magicinfluence

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• email c.forte@kingston.ac.uk

Ross Bradley began his career as an Engineering Craft Apprentice at the British Aircraft Corporation in the mid 1960s. He held various positions in production engineering - including a period as a Liaison Engineer on the Jaguar aircraft contract based in Toulouse - with production management roles in collaborative ventures in US and Europe for British Aerospace. In 1986 he moved into Works Management, gaining experience at Warton where he was responsible for 1,000 people employed in the delivery of Tornado aircraft to the UK and other European Air Forces.

As Site Director, Aerostructures, Samlesbury between 1990 and 1995 he was responsible for a large production site of 4,000 employees delivering a range of products to UK, European and US customers. He had specific responsibilities for right sizing the business in the post cold war era. During this period he redefined core business, outsourced non-competitive activities and merged two sites into one, significantly reducing the operating costs and customer response times.

The introduction of new technology and working practices - including a de-layering of management structure and the introduction of lean manufacturing concepts - led to the emergence of a world class aerostructures site that was pivotal in achieving US partnership with BAE SYSTEMS and the award of the multi-million pound contract to support the F-35 oint Strike Fighter aircraft. As Programme Director for Operational Efficiency Improvements for the Military Aircraft Division of BAE between 1995 and 1997, he was responsible for leading a large IT-enabled business change programme. The key deliverables were the transition of the traditional functional organisation into customer focused integrated teams, and deploying enhanced business processes providing opportunity for significant reduction in cost and lead time, and improved schedule adherence.

As BAE Programme Director in the international Eurofighter Consortium between 1997 and 1998, he contributed to the contract award for the first tranche of production aircraft and in-service support. He also implemented industry leading project management techniques, and in conjunction with the MOD and Royal Air Force established a unique UK customer and industry shareholder forum aiding programme and financial transparency, and put in place supply chain improvements for the benefit of customers and shareholders.

In 1999 Ross Bradley was appointed Managing Director of the Eurofighter Aircraft Programme with full P&L responsibility, a Board member of the Eurofighter international European Aerospace Consortium and a Board member of the BAE SYSTEMS Air Systems business unit. In co-operation with customers and partners he developed a product strategy capable of meeting national and global export requirements. Above all, he developed a good national and international network at industry and Government Ministry of Defence level.

Since April 2003 Ross has led FAC as the Chief Executive and established an effective organization with a unique membership of global primes, sme’s and academia. The organization is now one of the largest in Europe and is focused on enabling business winning opportunities for its members in the highly competitive aerospace and defence sector.