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Coralville Ups GPS Production Rate

Posted on: Sunday, 26 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Dave DeWitte, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Feb. 24--CORALVILLE -- Rockwell Collins' Coralville plant received praise Thursday for accelerated production of an electronic device crucial to the U.S. military's next technological leap.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. H. Ray Matthews, the Army's GPS product manager, praised Collins' Defense Advanced Global Positioning System Receiver production effort at the plant Thursday morning. He accepted delivery of the 50,000th DAGR unit in a ceremony.

Collins was awarded a defense contract to produce the DAGR in September 2002, but did not know at that time the rapid pace of deliveries that would be sought.

"I am very appreciative of the team here in Coralville that makes this happen," Matthews said in an interview. He said the difficult production ramp-up undoubtedly required personal sacrifice and led to frustrations at times.

"Now, you can look back and say, 'This has been an incredible achievement,' " Matthews said.

DAGR units provide military forces and armaments with precise time and location information using signals from an orbiting system of global positioning system satellites. Costing about $1,800 per handheld unit, they are more complex than civilian GPS units, with anti-jamming capabilities, a better user interface, greater reliability and greater accuracy.

The uses of the DAGR include helping troops keep a firm fix on their position on the battlefield and helping guide large missiles.

Matthews said the DAGR is an essential part of the Army's transition to the Future Combat System, which uses computers and wireless networks to link troops and armaments on the battlefield. It will eventually replace the Precision Lightweight Global Positioning Receiver, which also has been made by Collins.

Collins will probably produce 66,000 DAGRs next year and 70,000 the following year, according to Ron Hornisch, Collins vice president and general manager of sensor systems. He expects production to hit 200,000 units in the company's 2008 fiscal year.

About 100 of the 820 employees at Collins' Coralville plant are involved in DAGR production. The plant has added about 110 employees over the past year, 50 of whom were needed to meet the increased rate of DAGR production.

Plant managers described a race at times to meet delivery requirements. In late 2004, pushed for time, they borrowed Collins Chairman Clay Jones' jet to make several rushed deliveries of the DAGRs to Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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COL,

Source: The Gazette - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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