Official Announcement from Wes Bush

This came from a Northrop Grumman employee who thought I was interested in this:

If you have access to the Company Intranet, you can also view this message at the following location: http://home.northgrum.com/comm/comm_execs.html.

July 12, 2010

MFCP 10-17

Site in Falls Church, Virginia Selected for New Corporate Office

To My Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce our selection of a building in Falls Church, Va. as the new home for our corporate office. Northrop Grumman has entered into an agreement to purchase the building located at 2980 Fairview Park Drive following a thorough site selection process. We plan to open the new office in the summer of 2011.

The building is located approximately 10 miles from the Pentagon, just inside the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495). It will accommodate employees from both our Los Angeles Corporate Office and Washington Operations facility in Arlington, Va.

I want to recognize the members of our relocation team for their efforts in identifying an excellent site, and for continuing to assist our Corporate employees who are making significant personal and professional changes as a result of this move.

I also want to thank our Corporate employees for their continued cooperation during this time of change, and I ask for everyone’s support as we move forward with the relocation. This is an important step in our drive to achieve sustainable performance improvement and deliver increased value to our shareholders, customers and employees.

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Wes Bush

Chief Executive Officer and President

MY TAKE on this DOWN-SIZING is this:

That means A LOT of folks in Century City are not being asked to go to Virginia - remember what I wrote based on the Daily Breeze article April 27, 2010?

In reading the Daily Breeze article, NOTICE the DOWN-SIZING that Northrop Grumman is undergoing:

- Current Century City headquarters has about 360 people

- New location will have about 300 people

OBVIOUSLY not all of the current 360 people are being asked to move to Virginia. ALSO, how many people will be hired from the "local talent"?

How many folks from the Washington facility are part of the 300?

The more Washington folks there are, the less Century City folks beyond the obvious 60 there will not be.

Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Not Everybody at Northrop Grumman Knows This

I was talking to somebody at Northrop Grumman this morning and mentioned that I saw the article in the L.A. Times regarding Northrop Grumman's headquarters moving to the "Virginia area". He had not heard about this news at all, but said that he was pretty busy at work this morning.

Wesley Bush made this move announcement on his first day on the job as chief operating officer and President, taking over for Ron Sugar effective January 1, 2010. The L.A. Times had this quotation:

"This is an important move for the company, and it's one that we believe will improve the effectiveness in serving the nation and our customers," Bush said in his first public statement as the company's chief executive. "The proximity to Washington enables us to be a more integrated part of the federal process."

However, I also notice that Wes Bush is a native of West Virginia, and went to school in Massachusetts for both his Bachelor and Master degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. Smart guy. He likes the East Coast.

Wes Bush doesn't waste any time.

Ron Sugar, on the other hand, was born in Hawthorne, and went to school at UCLA. Local boy. Ron Sugar didn't want to move the headquarters to the "Virginia area"; he thought it was fine where it was in Century City.

Wes Bush, the East Coast boy, thought that Northrop Grumman would improve its "effectiveness" if its headquarters were to be physically closer to the federal process in Washington.

Hasn't he heard of the telephone, and airplanes? Distances are not what they used to be when people had to walk for days in order to visit and communicate with other people.

Does this mean that Northrop Grumman has previously been "ineffective" in serving its customers because of the geographic distance between Los Angeles and Washington?

Ron Sugar didn't seem to have a problem with the physical distance between Century City and Washington, but of course, he's a local boy.

Wes Bus does have a problem with the physical distance, but of course, he's from the East Coast and has the degrees from MIT.

They are moving only the corporate headquarters (that's where Wes Bush goes to work).

Evidently the physical proximity of the corporate headquarter will increase Northrop Grumman "effectivess" to its customers. The other parts of the company that CREATES the products for the customers evidently don't need to be in close proximity to the customer and federal process. The research, development, and manufacturing parts of the companyare going to stay in Southern California where it will be more effective after the corporate headquarters moves to be physically closer to Washington and the federal process.

I don't understand.

As I have told many fellow employees at Northrop Grumman, manaagement is VERY VERY SMART, and I am not smart enough to understand the hows and whys of Northrop Grumman management decision making process. This is just another example of Northrop Grumman management being smarter than I am.

I thought that it was because Wes Bush is an East Coast kind of guy, and just wants to go back home where he grew up. Shows how much I know.

Here are some links:

Northrop Grumman Corp. headquarters moving to Washington, D.C., area (L.A. Times, Sunday, January 4, 2010)

Northrop Grumman moving headquarters from L.A. to Washington, D.C., area (L.A. Times, Monday, January 5, 2010)

Northrop Grumman to keep many jobs in California

Northrop move worsens Southern California's Fortune-500 brain drain


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.