2009

Award Recipient

National Institute of Standards and Technology • U.S. Department of Commerce

Baldrige National Quality Program

 Highlights

• Overall customer satisfaction has been at or above 95 

percent for the past four years, compared to the commercial 

best in class, whose levels range from 78 percent to 85 

percent for the same period. The percentage of customers 

willing to continue work with FM&T is measured by 

quarter, and this level has been maintained at 96 percent for 

the past four quarters, compared to a commercial best-inclass level of 95 percent for the same period.

• The combined quality/reliability performance level has 

been at 99.9 percent for traditional customers for the past 

three years. The level for nontraditional customers has been 

trending favorably, from roughly 98.4 percent in FY2006 to 

99 percent in FY2008.

• FM&T’s use of the Six Sigma Plus Continuous Improvement 

Model ensures integration of customer and business 

requirements into all design projects. Use of this approach 

has resulted in cost savings from increased productivity and 

deployed innovations of between $23.5 million and $27 

million annually for the past three fi scal years.

• FM&T demonstrates good citizenship through employeegiving programs, such as Honeywell Hometown Solutions, 

the FM&T Employees Club, and the Christmas in October 

and Harvesters food collections. Donations of employee 

volunteer hours averaged roughly 15,000 hours per year 

from 2006 to 2009.

Honeywell Federal 

Manufacturing & Technologies

Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies 

(FM&T), LLC, is a management and operations contractor 

with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) 

at its Kansas City, Missouri, plant, and several locations on or 

around Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The facilities 

under its management are multidisciplinary engineering 

and manufacturing operations specializing in electrical, 

mechanical, and engineered material components for national 

defense systems. With a reputation for being able to do the 

“near impossible,” FM&T supports government agencies, 

national laboratories, universities, and U.S. industry.

 Overall, FM&T has a $540 million operating budget and 

employs 2,704 people. 

Commitments to Quality

With commercial best practices such as Six Sigma and 

Lean, FM&T has built its facilities into manufacturing centers 

of excellence. FM&T’s use of the Six Sigma Plus Continuous 

Improvement Model ensures integration of customer and 

business requirements into all design projects and has led to 

multiple cycles of learning and improvement for many of the 

organization’s work processes. The result is a business culture 

that pays precise attention to detail and insists on delivering 

results—a culture FM&T describes as “Commitments Made, 

Commitments Kept.” 

Additionally, this approach has yielded impressive 

fi nancial results: 

 • Cost savings from increased productivity and deployed 

innovations have been between $23.5 million and $27 million 

annually for the past three fi scal years.

 • Energy conservation has improved by at least 20 percent 

each year from 2006 to 2009.

 • Supply-chain savings have increased from approximately 

$2 million in 2007 to approximately $65 million in 2009.

A Culture Aligned, Checked, 

and Filtered for Success

FM&T’s vision is “to be the preferred partner with the 

United States Government and its allies, distinguished by our 

trusted relationships and recognized for our ability to deliver 

exceptional solutions for national and homeland security.” 

This vision goes hand-in-hand with the organization’s mission 

“to design and deliver products, manage operations, and 

provide targeted services to advance national and homeland 

security objectives for the United States Government and its 
allies.” To support these goals, FM&T developed a robust, 

systematic governing system and planning process called the 

Management Assurance System. By incorporating strategic 

planning, checks that ensure processes align with goals, 

and feedback scorecards, the system identifi es, implements, 

measures, and sustains the “critical-to-quality” needs 

necessary for desired performance. 

Throughout the Management Assurance System is an 

emphasis on performance measurement and management by 

fact. This emphasis begins with the organization’s strategic 

plan, which annually follows eight steps to identify successes 

and challenges, and then uses the information obtained 

to improve processes. The Enterprise Alignment Process 

ensures that the daily accountability of the salaried and hourly 

workforce is aligned to the FM&T balanced scorecard and 

strategic plan.

The company also regularly identifi es its core 

competencies by testing each one against a “VIRO” fi lter 

to see if each is Valuable, hard to Imitate, Rare, and an 

Opportunity to exploit. Recently, FM&T underwent 

realignment to better focus on its strengths and improve 

its support to customers. 

Serving Both Traditional 

and Nontraditional Markets

Along with fulfi lling the manufacturing needs of its 

“traditional” market, the federal government, FM&T also 

receives variable fees working for nontraditional customers. 

The challenge, therefore, is for the organization to 

consistently deliver high value and satisfaction to both. Recent 

measures demonstrate FM&T’s success at achieving that goal:

 • For traditional customers, the combined quality/

reliability performance level has been at 99.9 percent for the 

past three years. The level for nontraditional customers has 

been trending favorably from roughly 98.4 percent in FY2006 

to 99 percent in FY2008. 

 • Overall customer satisfaction has been at or above 95 

percent for the past four years, compared to the commercial 

best in class, whose levels range from 78 percent to 85 percent 

for the same period. 

 • The percentage of customers willing to continue 

working with FM&T is measured by quarter, and this level 

has been maintained at 96 percent for the past four quarters, 

compared to a commercial best-in-class level of 95 percent for 

the same period.

Keeping the Workforce Focused, 

Satisfi ed, and Safe

With its emphasis on constant improvement, FM&T 

uses a change-management approach that keeps the 

workforce informed and engaged at all times. Leaders give 

routine updates and ensure that information is available 

to all employees; the senior leader open-door policy and 

information sharing are two of the organization’s leadership 

strengths. At quarterly meetings, FM&T managers share 

the state of the business and respond directly to employee 

questions and concerns. “Skip-level” meetings and e-mail 

boxes such as “Ask the FM&T President” provide avenues for 

employees to have direct access to senior leadership.

Workforce engagement and satisfaction are regularly 

measured through surveys, with comparisons to commercial 

best-in-class manufacturers. FM&T has had positive 

employee satisfaction scores in the following categories: 

workforce feels appreciated, management listens to 

ideas, management provides a positive environment, and 

management provides information.

 In addition, the organization has systems to reward highperforming employees with bonuses and offers all employees 

assistance with career progression and training. 

The nature of Honeywell’s business requires an extra 

emphasis on safety and security. Customer satisfaction and 

compliance results yield more-favorable ratings on physical 

and cyber security for FM&T than for those of its key 

competitors. Using both the Preliminary Hazard Analysis 

and Job Hazard Analysis systems, FM&T evaluates potential 

safety threats and dangers associated with any given work 

process. Identifi ed risks are addressed and mitigated before 

they even start. 

 For more information:

 Barb Rich

 Manager, Operational Excellence

 Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies

 2000 East 95th St. 

 Kansas City, MO 61141

 Telephone: (816) 997-5612

 E-mail: brich@kcp.com

 Web site: www.honeywell.com/sites/kcp/index.jsp