Lockheed Martin Missiles and

Fire Control

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) designs, develops,

manufactures, and supports advanced combat, missile, rocket, and 

sensor systems for the U.S. and foreign military. The company’s 

workforce of 10,688 employees produces and delivers more than 

100 products through 825 contracts in more than 60 countries. 

MFC is headquartered in the Dallas, Texas, area with a second 

major facility in Orlando, Fla. Additional facilities are located in 

nine U.S. states as well as Japan and the United Kingdom.

A Solid Manufacturing Market Share

• Believing that “performance is the objective,” MFC maintains

a major global market position in each of its key lines of business

in a shrinking market. It has attained a leading market share and 

sustained growth over the past four years.

• Return on investment, a strategic measure for MFC, has grown 

at a 23 percent compound annual rate, faster than the industrybest competitor at 13.7 percent. Operating margin has had a 

compound annual growth rate of 6.2 percent over 11 years, 

better than the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Capital Goods 

Manufacturing Index at 1.5 percent and the industry-best 

competitor at 0.2 percent.

• From 2006 to 2011, annual orders from repeat customers have 

increased by 32 percent and international orders have increased 

by almost 400 percent.

Process Efficiency, Strategic Planning 

Yield Results

• Using value-stream mapping, a Lean manufacturing technique for 

analyzing and designing the flow of materials and information 

required to bring a product or service to a consumer, MFC 

evaluated 8,500 processes from 2000 to 2012. This mapping 

represents 90 percent of the enterprise direct costs and 6 percent of 

indirect costs.

• Supplier on-time delivery has been essentially 100 percent since 

2006, and overall supplier quality has been nearly 100 percent 

since 2007.

• Time reductions as a result of process and performance 

improvement programs have occurred in all lines of MFC’s 

businesses, yielding an estimated saving of $225 million annually.

2012 Award Recipient

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

Highlights

• Believing that “performance is the objective,” MFC 

maintains a major global market position in each of its 

key lines of business in a shrinking market. It has attained 

a leading market share and sustained growth over the 

past four years.

• Time reductions as a result of process and performance 

improvement programs have occurred in all lines of MFC’s 

businesses, yielding an estimated saving of $225 million annually.

• Ratings for customer loyalty have improved 18 percent 

since 2007 and are best in class, with 100 percent of 

customers saying that they “definitely or probably would 

select MFC for future business.” Additionally, MFC’s 

customer ratings are more than 6 percent above the 

Department of Defense industry average and have 

improved even as the industry ratings have declined.

• In 2011, close to 85 percent of employees said that they 

were proud to work for MFC, exceeding the national 

benchmark of 82 percent. Retention, which MFC considers 

a measure of employee engagement, was 95 percent in 

2011 and 94 percent in 2012.
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

2012 Award Recipient

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control

• MFC’s “Procure to Pay” system allows buyers across programs and 

sites to make procurements and leverage their purchasing power

efficiently. MFC uses a “make-or-buy” process to decide which 

processes will be internal or external, systematically considering 

factors such as strategic capability, competitive sensitivity, and 

potential impact on its brand.

• Business resilience—the ability of a company to continue 

operations without significant impact in the face of disruptions or 

threats (known as intrusions)—is enforced by MFC’s Business 

Resiliency System. Despite an ever-growing number of intrusion 

events since 2007, the Business Resiliency System has remediated 

100 percent of them. Compliance with information controls has 

been at 100 percent since 2007, and the number of controls has 

decreased from 242 in 2007 to 87 in 2012. Facility uptime has 

been at 100 percent since 2007, overcoming nearly 2,000 

potential disruptions.

• MFC’s nine-step Strategic Planning and Execution System (SPES) 

represents a robust, fact-based methodology for developing 

strategic and tactical action plans based on customer/market needs 

and other environmental assessments. The process allows for 

performance optimization and agility while promoting long-term 

sustainability and accountability. The SPES integrates metrics, work 

processes, and modeling and simulation to provide feedback for 

continuous learning.

Ensuring That Customers Come First

• While experiencing a 1,000 percent growth in the number of 

annual deliveries over the past 11 years, MFC has achieved 99.4 

percent on-time delivery.

• Ratings for customer loyalty have improved 18 percent since 2007 

and are best in class, with 100 percent of customers saying that 

they “definitely or probably would select MFC for future business.” 

Additionally, MFC’s customer ratings are more than 6 percent above 

the Department of Defense industry average and have improved 

even as the industry ratings have declined.

• Through its Market Analysis Process and business capture 

methodology, MFC identifies customer and market requirements 

for its product offerings and services. Integrated Product Teams 

conduct formal reviews with customers, along with internal 

monthly and quarterly operational reviews, during each of a 

product’s five life cycle stages—from capturing the business to 

fielding and support.

Strength Built from Leadership and 

Teamwork

• In 2011, close to 85 percent of employees said that they were 

proud to work for MFC, exceeding the national benchmark of 82 

percent. Retention, which MFC considers a measure of employee 

engagement, was 95 percent in 2011 and 94 percent in 2012.

• MFC organizes its workforce in a matrix structure to accomplish its 

goals and meet the changing needs of its customers. Throughout 

each product’s life cycle, cross-functional teams plan, design, 

develop, produce, and support the product.

• Senior leaders review performance with the Enterprise Excellence 

System framework that identifies gaps, and apply the eight-step 

Lockheed Martin “Path to Excellence Process” to remedy the gaps 

through improvement teams.

• MFC’s Performance-Driven Leadership System bases performance 

evaluations of senior leaders on objectives, goals, and metrics that 

are aligned with the strategic plan. Performance evaluation is 

weighted 70 percent on meeting commitments and 30 percent on 

behaviors related to the company’s mission, vision, and values.

Quality Products Matched by 

Quality Character

• MFC’s results for legal and regulatory compliance support the 

company’s value to “do what’s right.” Zero critical regulatory 

actions have occurred since 2009, and the organization has an 

average 56 percent “superior” rating for security audits, far 

exceeding the industry average of 4 percent.

• MFC has had no findings from financial audits since 2009. Results 

for the customer’s earned value management system audits have 

improved from 109 discrepancies in 2007 to zero in 2011 and 

2012, earning MFC a “low-risk” rating from customers.

• To ensure ethical behavior at every site, all MFC employees 

receive annual ethics awareness training. Results from employee 

surveys show that MFC employees believe they are prepared to 

handle situations that might violate MFC’s ethical conduct.

• MFC employees have donated more than $11 million over five 

years to charities in their local communities.

For more information:

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control

1701 West Marshall Dr., M/S: WT-44

Grand Prairie, TX 75051

Telephone: (972) 603-1765

E-Mail: malcolmbaldrigeaward.fc-mfc@lmco.com

Web Site: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2012/

baldrige-award.html

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program

The Baldrige Program educates organizations of all sizes and 

from all sectors in organizational performance management and 

improvement. We also administer the Malcolm Baldrige National

Quality Award. Our key services are to identify and recognize 

role-model organizations, share best management practices, and 

help organizations achieve best-in-class performance levels. We are 

the only public-private partnership and Presidential award program 

dedicated to improving U.S. organizations. 

For more information on Baldrige, visit www.nist.gov/baldrige, 

call (301) 975-2036, or e-mail us at baldrige@nist.gov.