

Q. How would you describe your professional journey so far? Tell us about a few roadblocks and learning lessons that helped you grow through the years.

I started my journey as an engineer with more interest in technology and business than in a career with engineering calculations. This led me to an MBA in New Product Development and a career in Product Lifecycle Management consulting. Along the way, I’ve taken detours in SAP Procurement, Supply Chain Management, website / web app development, and small business branding consulting.

Q. What can you tell us about ArcherGrey? What are its focus areas?

ArcherGrey is a boutique Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) consulting firm with experts in PLM technology, process best practices, organizational change management and strategic transformation. ArcherGrey works with major companies in the following industries:

• Aerospace and Defense discrete manufacturers
• Industrial Equipment manufacturers
• Retail, Footwear, and Apparel manufacturers
• Medical Device Manufacturers
• A majority of the US National Labs

Q. How are you different from your competitors?

ArcherGrey has almost exclusively employed consultants with over 15 years of relevant work experience, unlike many of our competitors, with revolving doors of employees who switch companies every 3-5 years. ArcherGrey’s competitive advantage lies in our proven success in helping clients maximize the value of existing investments versus attempting to sell new software, i.e., the next so-called “silver bullet”.  Additionally, we pay attention to not just the rational but the irrational (and we mean that in the nicest way possible) aspects of the people we work with and develop solutions for. I’m not speaking of “organizational change management” as most envision it to be, but tailoring our services and our every client-facing interaction with respect to the struggles and often unstated challenges individuals face when changing their status quo.

Q. Can you introduce us to your services? What are their key features?

I’ll focus on our services for Aerospace Companies and Defense Contractors. Our services include:

Digital Engineering Strategic Planning and Application Executive Program:

We facilitate Peer Groups of Executives who must transform their organizations to compete within the DOD’s Digital Engineering Strategy directives. Quarterly Off-Site Retreats with Digital Engineering Subject-Matter-Experts to educate, inspire, and provide guidance. Together we develop Personalized Action Plans that provide practical steps to lead their organizations successfully through the necessary changes.

Accelerated Adoption (OCM) services for addressing the people side of Digital Transformation:

You can significantly reduce project risk via developing Leadership Alignment and Organizational Alignment with integrated Change Networks. Clients realize their Business Case via leading (vs. lagging) metrics that focus on People and begin from project start so that course corrections can be made before it’s too late. Increased Customer Satisfaction from better communication (reduce surprises) and digital training and adoption (modernize the ways of learning with today’s workforce) can be achieved through our Accelerated Adoption services.

ArcherGrey’s PLM Technology/Process Teams:

Our teams combine traditional IT-related consultants with cross-functional operational consultants for feet-on-the-ground get-their-hands-dirty digital transformation. We lead digital and organizational transformation from the inside-out. Consultants with expertise in organizational change and functional disciplines such as Engineering, Configuration Management, Manufacturing, Supply-Chain, and Service provide their support to propel our Client’s transformation initiatives to next level.

Digital Thread Architects:

Our experienced Digital Thread Architects help your organization, re-imagine, rationalize, refactor, and reintegrate more robust, more responsive Integrated Digital Engineering Environments (IDEEs). Areas  we cover include:

• Enterprise Application, API, and Integration Analysis with a focus on identifying gaps in the digital thread
• Technical Debt Analysis
• IDEE Roadmap Development
• IDEE Roadmap Implementation

Q. How is the industry you serve currently evolving? And where does ArcherGrey stand at the moment?

Companies that do business with Department of Defense branches are being required to respond to RFPs that require them to comply with the 2018 DoD Digital Engineering Strategy, the 2019 Digital Modernization Strategy, and the 2020 CBM+ Instruction. At the heart of these directives is the desire for the DoD’s branches to purchase systems that are developed using the most modern technologies (e.g., cloud, PLM, zero-trust security), most modern engineering practices (e.g. MBSE and MBD), and most responsive business practices (e.g., Agile, SCRUM, and Kanban), with the belief that these will result in less costly, faster time to deploy, and more sustainable vehicle and weapon systems. Clients must change what has made them successful in the past in order to be successful in the future. ArcherGrey has the experience to recognize these inflection points, the expertise to navigate the path ahead, and the network to help our clients navigate the changes the market is forcing upon them.

Q. How skilled is the company’s team of experts? What value do they bring to the company?

Our experts have an average of 15 years of experience working at and consulting with our client base. The value they bring to ArcherGrey is bringing the experience of what has worked and what hasn’t worked across several clients with similar challenges. However, ArcherGrey hires for vision and creativity as well, so that our Consultants don’t rest on their experience but use it as a springboard to envision, propose, and prove out new solutions to new challenges and circumstances.

Q, How does ArcherGrey engage, enable, and empower its community?

ArcherGrey consider ourselves having 3 communities:

Our Employees whom we engage, enable, and empower with programs such as:

• Unlimited Discretionary Time Off
• ArcherGrey Gives Back (AGGB) program that supports employee-recommended charitable opportunities with funding and volunteers
• Professional development opportunities

Our Clients whom we engage, enable, and empower with:

• Superb consulting services that is often validated by repeat business
• Consultants’ participation in Client-sponsored volunteer opportunities

Our Partners whom we engage, enable, and empower with:

• We’ve partnered with software firms such as PTC and VibeIQ to bring technology capability to our client’s digital engineering transformation efforts
• We’ve partnered with analyst companies such as Gartner and CIMData to provide robust industry analysis
• We’ve partnered with other consulting firms, such as Action-Engineering, to provide expertise in areas for which our clients have needs and we don’t have the expertise

Lewis Kennebrew, Senior Director                                                  

“Digital Engineering Transformation is so new it’s like science-fiction to many. But also like the best science-fiction stories, at their core, they reflect our human condition to overcome obstacles, the hero’s journey. We’re here to help guide those heroes.”