Technolink Snapshot March 2019

Insights from Members Shaping the Future

Technolink Advisory Board member Heather Lord, Manager of Fleet Support Engineering & Analysis at Northrop Grumman, reports on the F-35 Lightning II Fifth-Generation Combat Aircraft. The F-35 Lightning II is a stealthy, supersonic, multirole fighter designed to meet the requirements of the United States and allied defense forces worldwide for an affordable next generation fighter. Northrop Grumman is a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led industry team, responsible for production of the center fuselage, which forms a significant portion of the aircraft's internal weapons bay and internal fuel capacity. Northrop Grumman is also responsible for the Radar, DAS, Electronic Warfare, Communications, Navigation and Identification Subsystems, and one-third of the Mission Systems and Vehicle Systems.

F-35 Lightning II

With the President’s FY2020 US Defense budget scheduled to be released on March 12th , 2019, Northrop Grumman Corporation finds itself positioned well to help repair depleted readiness of the Air Force’s aging weapons systems for both the U.S. and our international allies. “If the Air Force does not accelerate its buy of F-35s, in the year 2030 half of its fighter fleet will still be non-stealthy planes. That could make victory over a China or Russia hard to achieve.” - Loren Thompson, Chief Operating Officer, Lexington Institute, www.afa.org. The Air Force needs to buy 80 to 100 F-35s each year to remain on plan. For more information on F-35 Lightning II Capabilities and latest news, please  click here.

Christopher McDonald, Technolink member and Vice President for Instruction at Irvine Valley College, offers insights into the community college system in an exclusive Technolink article that highlights the need for industry partners in the college’s workforce development efforts.  Community colleges are eager to address growing concerns over the lack of qualified workers, as described by many in the business community. The California community colleges will receive more than $1 billion in additional resources over a five-year period to address the problem.   Insiders, however, are faced with numerous challenges. First, the value of an associate degree or a community college certificate is determined by its relative ranking in the hierarchy of educational credentials in the labor market, as well as the supply of individuals with the requisite skills and higher education credentials. Second, career education programs are expensive to implement and typically have lower student enrollment patterns when compared to general education courses, as individuals respond to labor market incentives. Third, when thinking about the masses, many manufacturing- and technician-level jobs that pay a “living wage” have been automated or outsourced; job analytics tools and ongoing research indicate that organizations are, in fact, hiring individuals with four-year degrees to do work formerly done by individuals with some or no college experience. Given that the community college system has resources to support workforce development including apprenticeship programs, we now need help with ideas that lead to partnerships with large segments of the business community. In short, we need help developing significantly increased opportunities for students to receive on-the-job training.  To learn more about IVC’s economic and workforce development and career education efforts, please visit our Career Education webpage.   Read the full article here.

Forensic Economist and Technolink member, Stephanie Rizzardi of Rizzardi Economics, reflects upon the ways in which technology has impacted the structure of entire industries and, along with it, the nature of her work: Peter Drucker wrote decades ago about the advent of the “knowledge worker.” Over the course of thirty years, the implementation of technology in the workplace has diminished the number of cases I see  involving union manufacturing and labor-intensive work.  The number of knowledge workers in the workforce continues to grow. Generally, technology has had a positive impact on labor productivity and wages, however, some workers have seen their jobs eliminated and those without advanced educational attainment (less than some college) have been hurt the most. Today’s Forensic Economist looks to the plaintiff’s demonstrated work history and earnings, and his status at the time of an incident to help construct a projection of future loss of earnings and benefits flowing from his employment. The impact of technology has made one fact clear: continual self-improvement with technical skills keeps all of us moving forward. To learn more about Rizzardi Economics, please visit: http://rizzardieconomics.com/