[Gary Dillard]

Teams 254 and 60, I applaud you. I'm glad FIRST ruled in your favor.

Getting a robot designed, built and tested in 6 weeks is tough. Doing it successfully with a team that's in another state is incredible.

I work for a small division of Lockheed Martin in Florida - I doubt they even know we exist here. We have a sister office in Seattle that works jointly on our programs, but communication is like pulling teeth. It frequently takes more effort to coordinate the work than it would to do it yourself. We wonder why companies waste so much time reorganizing and moving, but studies show that if the guy working with you isn't within about 10 feet you won't talk to him. If he's on another floor or in another building he might as well be in another country. It's always amazing to go into a design review and see everyone surprised by some decision that you thought was common knowledge.

Even in procurement - I think the stat was that Lockheed Martin had 34 divisions, 33 of them used a common procurement system and then there was us. I used to be able to walk down to my buyer's desk, show her what I needed and have it on order the next day. But since that didn't use all the wonderful resources available to such a large company we got brought into the fold and now use the common system. Now I'm lucky if I get a part on order within a month and even luckier if it's what I wanted.

BTW - I love my job and love working here, just venting a little about the problems with large companies. There are definitely benefits but probably just as many if not more problems.

I wouldn't worry about competing against a Mega-Delphi team or Mega-Ford team, I'd worry about being on it and trying to get anything done. I think the reason Beatty is so successful every year is that it's a "small" company atmosphere where everyone works together and communicates.

One final thought - although in industry alliances are allowed, there are pretty specific rules to control them so they don't become a monopoly. I think FIRST has the ability to keep them in check so it's always a positive thing.