McHENRY, Ill., Jan. 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Integrated Systems sector and M-1 Tool Works signed an agreement in a ceremony here today to work together under a mentoring arrangement patterned after the Department of Defense's Mentor-Protege Program.
Northrop Grumman has a long history of mentoring small companies informally as well as participating in the Mentor-Protege program, which pairs large defense companies with small, disadvantaged businesses so the smaller firms can compete more successfully for military contracts. Northrop Grumman has participated in the program since 1992, the year after it was established by Congress, and has 12 active Mentor-Protege agreements.
M-1 Tool Works, located in McHenry, Ill., provides machined products. The company currently has 27 employees.
Under the agreement, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems will provide technical, business management and marketing assistance, as well as training in Lean manufacturing principles and other disciplines.
"Small businesses are the driving engines of this economy, and supporting partnerships that make them more competitive benefits all of us," said U.S. Rep. Phil Crane (Ill., 8th Dist.), keynote speaker at today's ceremony. "I commend both Northrop Grumman and M-1 Tool Works on entering into this mentoring partnership that will directly help one of our own local small businesses and the local economy."
"This mentoring program gives Northrop Grumman an opportunity to share our expertise with a small supplier who will use the knowledge to develop an infrastructure that is compatible with providing high-quality products for national defense," said Thomas E. Vice, sector vice president of Operations for Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems. "M-1 Tool Works is highly capable and has the potential to become a valued member of the Northrop Grumman supplier team."
M-1 Tool Works' current products are primarily for commercial markets, but the company is a subcontractor to Hamilton Sundstrand, a Northrop Grumman supplier for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter. Northrop Grumman is principal subcontractor to The Boeing Company on the F/A-18 program.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., is a premier aerospace and defense systems integration enterprise with the capabilities to design, develop, produce and support fully missionized integrated systems and subsystems. Integrated Systems delivers best-value solutions, products and services in support of chosen segments within the broad market areas of battlespace awareness, command and control systems and integrated combat systems.
Members of the news media may receive our releases via e-mail by registering at: http://www.northropgrumman.com/cgi-bin/regist_form.cgi
LEARN MORE ABOUT US: Northrop Grumman news releases, product information, photos and video clips are available on the Internet at: http://www.northropgrumman.com. Information specific to the Integrated Systems sector is available at: http://www.iss.northropgrumman.com.