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
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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
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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
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