Who is this guy, Bob Coutts?
Is he the future of Martin Marietta Corp.'s Middle River complex, or the person chosen to write the final chapter in the history of a once-proud plant that served as the backbone of the nation's aerospace industry?
This is what the 1,400 workers at the Aero and Naval Systems division are wondering as they nervously await word on where, or if, they will fit into the proposed merger of Martin Marietta and Lockheed Corp.
The questions also haunt Robert B. Coutts, the stocky, 42-year-old executive who recently took over the corner office at the sprawling Middle River complex where Glenn L. Martin had his desk for more than two decades.
Mr. Coutts is a straight-talking, down-to-earth, mechanical engineer with a strong background in manufacturing. Martin Marietta dispatched him to Middle River in late August to fix a troubled production operation that is losing money and facing one of its biggest financial crises since it was saved from bankruptcy by the Korean War in the early 1950s.
The plant opened in 1929 and for many years served as the company's primary manufacturing center and corporate headquarters.
It once employed 53,000 workers and turned out such well-known aircraft as the China Clipper that opened the world to commercial aviation in the 1930s; the B-26 Marauder bombers that helped turn the tide of battle during World War II, and the Titan rockets that powered the two-man Gemini spacecrafts into orbit.
When asked directly if his assignment includes phasing out Middle River, Mr. Coutts, vice president and general manager of the division, doesn't hesitate in response.
"No!" But he is just as quick to add: "That may or may not end up being the case. But, that is not why I was sent here. Not at all.
"I guess if you want to say Bob Coutts was the guy brought in to do something, I think as much as anything, I was the guy sent in to make sure we get this Pratt and Whitney program out of development and into production."
The plant is producing a new line of composite thrust reversers as a subcontractor to Pratt and Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. Thrust reversers, parts of jet engines, act as brakes to slow down aircraft after they land.
The $300 million contract from Pratt and Whitney is one of Middle River's biggest programs. It accounts for about a third of its thrust reverser business. The plant also makes reversers used on jet engines made by General Electric Co.
Design and production problems with the Pratt and Whitney program are being blamed for the unprofitable operations of Middle River this year. While the company does not issue financial results for the local plant, insiders say it has had a checkered existence in recent years and has not been a big contributor to corporate earnings.
Mr. Coutts is counting on his manufacturing experience to turn around the Middle River plant.
"I'm a production background person," he said.
His strengths contrast sharply with the scientific background of his predecessor, William F. Ballhaus Jr., the respected aerospace engineer who headed the Middle River division from April 1993 until late August of this year.
Without criticizing Mr. Ballhaus, who was recently designated a top executive of the proposed Lockheed Martin Corp., insiders in the company say that he was not the right person for the job in Baltimore.
They see Mr. Coutts differently.
"Bob Coutts is the right person at the right time for Aero & Naval Systems," said Thomas A. Corcoran, president of Martin Marietta Electronics Group.
He said Mr. Coutts has the production skills that are needed plus a management style "that stresses cooperation, candid
communications and a can-do spirit."
Donald Carson, a spokesman for the Middle River plant, describes Mr. Coutts as "a person who knows his way around the factory floor. He knows the machines and what they do. He understands most of the operations out in the factory and can talk to workers about their jobs.
"He likes to interact with workers, pick up on their concerns. He walks through the plant with his shirt sleeves rolled up and he'll stop and ask people, 'What's going on?' He's a high-energy guy who never sits still. He likes to get involved. He likes solving problems."
Others who have worked with Mr. Coutts, including union representatives here and at a plant in Syracuse, N.Y., where Mr. Coutts headed manufacturing before coming to Baltimore, describe him as "a straight-shooter" who is honest with workers.
"He will tell you the way it is," said Kenneth Miles, bargaining chairman for Local 738 of the United Auto Workers union, which represents factory workers at Middle River. "You feel like he's someone you can trust. You can't say that about some of the others that have had that job."
Mr. Coutts came to Martin Marietta in 1993 as a result of the company's $3 billion acquisition of General Electric Corp.'s aerospace division.
He describes himself as a "GE brat," who followed in his father's footsteps and went to work for GE in 1972 immediately after graduating from Tufts University.
"I grew up with aircraft engines and fan reversers," he said.
First GE job in Mass.
His first job with GE was at a plant in Lynn, Mass., where he was involved in the production of hydraulic units for the jet engines powering the F-5 fighter planes that were active in the Vietnam war.
In what he still remembers as a "great experience," Mr. Coutts was assigned by GE while still in his late twenties to pick a site, build and operate a small factory to make aircraft tooling parts.
After the factory, which he located near Knoxville, Tenn., was up and running he moved on to the GE's jet engine group in Albuquerque, N.M., to take a position as quality manager.
His first plant manager assignment came in 1986 when he was named to head a Madisonville, Ky., factory that had 600 workers and produced jet engine parts.
Mr. Coutts was head of manufacturing at GE's $400-million-a-year aerospace factory in Syracuse, N.Y., when Martin Marietta announced that it was buying GE's aerospace division. The Syracuse plant competes with Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s factory in Sykesville for the production of an anti-submarine warfare combat system for the U.S. destroyer fleet.
Previously in Bethesda
Before coming to Baltimore, Mr. Coutts served as Martin Marietta's vice president for material acquisitions. He was based in Bethesda and was responsible for the procurements at 15 aerospace division operations.
At Middle River, Mr. Coutts is putting in 60- to 70-hour work weeks, hoping the long hours will help correct the plant's problems.
"I believe in my heart of hearts that we will be able to fix this. I wouldn't have taken this job or made the decision to move my family down here if I didn't think we could."
Mr. Coutts said that the plant's military business -- the production of shipboard rocket launchers for the Navy -- has fallen off. At the same time, the airline industry is buying fewer jetliners, and as a result he expects sales to be off about 20 percent next year.
The military side of the business got a big lift recently when the Navy awarded the plant a $298 million contract to build the shipboard rocket launchers for use on U.S., Turkish and Japanese ships. The contract is expected to stabilize this side of the plant's business through the end of the decade.
The decline in the commercial aerospace business has added to the nervousness of the workers. Mr. Coutts said there will be layoffs in coming months, but he doesn't know how many.
There is a life beyond Martin Marietta, and when Bob Coutts is not at the factory he likes to spend his time with his wife and family. They have two sons and a daughter ranging in age from 8 to 15.
At home he's just as busy trying to keep pace with a family that is active in Scouts, church youth groups, Sunday school and athletics. It seems, he said, that there is always a baseball, soccer, lacrosse or field hockey game to attend.
"At some point," he said, "I've coached each of the children at some different sport in recreational teams. I'm not trying to say they are great
athletes, but it is worth it to try to get to their games and be supportive of them," Mr. Coutts said.
In Syracuse, he was remembered for his involvement in church programs to feed homeless persons.
When he has time to read, he prefers to sit down with historical novels, and is especially fond of authors William Shirer and William Manchester.
But topping his reading list these days is "Augustine's Laws," a witty catalog of management principles written by his boss, Norman R. Augustine, chairman and chief executive of Martin Marietta.
Described as demanding
His own management style is that of a communicator. He holds weekly breakfast meetings with a group of about 20 employees, and his first question usually is: "What's on your mind?"
He is described as a demanding boss who seeks commitments from workers.
"I want an environment where people don't just bring their hands to work -- they bring their brains to work, too," he said.
One of his goals is to break down the hierarchy at the plant and have factory workers more involved in the decision-making process and be more accountable for their work.
But he still can't answer the question on the minds of most workers at Middle River. Will it survive the merger with Lockheed?
There could be wonderful times ahead, he said, if some Lockheed work is shipped in, or it could be disastrous if programs at Middle River are shipped out.
"I don't know what's going to happen," Mr. Coutts insists. "It's too soon to say."