Even as a vice president of human resources, John L. Skelley is a Marine.
His walls at JWF Industries are decked with plaques and other signs that the Corps has played a significant role in his life.
Not only is Skelley a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves, but his son, John Patrick Skelley, is an active-duty private first class with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
It’s what his son faces – eventual deployment to Iraq – that makes Skelley take an even greater interest in the work of his company’s latest subsidiary, JWF Defense Systems.
JWF Defense Systems currently is working on improving the armor of Humvees to make them more resistant to improvised explosive devices – IEDs – often encountered in Iraq.
JWF’s changes to the vehicles are making them lighter and more durable and already have saved lives in the field, Skelley said.
“What we’re doing with defense work is very personal to me,” said Skelley, a veteran of operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. “My son is a 19-year-old Marine stationed in Hawaii and headed to Iraq.
“This company is working on vehicles right now that are being developed to be more resistant to IEDs and could play an even bigger role in the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected troop carriers) program. My son is training to be a Humvee operator and will be operating one in Iraq, so it is work that is very personal to me.”
What helps to ease Skelley’s mind is the importance his fellow employees place on performing the defense work that has only recently begun to filter through the company’s shops.
‘Military work’
Bill Polacek, president and CEO of JWFI, said that a blue-collar heart is a patriotic one and that is reflected by the attitudes of his workers.
“The guys on the floor strive to exceed specifications for military work,” said Jerry Lambing, assistant manager of the area 100 manufacturing department.
“They are always excited about doing anything they can to help our troops.
“When we built the Lockheed Martin truck (as part of a partnership bidding to win the military’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle contract), that was a real eye opener. It was an exciting project for all of us. I expect we’re going to do a lot more military work and I see the day coming when we will have a whole other building dedicated to military work.”
Lambing’s prediction might not be too outlandish – especially if the defense business is as good for JWFI as the company’s leaders expect it will be.
John Polacek, chief operating officer for JWF Defense Systems, said the company is projecting that it will handle a half billion dollars in defense work over the next five years.
That’s an average of $100 million annually which represents more than 50 percent of JWF Industry’s anticipated corporate wide revenue for this year of about $175 million.
At the same time, Bill Polacek expects that the company’s commercial sector sales will increase.
“I think our commercial business will continue to grow but it will be single-digit growth whereas defense will have double-digit growth,” Bill Polacek said. “I anticipate that in 2008 our defense sales will equal our total sales for this year.”
JWF Industries has taken several steps to make those estimates become a reality. The first was hiring John Polacek, Bill’s brother, to head the defense end of the business.
John Polacek was a vice president and general manager with BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest defense contractors. His background includes more than 30 years in the defense sector.
‘Effect on the economy’
“Where my brother’s strengths lie is in marketing and we don’t know marketing in the defense world,” Bill Polacek said. “He knows the nuances of how the military works. And he knows how to run a business unit because that’s what he did at BAE.”
Another step was to enter into a strategic partnership with Lockheed Martin in pursuit of the government’s lucrative JLTV contract. The JLTVs will eventually replace the Humvees as the ground vehicle of choice and the initial contract will award about $10 billion during 10 years, of which JWF Defense would stand to earn between $1 billion to $2 billion.
“I can’t even begin to express how huge that contract is,” John Polacek said. “Not only would it have an unmistakable impact on this company, it would have an incredible effect on the economy of this town.”
Additionally, JWF Defense has signed a partnership agreement with the heavyweight of the Johnstown defense sector, Concurrent Technologies Corp. Dan DeVos, president and CEO of CTC, said the arrangement is a perfect marriage of capabilities between the two organizations, aligning CTC’s intellectual capital with JWF Defense’s manufacturing capabilities.
“JWF is a rapidly growing part of our defense sector,” DeVos said. “... That’s a big market in the industry when you consider all of the vehicles that are being constructed for defense uses.”
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