EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Oct. 30, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been selected as a "best-practice partner" by the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) for its leadership in developing software tools that allow the expert knowledge of its employees to be shared effectively throughout the company.
Northrop Grumman was one of several companies featured in a recent APQC-led study designed to measure the extent to which American businesses are now using these so-called knowledge-management tools to enhance productivity, reduce operating costs and increase customer satisfaction.
APQC's study, entitled "Expert Locator Systems: Find the Answers," recognizes Northrop Grumman for its development of XRef, a Web-based software tool that stores the expert skills and knowledge of company employees in a database accessible by employees. XRef allows Northrop Grumman employees to locate, at the click of a mouse, other employees who possess the expert knowledge or skill sets required for a new product development, project team or market research activity. APQC also recognized the company for its work with Tacit ActiveNet, a commercial knowledge-management product.
"For us, Expertise Locator Systems is an integrated system of processes, applications and content that connect people to people," says Mark Britton, knowledge-management project manager for Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems. "It allows us to match every customer requirement or future opportunity with the optimum mix of personnel and resources. The tools and practices we've created encourage and enable people to seek, find and connect with colleagues, peers and experts beyond their immediate office network, creating, in effect, a virtual resource that spans the entire corporation."
In addition to Northrop Grumman, the APQC knowledge-management study featured other "best-practice" organizations such as Air Products, Honeywell, Intel and Schlumberger. APQC conducted virtual site visits to each organization to examine the companies' Expertise Locator Systems activities and to identify best practices in the selection, implementation and support of Expertise Locator Systems. The center then compiled these lessons and best practices, and shared the results with the study participants Sept. 23 and 24 at APQC headquarters in Houston, Texas.
A recognized leader in benchmarking, knowledge management, measurement and quality programs, the APQC helps organizations adapt to rapidly changing environments, build new and better ways to work and succeed in a competitive marketplace. For the past 25 years, the organization has been identifying best practices, discovering effective methods of improvement, broadly disseminating findings, and connecting individuals with one another and with the knowledge, training and tools they need to succeed in business.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is a premier aerospace and defense systems integration enterprise. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., it designs, develops, produces and supports network-enabled integrated systems and subsystems for government and civil customers worldwide. Integrated Systems delivers best-value solutions, products and services that support military and homeland defense missions in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; battle management command and control; and integrated strike warfare.