On February 11th, 2021, Survitec took the opportunity to celebrate 'National Inventor's Day' by talking to our VP of Innovation, Stew Gregory. A keen cyclist outside of work, Stew has been with the Survitec team for 16 years, working through some of the most game-changing and successful projects throughout the business's recent history. We sat down and spoke to Stew on what innovation means to him.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Diversity! No two days are the same.
What does innovation mean to you?
Innovation, to me, is the creative way of implementing something new or improved to add value. At Survitec, we work to apply innovation to everything we do. It's not all about the product. It's the process, business, strategy, and service. Design and innovation have no boundaries, but we must be prepared to accept failure and learn. FAIL FAST, LEARN QUICK!
We seek to innovate at every opportunity is one of the Survitec values. How do you demonstrate this in your role?
It's the constant pursuit of new innovations that gets me out of bed in the morning (and my day job). If I haven't improved something or created a better way of doing something or solved a problem, life goes on, and we become stagnant.
Given my role and the day to day challenges that the team and I encounter in the development world, we must innovate our way out of problems and situations daily.
An example of this is when we recently encountered some challenges on a project that meant delaying a program. We are committed to our customers and meeting their needs. A delay was not an option. The team and I had to become very creative to keep our promise and provide our customers with a new and innovative solution that meets their needs within the timeframe agreed. I am pleased to say that we have delivered a solution that keeps us a track without compromising performance and ensures Survitec "do what we say we will do." (Another Survitec value).
What is the most memorable experience you've had at Survitec?
People tend to remember bad experiences rather than good! I have lots of memories, not all good, there's been sometimes when you want to throw the towel in, especially when things don't go to plan.
The most memorable moment was when a vital defence customer requested help to solve an issue, they had with the JSF canopy during the ejection sequence. A small team from Survitec solved the problem that other big aerospace companies failed to do. We invented, designed, developed, and tested a piece of equipment that was well outside of our core product range but not outside of our core engineering competencies. We delivered this in a concise time scale at a fraction of the cost they expected the solution to be. If we hadn't believed in our ability to innovate and apply our knowledge in other spaces, then there could have been long delays and costs to the program.
Because of this, I was one of 3 individuals awarded the "Lockhead Martin Quality and Mission Success Excellence Award" Presented personally by the President LM Aero Headquarters Fortworth Texas. A very proud moment, not only for the team and me but for Survitec.
What is something you are looking forward to in the future at Survitec?
Significantly advancing cruise ship evacuation technology with the successful introduction of Seahaven.
What do you like to do when you are not at work?
Walk the dogs, cycle, and sleep if there's time!