Boeing

The U.S. Department of Defense today honored The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and its supplier partner, DACA Machine and Tool Inc. of Dutzow, Mo., with the prestigious Nunn-Perry Award.

The companies were honored at the annual DoD Mentor-Protégé Conference in Orlando, Fla., along with other winners of the 2005 award, which recognizes outstanding mentor-Protégé teams formed as part of the DoD Mentor-Protégé program, established in 1990.

"Helping equip our suppliers with key tools and skills is one piece of Boeing's ongoing drive toward business excellence," said Norma Clayton, vice president of Supplier Management for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "Working closely with quality suppliers like DACA is a major part of that commitment. We're proud of this award and our relationship with them."

The DoD Mentor-Protégé program encourages defense contractors to work closely with small disadvantaged businesses, small women-owned businesses and organizations that employ the severely disabled to help the companies develop needed technical and business capabilities. The Nunn-Perry award program began in 1995; Boeing has received four mentor-Protégé awards in the past five years.

DACA, a woman-owned small business employing 50 people, provides Boeing with sheet metal and machined parts for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, C-17 Globemaster III, F-15 Eagle, Harpoon/SLAM-ER and T-45C Goshawk. The company, founded in 1972 and serving the aviation industry since 1975, is only the second Missouri firm to be recognized by the Department of Defense as an award-winning Protégé.

Under the agreement with DACA, Boeing, as mentor, is providing on-site training and development assistance over a two-year period to help the small company become more competitive, efficient and responsive. The assistance includes training in lean manufacturing and quality from the Missouri Enterprise Business Assistance Center and Small Business Development Center at Central Missouri State University; aluminum and titanium machining technology from Boeing's Phantom Works; supply-chain management curriculum from Alabama A&M University; and training in Unigraphics from EDS in St. Louis.

"This year has been one fantastic learning experience for everyone here," said Perry Pecaut, DACA vice president. "The level of training we've received, both from Boeing and the enterprise center, has gone way beyond our expectations. It truly has saved the future of our company."

Winners of the Nunn-Perry Award are selected based on the companies' success in creating cost efficiencies, enhancing the Protégé company's capabilities and increasing business opportunities for DoD suppliers. The Boeing-DACA team is one of 10 teams honored this year with Nunn-Perry awards, named after former Sen. Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry. Both men were instrumental in creating the mentor-Protégé program. The agreement between Boeing and DACA, which runs through this August, is one of seven mentor-Protégé agreements Boeing currently has with its suppliers.