The Industrial Movement

E15: Brian Zamore - L3 Harris Technologies

April 15, 2022 Morty Season 1 Episode 15
The Industrial Movement
E15: Brian Zamore - L3 Harris Technologies
Show Notes Transcript

Today’s guest is Brian Zamore, an Associate Manager of the engineering team at L3 Harris Technologies, a Defense Contractor.  Brian joins us to speak about his journey in engineering, the processes and challenges at L3, and the lessons he has learned about being a good leader. We hear about how Brian cut his teeth in the industry, going from earning an electrical engineering degree to building servers, working on chipsets, manufacturing in aerospace, and much more before ending up as a test engineer and then working his way up at L3. You'll learn about the range of subject matter experts at L3 who come up with quick and unique solutions to the problems that the firm is tasked with solving. When it comes to challenges, Brian speaks to the issues we are facing with supply chains as well as a general lack of test engineers due to the field being so niched. From there, we get into the nuts and bolts of Brian’s typical day, the processes he has in place to maintain efficiency and productivity, equipment and safety protocols at L3, and more. Finally, we talk to our guest about leadership, where he emphasizes the importance of empathy and shares the resources he is using to become a better manager every day. 

EPISODE 15


[INTRODUCTION]


[0:00:03.3] MH: You’re listening to The Industrial Movement, where we discuss the people, the processes and the equipment that drives American manufacturing. If this is your first time listening, then thanks for coming. The Industrial Movement Podcast is produced every week for your enjoyment and a shownotes can be found in our website at www.theindustrialmovement.com. Come back often and feel free to add this podcast to your favorite RSS feed or iTunes.


You can also follow this show on Twitter @theindustrialmovement or on our Facebook page. All links to our social media can be found in the show notes and also at the bottom of our website. Now, let’s get on to the show.


[INTERVIEW]


[0:00:41.0] MH: Hi folks, welcome to The Industrial Movement, I’m your show host, Morty Hodge and with me as always is my trusty sidekick, Greg Smith.


[0:00:48.9] GS: Hello everyone, welcome to the show.


[0:00:50.8] MH: Today, we have Brian Zamore from L3Harris Technologies. Brian is an associate manager of the engineering team at L3. Brian, thank you for joining us today and welcome to The Industrial Movement.


[0:01:02.7] BZ: Thanks for having me.


[0:01:03.2] MH: Brian, tell us a little bit about L3Harris Technologies and your role with the company?


[0:01:08.9] BZ: L3Harris is essentially a federal contracting company. We work through government contracts, the biggest customers are federal customers, the government, I believe the Navy, a few of the subsidiaries, also some other contractors. I have limits to how much I can discuss about it but for the most part, we are a solution-based company. We are approached to come up with solutions to novel problems and we have a team of very talented people and individuals on the company from different subject matter experts who are able to come up with quick turnaround, unique solutions to the problems that we’re tasked with to solve. 


[0:01:45.4] MH: Brian, I see that you have a background in aerospace engineering and other engineering roles, tell us about your career path and the journey to where you are now?


[0:01:54.7] BZ: Sure. I was an athlete in college so I had an odd start relative to my peers and industries. I started to kind of step into the industry with a small company called Xyratex, build servers, I believe it was a European-based company in California.


That’s when I started to use my electrical engineering technology degree, I earned at Florida A&M University. From there, I had a stint as a contractor with Intel, working on some chipsets like the Haswell chipset that was released a while ago, somewhere in 2010.


I was a test engineer of that company for a little under a year, just again, trying to get some experience to get myself a little bit more firmly planted in the industry. Afterwards, I moved across country from California to Jacksonville, Florida where I took a position with GE Aviation, umbrella company, GE Aviation but subsidiary name was Unison Industries. Their product was an exciter, essentially a spark plug of an airplane, it was kind of the main product. I landed in manufacturing when I first started with them.


Obviously, we had to work my way up, went from a manufacturing associate up to electrical engineering designer for ECAD designs, so schematic capture, PCB design. I did that for about two to three years and while I was doing that at GE, I also acquired an electrical engineering degree from University of North Florida. Just a little bit more value to my stock, I was approached by a few managers who gave me some good piece of advice that the more you can arm yourself with the relevant educational background, the easier it is for you to navigate corporate America waters in a matter of speaking.


Once I acquired that degree, honestly, the difference was night and day. I decided to part ways with GE Aviation to pursue an opportunity with Panasonic in Georgia. I did that for two years, traveled the world, I managed manufacturing lines in Brazil, started lines in Brazil, started lines in China, worked out of Mexico a lot as well for the company in global manufacturing. Got to solve some very interesting problems there also got to meet a unique set of folks all over the world, very skilled folks at all levels of the company from manufacturing associates all the way up to management and got to knock elbows with all of the above.


Very interesting opportunity, a lot of growth happened within those two years and I think the fact that it was such a demanding field, a demanding industry kind of accelerated my growth and my desires to continue to succeed. After Panasonic, I got an opportunity to come down back to Florida from Georgia to work with L3Harris, where I started off as a level three electrical engineering, test engineer. My department was particular SINT integration and test engineering. 


Our mission in a matter of speaking was to come up with solutions to different products that we come up with or we were tasked the test by other companies. There again, all of my manufacturing background, design engineering background, all culminated in this role. I was able to hit the ground running and was able to really accelerate my growth. My boss took notice, offering me an opportunity to take on some leadership responsibilities as a means of acquiring some soft skills. I know a lot of folks shot out the term soft skills but it’s just a leadership front office perspective.


Learning the recruitment portion of it, learning the bill of estimates, essentially being in the programs, learning about headcount, just as different aspects of the job that I wouldn’t normally be faced in a straight engineering role. It just broaden my skillset and over the last two years was able to parlay that into a higher position moving up this year to an associate management position, which really is a level four engineering position but the way it’s structured at this company, once you’ve taken on those group lead positions, it kind of tacks on additional managerial path titles.


Instead of an engineer level four, I’ve now become an associate manager. My responsibility is the same on the managerial front but my responsibilities as an engineer has taken on a greater leadership role, having other engineers work on my team towards a common goal for the company, obviously and yeah, that’s kind of where I started in a nutshell and where I am now overall.


[0:06:13.1] GS: What’s the biggest challenges you see now that you're facing today or what you’re possibly going to face in 10 years?


[0:06:20.4] BZ: With everything happening in the world, just industry in general, I still have peers across the multiple companies I’ve worked and the biggest challenge so far for everybody is just the supply chain. It has been so severely disrupted. I mean, I’ll take a personal perspective, I build shipping containers or shipping crates to send home to my birth island of Dominica and the plot of 8x4 sheet of plywood, quarter-inch plywood would cost $22 about two, three years ago. That same sheet of plywood is costing about $60 plus dollars now. 


It’s gone up exponentially from what it was before and that is a direct result of supply chain issues. Companies are now having to make adjustments to compensate for that. That I think is the biggest hurdle that I’ve had to face or companies in general that have had to face over the last couple of years.


[0:07:14.1] MH: While conducting interviews with other manufacturing and leaders, we’ve been told that the top two issues everyone is facing right now is supply chain and labor shortages. In your opinion with regards to the rising cost of raw materials and other goods, do you feel that as a temporary trend or are the increased costs here to stay? 


[0:07:34.6] BZ: I think it is temporary to a point. I think that’s analogous to the price of gas. During a hurricane or any – even a hint of any type of disruption, those prices, they jump and typically, they do not settle back to where they usually started because when I first moved to Florida, I want to say gas was as low as a dollar and a few cents. I don’t think we’ve seen those gas prices in a long time. I think just similar to the supply chain issues, I think eventually, things will get better but I mean, the supply is in a unique position.


Once we resolve this supply chain issue, if it even gets resolved completely at all, how much do we put back on the table relative to how much do we continue holding? The ball is in their court, I think they have the keys to the city in a manner of speaking on how things settle and we are simply just waiting to see how the dust settle on their part and to pivot therein. I think it will calm down but I don’t’ think it will calm down back to what we consider the norm and similar to just overall society and with work situations, working from home, those types of severe, they’re here now and I think they’re here to stay but I think ultimately, the supply chain increases, I think they’re here to stay as well.


[0:08:44.7] MH: What process changes has L3Harris Technologies made to deal with supply chain issues?


[0:08:50.2] BZ: Well, at my level, I’ll just say, it’s above my pay grade per se. It’s not something that I necessarily do, I simply feel the trickle-down effect. I could tell you in terms of projects we’ve worked, we have delays, trying to source inventory. I think we’ve had as late as, you know, as early as beginning of the pandemic and it continues. I think the most any company can do I think us included is really just to keep our finger on the pulse of the supply chain issues and as a result themselves, people therein but from where I sit, honestly, I can’t speak to what the company as a whole is – what actions they’re taking.


[0:09:25.8] MH: Brian, is there any career advice or any other leadership advice you would give to somebody that was interested in pursuing a career that was similar to yours?


[0:09:37.1] BZ: That’s an interesting question. To be honest, test engineering is kind of a niche area. I don’t think they teach test engineering in universities and college. I think there’s a lot of on-the-job experience, a lot of skills you will pick up that are pertinent to this area is. It's something that is a hard skill that you would find to actually be getting in and doing the work yourself. 


You develop your own unique way of getting things done. Companies obviously have their model that we tend to follow but ultimately, the skillset you pick up on ways to be more efficient in closing out, I guess, projects, unique ways of solving issues, I think that’s just experienced-based. I would say that pretty much just continue. If it’s EE, then EE continue. 


It would just take up positions that allow you to get practice and essentially hone your skills in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, the same and try to get in as early as you can to manufacturing for a test engineering role, which would allow you a chance to develop these experiences and these type of unique skills that we use.


[0:10:40.4] GS: How about any books or other resources that have helped you along the way?


[0:10:44.9] BZ: At Panasonic, we have a round of lean manufacturing reading material that we went through. It’s helpful, it teaches you to sit in other whole six sigma, lean manufacturing concepts, five S, those type of skillsets do help. I think they’re applicable all across industries, what is manufacturing, what is tenants, what is design and ways to get things done more efficiently to reduce waste, increase efficiency. 


So that to me was good reading material and just anything pertaining to or not really a book but any type of articles or information or material that allows you to keep abreast of all of the changes in industry. Like in my case with everything going on, the supply chain changes, trying to keep abreast of it to be able to react or pivot quickly when things change. That’s really the best I can say beyond just the core engineering material that we all have to go through, that could be helpful.


[0:11:39.7] MH: Brian, has there been anybody that’s been influential to you during your career path or mentored you along the way? 


[0:11:48.1] BZ: When I first got to GE Aviation, so California, and my experience on the west coast was essentially just a stepping stone. I met a lot of good folks, made a lot of good friends in that industry who have backed me a lot and we’re still pretty good friends today but most of my professional mentorship didn’t really kick in until I got to GE Aviation. We had some very good affinity groups that you ended up knocking elbows with senior manager or potentially the plant lead or the plant owner or the person who runs the actual plant or facility you worked in GE.


In other situations, you would normally not get a chance to interact with them, to learn from them but I did through affinity groups. I met a lot of managers that to this day, we speak. A lot of negotiation I’ve done over the years for salary and so I’ve been able to lean on them to give me guidance being a little bit new to the whole negotiation experience.


I’ve been able to leverage a lot of technical guidance from them as well, better practices and this company currently, L3Harris, I think we have something I’ve seen here more than I’ve seen anywhere else is that everybody is willing to help. This has been the most receptive environment I’ve gotten for questions, for learning, everyone is always willing to mentor you, to get you up to speed.


I think it’s just a multitude of people who have helped me along the way. I think too many to mention but it has been at all levels, at my level, below my level, above me. I think overall it has been kind of been a community effort in getting me to where I am now.


[0:13:14.9] MH: Brian, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned over the years that you could share with our audience and maybe help them avoid the same pitfalls?


[0:13:22.7] BZ: Empathy I think is a big one. The reason I say that is, I’ve gone to situations when I first started where I’ve had conflicts and learned conflict resolution, that’s probably one of my strongest skillsets on how to defuse situations and how to put yourself in someone else’s position. Amplify their situation, even if it’s something that’s potentially outside of the code of conduct of a company for instance.


But that small opportunity to step back and be respective of the situation, sometimes use your career-long relationship with the person, that can definitely help you and assist you throughout. So, that’s been one of the best things that I’ve been able to pick up this, just being able to deal with folks and learn from them and also empathize with their situation, similar to this young man in the background that’s making a lot of noise.


[0:14:14.0] GS: What are some day-to-day challenges you face in your position?


[0:14:17.0] BZ: Just deadlines, obviously with the supply chain issue, schedules definitely are a stress. Learning to balance different schedules, trying to be creative on how we can meet goals, even with those types of disruptions. That has been kind of one of the biggest challenges. 


Personnel is another big one. Test engineering is such a niched field, I think that is hard to actually get a lot of people on the team, hiring becomes difficult because if you are a good test engineer worth your salt, somebody already has you on their staff or their payroll, so headcount has been an issue that I have dealt with on different programs. 


I will say that those two are the biggest day-to-day challenges we have to navigate around. We understand that the industry is busy, so if the work is the work, right? We’re going to continue working, we are going to have long days, we are going to have some short days depending, that’s a given but definitely the supply chain issues as it pertains to our schedules and personnel I think are the two biggest ones. 


[0:15:15.0] MH: Brian, what are some of the processes that L3Harris Technologies uses and what does a typical day look like for you? 


[0:15:22.4] BZ: Right now, I am pretty much in kind of a design focus right now. We are trying to get a design off the ground. For us day-to-day right now, is more designed focus in trying to find solutions to the issues we have. It is in constant meetings, constant back and forth discussions trying to hammer down different approaches to vet them out ensuring that they are sound, so lots more of an iterative type of process by design. 


Obviously, we talked about the supply chain inventory, it is a big thing for us as well trying to make sure that the inventory we need, we can source in a timely fashion, making sure that what meets our design requirement is available. That is another big part of it and obviously just balancing budgets in the day-to-day, trying to make sure that we are efficient and in time spent on assignments and tasking. 


Also ensuring that some of the solutions that we come up with we follow, so matter with the budgets that have been presented to us. 


[0:16:20.3] GS: Talk about some of the processes you have in place to maintain efficiency and productivity, which you just mentioned? 


[0:16:26.0] BZ: That one is a little bit of a loaded question. We are – to maintain efficiency, the process, time management, we are on a system. You are a professional at this facility, obviously there are checks and balances but we typically use meetings as our means of keeping track of efficiency. Right now being in a design phase, we would have multiple startup meetings to address what’s been done before, what we plan on doing the next day or the day after. 


We have short milestones leading up to larger milestones, that is a great way to catch any issues that are being faced before they truly starting back in the schedule. I think that is a good process as well and I think overall, is just on the system also is helpful because it allows you to work without someone necessarily sitting over your shoulder. I’ve had situations where I have been micromanaged and that was very difficult to be creative. 


Very difficult to really thrive and just get into your stride. I think this company has done a great job giving you enough space to innovate and be productive and be creative but at the same time having similar checks and balances similar to our morning startup meetings and so on in place, that allow a little bit of accountability and oversight by upper management, so I think it’s a good marry of just enough oversight and not too much, if that makes sense. 


[0:17:47.0] MH: Is the design phase your favorite part of being an engineer?


[0:17:52.0] BZ: Yeah, I mean, for every engineer who does innovate is always where you want to be. You get the chance to actually be an engineer. Something I’ve seen a lot of is that at my previous positions and even at this one, there is a lot of paperwork but everything we do, we have to account for it, there needs to be a paper trail. 


A lot of times before we have to be able to get to do the 10% of engineering stuff that’s fun, we have the 90% of paperwork that needs to be put in place before we can get there. Obviously, when I get to design, I am excited. My blood is flowing, I think that for me is an exciting time just because it doesn’t come as often as I’d like to. 


[0:18:28.9] MH: What are some of the things that you guys are designing during these design 

phase? 


[0:18:33.4] BZ: We’re designing test solutions. I will use a very crude example, so let’s say we make boats. To make a boat, we need to have a means of making sure that boat is sound. We need to make sure that it sails, to make sure that the engine will mount correctly, to make sure that the crew can walk on deck without falling below. So we develop our solutions to essentially arrow proof test the products that we build in a nutshell. 


[0:18:57.8] MH: What are some of the KPIs that your design team uses to track progress and productivity?


[0:19:05.7] BZ: To track our productivity as we move, we have milestones. We have a pretty in-depth, with detailed schedule of different things that need to happen in order for us to meet that overall end goal of that finished design of the test solution. The best way to track that is through the IMS, our main schedule that we follow and as many milestones as possible and I call them micro milestones that will help us to meet the main ones. 


I mean, there is some software tools that also allow you to do everything Microsoft projects is one thing that is used. Jira is another tool that’s used. I mean, there are a multitude of different tracking softwares or scheduling softwares that approval processes, so to get from point A to point B or schedule item one to schedule item two, there may need to be some design review or a peer-review process and approval that needs to happen. 


Certain softwares that when you print into Jira allows that approval process to happen where all the stakeholders are able to come in and review whatever the product is or to document how everything is and give their feedback and give their approval, so those are some type of programs or describing some of the programs we also use here as well outside of something like Microsoft projects to just keep tracking the main schedule. 


These secondary programs allow us to now go through the checks and balances of making sure things are properly reviewed before we can officially close items. 


[0:20:32.1] GS: Are there any safety protocols specific to what you and your team do? 


[0:20:35.7] BZ: We have a pretty rigorous safety training schedule here. Every quarter, we go through a lot of safety training. We go through a lot of better practices that allow the best approaches for everything we do. For instance, ESD training as it pertains to electrostatic shock, you know lifting, something as basic as lifting and moving hardware, we go through training to ensure that everybody is essentially a unified front on how we approach it.


[0:21:01.2] MH: Where do you see your industry in the next 10 years? 


[0:21:04.6] BZ: If the last two years based on what the company has been reporting is any testament, I am pretty sure that I would guess and I am going to say that I can be pretty sure but I guess that if we are following the same pattern that we had so far, I think that the overall industry is on essentially a pretty good path to continue to do good things moving forward but I don’t think anybody can really say that definitively, you know? 


With everything happening, there is so many different variables with all balancing this, it is kind of hard to predict, so I will just say that so far things have been going well, I think that there is a good chance that it will continue to go well. 


[0:21:42.3] MH: A few nights ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. As a defense contractor, how has that impacted your company, your role? Has there been a ramp up in timelines or production? 


[0:21:55.3] BZ: I think so far and again, I am so far down a lot of those types of maneuvers and moves are normally made by upper management. That is again, something that is outside of my preview, so I would say that so far things have been business as usual from where I sit. We’re continuing to work towards the task that we have on the projects that we’re all working on. We are continuing as we have for the last three years and that is pretty much as much as I can give on that question, at least from my perspective. 


[0:22:23.9] GS: All right, so moving on to the types of equipment you guys use, talk about some of the equipment that you and your team use when you’re in design work or whatever it is that you might use? 


[0:22:33.6] BZ: Well, basic MCAD tools and AutoCAD, schematic capture tools are used as well but not by my team. Where I sit is pretty much Visio, putting together a block diagram that is conveyed to certain teams to formalize documents. It is very compartmentalized in how we are approaching the task. There are teams that are specialized in different areas that we simply just hand designs and direction to and they take it from there, so nothing outside of industry-standard tools at least from my perspective. 


[0:23:05.2] MH: When you guys are on the design phase, do you do the prototyping? Are you using CNCs or 3D printers, any types of equipment like that during the design phase? 


[0:23:16.2] BZ: Probably different department. 


[0:23:17.8] MH: Sure, that’s understandable. Well, talk to us a little bit about the technology that you guys are using in the engineering team? 


[0:23:25.1] BZ: We do work with national instruments, so a lot of our solutions, test solutions normally would include test control code, test code and code sequences from the NI test suite but beyond that, again, most of what we use at least from where I sit is typically industry standard stuff. 


[0:23:45.3] MH: Are you guys collecting data and if so, how are you using that information to start to predict faults and failures? 


[0:23:54.0] BZ: I believe the MCAD, I think the industry in general, that whole digital twin approach has become kind of standard. Some of the other industries are MCAD folks, ECAD folks would most likely be doing simulation at to some degree is predictive to foresee any issues with potential hardware bills before we actually get to that point. 


[0:24:15.1] MH: What is one myth that you’d like to debunk about manufacturing and specifically the engineering side of it? 


[0:24:22.3] BZ: I think probably just the day-to-day. It is a busy and a fast-paced work environment. We do have pretty ambitious deadlines and schedules to keep and to maintain. I would say that probably that this type of work at this type of pace is not fun or potentially not as rewarding. It may be demanded but I think if it is the right person for that type of role it tends to be invigorating. 


Like myself, I think a tight schedule is just an opportunity for me to show that I could do something more, so that’s been my approach in this industry. Panasonic was the same, Panasonic automotive is high value manufacturing and very high pace as well in terms of the turnaround for design being in infotainment, kind of infotainment industry. I think just the myth that a lot of work is a bad thing. 


If that is given on there, I think a lot of work is a lot of growth that can happen in a short period of time, which has been my case and a great opportunity to continue to innovate at a high clip but beyond that, I’ll be honest, I have not heard too many myths about my industry. I hope anybody’s assumption is pretty spot on.


[0:25:32.6] GS: What is one thing that you would like to share with our listeners that will help them be better leaders? 


[0:25:37.9] BZ: I comb LinkedIn for a lot of quotes and just reading material that speak to leadership shortcomings and I think one of them is that the way you lead folks typically the best way to lead is to lead upfront. I think that a lot of people who want to get into management I think is that, I am doing managerial work to some degree but I don’t necessarily like doing managerial work but I am in that position and for that reason, I am pushing and I understand I touch, I try to do a good job in it. 


Again, I may have strayed from your question a bit but I think that a good leader essentially is empathetic, a good leader believes in the people and pretty much works from the people perspective and not their perspective. You have to get to people working it well in order for you to look good. It is impossible for a leader to look good if the folks below them are disgruntled and not happy or unproductive.


I think it has to be a people-focused on leadership levels and assure that you are growing your team’s career as you’ll get an opportunity for growth. I think anybody whose manager has turned around and given him opportunity or opened doors to opportunity is probably going to dig in and really give it a 100%. I think that those are a few things that I think a good leader would show. A good leader is also a pretty good buffer between upper management and the people who actually work under them. 


A lot of times you find a leader that will quickly throw you under the bus if you mess up. A good leader would probably take the blow for you and that will trickle down to that, “Hey, how can we get this better so that we’re not in that situation again?” rather than, “What happened? Why did you do this? You’re in trouble” stuff like that, so I think those are good traits. I have a pretty good boss here and he exhibit some of that traits as well, which I’ve been learning from and trying to add to my quiver, so those are some examples that I think could come. 


[0:27:26.9] MH: One of our goals is to create a community of manufacturing leaders. If one of our listeners wanted to reach out to you, what is the best way for them to go about doing that? 


[0:27:35.3] BZ: LinkedIn. I have tried over the past few years to be a little bit more involved in LinkedIn, try to interact with my connections as much as possible to get to know folks, just overall network. If anyone tries to get in touch with me, the best way is through LinkedIn. 


[0:27:49.5] MH: That’s great. Brian Zamore with L3Harris Technologies, we appreciate you joining us on The Industrial Movement today. You have a good day. 


[0:27:58.1] GS: Yes thank you, it was a pleasure. 


[0:27:59.7] BZ: Yeah, same here. Thanks a lot for getting the opportunity to speak to you guys. I listen to a couple of your podcasts, the previous ones. I think I was directed to in that initial IM and I like what you guys do. I would say it is definitely bringing a voice to the industry and keep doing what you’re doing. I like it. 


[0:28:15.2] GS: We appreciate it. 


[0:28:15.8] BZ: Thanks a lot. 


[END OF INTERVIEW]


[0:28:16.9] MH: Well folks, that’s it for this week’s episode. Be sure to visit our website, www.theindustrialmovement.com, to view today’s show notes and get more golden nuggets of value that we have collected from manufacturing and industrial professionals in our achieved episodes. On our website, you can also sign up for our newsletter and find links to join The Industrial Movement community on Facebook. 


The Industrial Movement Podcast is where we discuss the people, the process and the equipment that drives American manufacturing. I’m your host, Morty Hodge, wishing you great success.


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