U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command

ARDEC’s Strategic Planning and Innovation

HSATM

July17, 2012

Mike Zecca

Jim Caiazzo

Innovative Armaments

Solutions for Today and

Tomorrow

Armament Research,Development & Engineering Center

VIS

ION

2

Empower, unburden and protect the Warfighter by

providing superior armaments solutions that

dominate the battlefield.

MIS

SIO

N

• Scope: Integrating Multiple Horizons…

– Strategic Planning 1-10 yr horizon• Focus: Near-term objectives and initiatives – ends, ways, and

means

– Scenario Building 10-20 yr horizon• Focus: Effects

– Strategic Foresight 20+ years• Focus: Competency-wide

ARDEC Strategic Planning Horizon

ARDEC Strategic Management System

Foundational principles of ARDEC’s Strategic Management System

1. Incorporation of Industry Best Practices:

Lykke “Ends, Ways, Means” Model balances risk

Balanced Scorecard ensures balanced efforts & outcomes

2. Strategic Alignment:

External - Army, AMC, RDECOM, JM&L & TACOM LCMCs Strategies

Internal - ARDEC Center Plans, Competency Plans

3. Top Leadership Engagement: SESs (top resource owners) serve as End Champions

4. Workforce Engagement: Top-down/Bottom-up approach used during planning to achieve buy-in upfront

5. Measurement: Strategic Workout Session (SWS) occurs quarterly with senior leadership to monitor and control progress

6. Continuous Improvement of ARDEC Strategic Planning:

Strategic Planning Process is improved by incorporating feedback from multiple sources into the PDCA Cycle

Strategic Direction is “re-zeroed” by incorporating feedback from Official Channels into SMS Map

ARDEC Strategic Management System

ARDEC Strategy:

Disciplined calculation of overarching

objectives, initiatives, and resources

within acceptable bounds of risk

ARDEC SMS:

Consolidates strategy into a single

holistic view for communicating our

strategies in terms of Ends, Ways, Means

U.S. Army CSA SSG

The Strategic Studies Group (SSG) provides the Chief of Staff of the United States Army (CSA) with independent,

unconventional, and revolutionary research and analysis on topics related to operational and strategic concepts for land forces.

• Independent: Reports exclusively to the CSA and is empowered to engage and leverage the resources and intellectual

capacity of external organizations.

• Unconventional: Provides the CSA an unconstrained view of potential approaches to challenges and is unencumbered by

traditional practices and methodologies.

• Revolutionary: Conducts research and analysis focused expressly on devising innovative concepts and approaches to future

challenges and opportunities.

Scenario Building

• To what end – for what purpose– Expands the potential for generative, collective knowledge → generating a

meaningful reality

• Simply stated, scenarios are– A space to play with possibilities, and the practices coherent with the existing

intelligibility, and evaluate them against alternatives

• Accomplished through – a diverse array of propositions, arguments, metaphors, etc.

• What have we gained– Increased understanding of multi-dimensional, multi-level emerging dynamics– Ability to see problems or issues in a new way– Shared understanding

key uncertainties and scenario logicsselecting the scenario

spaces

scenario stories: the

business idea(build-review-

test)

most robust path given

array of potential futures

risk management &

contingency planning

What Is Strategic Foresight?

Strategic foresight (SF) is the practice of creating a functional view of the

future, or future events and possibilities, in such a way as to take full

advantage of opportunities, as well as to prepare for possible adversities.

The idea of strategic foresight arose from the idea that while the future is not

predictable, it is also not predetermined, and can be influenced in a positive

way by actions we take in the present.

This mode of thinking is often used in the context of business, and

encourages those making business decisions to structure their plans based

on future opportunities rather than past events.

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Value of Strategic Foresight

Provides Senior Leaders better fidelity of the future.

Inculcates SF into Workforce thinking.

Shapes ARDEC’s desired future, rather than waiting for the future to just happen.

Aligns ARDEC’s and the Warfighter’s future.

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DATA COLLECTION

S T E E P

S ocial

T echnological

E conomical

E nvironmental

P olitical

10

STEEP Data Collection

What IS Innovation?

Creativity

Generation of new and/or novel ideas

Innovation

A new invention or idea that solves a current problem or exploits a new opportunity, all

resulting in a quantifiable gain.

EVOLUTIONARY(Incremental)

Seeks solutions from existing concepts to do things better

• The Continuous Improvement Movement (6 Sigma)

• OGPK• Picatinny Blast Shield• Shaped Charge Assembly• EM113A2 – Rapid Entry Vehicle• M110 7.62mm Semi Automatic

Sniper System• LHMBC

Innovation ContinuumEXPANSIONARY

Challenges the problem definition

• Rarefaction Wave Gun

• M982 Excalibur

• M100 Grande Entry Munition

• MOFA

REVOLUTIONARY(Breakthrough)

Redefines the problem definition to

break boundaries & create new

paradigms

• CLGG Gun

© 2010 Idea Connection Systems, Inc. All right reserved.

Increase in ARDEC Programs

ARDEC Innovation Examples

Innovation – Army Greatest Invention Awards

ARDEC supports a culture of innovation focused on the delivery of breakthrough and leap-ahead technologies. We provide experienced inventors to mentor and

teach innovation processes to our workforce; facilities for collaboration, prototyping and libraries, and online tools for research and documentation

Won 6 Out of the Top 10 Army Greatest Invention Awards for 2011 and 30 out of 90 Since 2002

INFRARED ILLUMINATION CARTRIDGE ENHANCED PERFORMANCE ROUND GREEN EYES ESCALATION OF FORCE KIT

LIGHTWEIGHT MEDIUM MACHINE GUN JACKAL EXPLOSIVE HAZARD

PRE-DETONATION SYSTEM

MORTAR FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM

Secure & Enhance

OS

IO

SI

OS

I

Consult, Refine & Communicate

Feasibility & Business Case

Development

Capture

ARDEC

Development

Process

IDEAS

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Originator

& Catalyst

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Experts

Idea

Shaping

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