By Jill Wojciechowski

James Stanley recalls a time in the not-so-distant past when he knew very little about Rockwell Collins. But the relationships he formed during the interview process, and the prospect of working for a burgeoning aerospace and defense company were enough to help him make a life-changing decision.

Senior Engineering Manager James Stanley recently received the Rockwell Collins Open Innovator quarterly award. Stanley works at our facility in San Jose, Calif.
Photo by Steve Castillo, Menlo Park, Calif.

A self-described scientist with a strong interest in business development, Stanley was extended three job offers in the summer of 2003. In the end, Rockwell Collins was the clear choice for a man whose philosophy is to create a vision for the future, and then create excitement around that vision for our customers.

"I knew more about the other two companies, and the positions they had open at the time were jobs I was much more familiar with from a technical standpoint," admitted Stanley. "But there was something about the people at Rockwell Collins that I really liked. It was a much better fit for me."

Four years later, Stanley has more than settled into his role as senior engineering manager at our display systems business in San Jose, Calif. Throughout the week, he spends half of his time managing Internal Research and Development (IRAD), and the other half working on business development and proposals.

"I don't really see myself as an engineer," said Stanley, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from California Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in nuclear physics from Stanford University. "I get more excited about new possibilities than I do solving a problem.

"Once I know I can solve something, the thrill goes away," he added. "That's when I'll turn it over to someone else and let them enjoy the satisfaction of taking it to completion, while I start looking for the next cool idea."

An out-of-the-box thinker

Looking for and finding those "cool ideas" from sources outside of our company is one of the primary reasons Stanley recently received the Rockwell Collins Open Innovator Award for the third quarter of fiscal year 2007.

After learning from one of his senior leaders about a small California company that had developed quite a bit of nanotechnology, Stanley took it upon himself to begin sifting through their technologies and matching those capabilities with our company's needs.

"The hard part was figuring out which of the many technologies Nanosys was working on could be applied to what we were doing," said Stanley. "It was like searching for that one dish on a Chinese menu that was going to be absolutely perfect."

Realizing that good ideas oftentimes come from outside of our own company, Stanley and his team spent a great deal of time exploring ideas before finally discovering one that enabled our company to develop a nano-crystal phosphor for our advanced illuminator.

"This nanotechnology is very clever. It allows us to do things we never dreamed of doing before," said Stanley. "We can engineer color; we can create very pure, very saturated colors … any color, any spectrum that the pilot wants on his or her head-up display is now a possibility."

Not only did this discovery significantly reduce costs for the design and development of the digital head-up display (HUD), it also created excitement around the possibility of carrying this technology into our other display product lines.

"Jim is really good at leveraging new technologies to solve existing problems," said Deb Schramm, principal engineering manager in San Jose. "People who are good innovators have an ability to pass their vision and excitement on to everybody else on the team, and Jim is definitely one of those people."

Principal Systems Engineer Rick Tompkins, who hired Stanley in September of 2003, agrees.

"I'm not sure there's an actual recipe for being a good innovator, but Jim is definitely an out-of-the-box thinker," said Tompkins. "He has the innate ability to understand new technologies quickly, and to make a connection with our needs."

More than a technical term

While being innovative tends to come natural for Stanley, he also believes that our employees must understand that innovation is far more than a technical term.

"You can innovate in a lot of different ways," said Stanley, who originally expected to pursue a career as a mathematician. "You can bring in new ideas for how to run the business, how to manage the supply chain, or how to market our company. Innovation doesn't have to just be just for engineers. We can apply new ideas to every aspect of our business."

That's one of several messages Stanley tries hard to relay to his colleagues during the Open Innovation Community of Practice (CoP) that he leads at Rockwell Collins, and also to the students he works with at nearby San Jose State University.

"It's always good to brainstorm new ideas with a cross-disciplinary group of people that don't typically work with each other on a day-to-day basis," said Stanley. "Rather than always reinventing the wheel, it's important to realize that somebody else might have already thought of the solution. The key is to bring that idea into our company, regardless of whether it's in engineering or accounting."

But Stanley also is trying to bring in more than new ideas. His work with San Jose State University has enabled him to meet several graduate students, some of whom he hopes will select our company as their place of employment in the near future.

"I consider myself really fortunate to work for Rockwell Collins," he said. "I've got the good name and reputation of our company behind me, which makes talking to other companies and potential employees so much easier. I have instant credibility, and that means a lot in a world in need of so many engineers."