TEWKSBURY, Mass., Nov. 17, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Integrated
Defense Systems (IDS) President Dan Smith announced today that the IDS
business achieved a CMMI(R) Level 4 maturity rating resulting from an
independent appraisal conducted on its Systems, Software and Hardware
Engineering organizations. This evaluation validates IDS process maturity as
well as disciplined sustained application.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the CMMI Product Team,
consisting of representatives from industry, defense, and the Software
Engineering Institute, has established a model to measure business process
maturity levels. Known as Capability Maturity Model Integration, or CMMI
(SM), the model provides DoD with a way to assess risks and determine the
level of process maturity that a company has achieved. It helps DoD predict
performance, and CMMI maturity level ratings are often a prerequisite or
discriminator for companies bidding on defense contracts.
"Achieving CMMI Level 4 is extremely important to us," Smith said. "It
validates for us and for our customers that Raytheon IDS has statistical
process controls in place to ensure performance and Mission Assurance. This
is particularly important in this period of high growth for our business to
fulfill our customer's expectation for Mission Assurance.
"At Raytheon, Mission Assurance means 'no doubt' that our systems and
products will perform as designed for our warfighters and our other
customers," he said. "They deserve nothing less. This means we deliver on our
commitment."
"Achieving Level 4 is an important milestone for validating our processes
and systems for more than 6,000 engineers in our distributed operations
model," said Mark Russell, vice president for IDS Engineering. "No matter
where you are located or on what project you work, we all use the same
process, reducing variability and ensuring the same high quality from project
to project."
Russell explained that an independent team of appraisers, led by Ralph
Williams, president of Cooliemon, Inc., a Florida-based independent expert on
business improvement, spent four weeks at Raytheon IDS reviewing approximately
7,000 documents and interviewing 160 engineers, project and program managers
before granting the Level 4 rating.
"What makes this appraisal significant is its range and scope," said
Robert Smith, IDS engineering director for Strategic Development, Raytheon Six
Sigma and Processes. "Others in the industry choose to pursue CMMI ratings
for a particular facility, sector or project -- piecemeal. We've chosen to
pursue a Level 4 rating for our entire business. Because all of our
functional areas are integrated and mutually supporting, we think this broader
approach makes better sense and provides the best value to our customers."
Based in Tewksbury, Mass., IDS is Raytheon's leader in Joint Battlespace
Integration. With a strong international and domestic customer base, including
the U.S. armed forces and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, IDS provides
integrated solutions for the air, surface and subsurface battlespace.
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 billion, is an
industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information
technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft.
With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.
Note: Capability Maturity Model, CMM and CMMI are registered in the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University. CMM Integration is
a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.
Contact:
Guy Shields
978.858.5246
SOURCE Raytheon Company
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Related links:
http://www.raytheon.com
CONTACT:
Guy Shields of Raytheon Company,
+1-978-858-5246
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