National Press Release

TROY, Mich., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- With an eye on the future, Munro & Associates, Inc. and General Dynamics Land Systems collaborate to make sure it is a bright one for FCS Manned Ground Vehicles.

Producibility is not just a buzz word used lightly by Munro & Associates, it is their entire focus. For 20 years Munro & Associates has been developing tools and methods that predict and quantify future quality, manufacturing, assembly and logistics issues along with their associated costs for a product's design. While engineers are taxed with inventing and developing incredible technological breakthrough products, Munro's job is to make sure it is producible at a profit with high quality and reliability for their customers.

"Recognizing that our military strength depends on the success of FCS, General Dynamics Land Systems is deploying numerous best practice technologies to the development of FCS, including those of Munro & Associates," said Joe Feord, Director of Sales and Marketing at Munro & Associates. "Munro is under contract with GDLS to utilize our Design Profit(R) and Wall Process(TM) methodologies in the development of the FCS Manned Ground Vehicles."

Design Profit(R) is a structured process to reduce complexity and total cost of a design with objective metrics for effective decision making. The Wall Process(TM) is a visual management tool of the complete vehicle build process which exposes challenges so that they can be addressed prior to production launch. It also provides an effective communications venue for all stakeholders, including the customer, to review progress and provide input across all systems and departmental boundaries.

"We have been working with defense companies for a long time and recognize the challenges they face to create the amazing technical functionality for our soldiers. Our job is to help them refine their designs to keep the functionality but also to reduce complexity, acquisition cost and total lifecycle costs. We are proud to contribute to our Future Combat Systems," said Munro & Associates CEO, Sandy Munro.

In recent related work, Munro was contracted by TACOM PEO GCS and GDLS on the Stryker Mobile Gun System where they received written accolades from the Army for helping improve reliability and expediting its delivery to our soldiers in the field.

"GDLS is taking a proactive step integrating Munro's methods into their existing Integrated Process System. This will increase their efficiencies in delivering reliable, producible and cost effective products to the Defense Department," added Mr. Munro.

About Munro and Associates

Munro and Associates, Inc., founded in 1988, is headquartered in Troy, Michigan and has offices in Europe, Canada and Japan. Munro is a world class consulting engineering firm that specializes in helping its customers increase profitability by improving quality, reliability and value while reducing total lifecycle costs. The Munro team delivers in depth knowledge in product design, manufacturing, quality and technologies from a broad selection of industries around the world.

Munro's defense customers include TACOM LCMC, DARPA, Picatinny Arsenal, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, DRS, Raytheon, ATK, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin, and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.

    For more information, visit www.leandesign.com

    Contact: Joe Feord, 248-362-5110 ext 206, jfeord@leandesign.com

    Lean Design(R) is a registered trademark of Munro & Associates, Inc.

SOURCE Munro & Associates, Inc.