On the Record with RUSSELL D 'RUSS' TURNER. PRESIDENT, HONEYWELL ENGINES, SYSTEMS
& SERVICES
Russ Turner's first day as president of the $4.6 billion Honeywell
Engines, Systems & Services (ESS) business was May 27. Show
News caught him for an interview fifteen minutes after he arrived,
before he hung his jacket and tried the chair. Even at that early
stage he had a few things to say
"Why did I come here? You know, I was in what you could
argue was a perfect job-I was CEO of a nice, middle-sized company
(Boeing's United Space Alliance) with a very noble business purpose
of pursuing human space flight. What I achieved there was one
of the accomplishments I am most proud of-I inherited nine different
companies and 28 different contracts that needed to perform as
a single integrated company, and I was able to bring that to fruition.
"ESS is positioned just perfectly to be Honeywell's growth
initiative. It has great people, and terrific products. It has
shown growth in this very difficult environment (modest growth,
but some areas like services have grown 9% year on year), and
it has a set of technologies we can leverage. By integrating those
technologies and offering the customer products and services that
respond to this current environment we are going to do very well."
The chance to organize, integrate and grow has Turner excited.
His background is one of running and maximizing complex programs
and systems, for which he claims his PhD in experimental psychology
stands him in good stead. Not so much the psychology but the research,
which gave him a deep grounding in computers, experimental design
statistics and computer systems.
"My role is to make sure we provide integration across the
different elements of the business," Turner told Show News.
"In particular a theme of mine is something Jack Welch calls
'boundaryless.' In large organizations there is a tendency for
interfaces to build up that can slow down your ability to perform,
and I'm very much about how you integrate to a single organization.
"As an example, in developing a new product you need to know
what the customer needs, translate that into technical requirements
and engineering, design a product that meets those requirements,
transition that to manufacturing, go from manufacturing to marketing
and distribution, then the support services for that product.
There's a tendency for those to be separate processes-in fact
it's one process. Part of what I bring from my prior experience
is the ability to integrate and make sure the organizations are
performing as one."
Honeywell Aerospace has long had that goal in its sights, and
has made significant strides in that direction under CEO Bob Johnson.
He also emphasizes the need for Honeywell to respond to customer
needs, and Turner is likely to reinforce the execution of both
strategies in Engines, Systems and Services.
"I bring to the party a very strong emphasis on the customer,
not only making sure we're delivering customer quality products
and they're satisfied, but taking a step further and making sure
we understand the customer's business," Turner said. "We
have to find ways to provide the products and services that make
them successful, that we become a win factor in their business."
A good example was the Lockheed Joint Strike Fighter: how to meet
unprecedented electrical and air power demands while cooling the
whole aircraft to reduce its infrared signature. Instead of offering
components, Honeywell considered the problem in total and designed
a hybrid system that provided the functionality of an APU with
the electricity generator and air pressure machine on the same
shaft, while also cooling the avionics. Its solution saved the
X-35 1,000 pounds in weight and 10 inches in fuselage length.
"Our whole approach to thermal management really provided a win factor
for Lockheed and made a big difference in the total system,"
Turner said. "My approach is to do that in every area of the
business, and very much in the services and parts businesses."
