Manufacturing gun turrets for use by the British Army in its Ajax armoured reconnaissance vehicles is complex in terms of its processes and materials. But innovative thinking and engagement with employees is proving crucial in Lockheed Martin’s progress towards its net zero targets. Andrew Gibbs talks to Steve Wallace, head of operations at Lockheed Martin’s site at Ampthill, about the challenges and how the defence giant is working to overcome them.
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KEEPING the UK’s armed forces safe when they enter the field of battle is a key requirement of the nation’s defence strategy. This involves ensuring that the weapons and military vehicles used in action are robust enough and made from strong enough materials to withstand enemy fire.
However, this presents a complex challenge for an organisation’s plans to reduce its carbon emissions, become more sustainable, and create a culture committed to tackling climate change.
For Lockheed Martin’s advanced manufacturing facility in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, this is no small task given the nature and complexity of the processes, materials, and products it builds.
“There is a balance we have to find, and it is a challenge,” said the site’s head of operations, Steve Wallace. “With everything we do, we have a safety-first culture. The products we manufacture are complex, and our customers have very specific requirements. For example, we cannot replace armoured steel with a less carbon-intensive metal if it does not meet the safety standards we adhere to. We have to keep our armed forces safe.
“That doesn’t mean we aren’t exploring a range of options, including processes, materials, and various innovations, to ensure we achieve our 2050 Net Zero carbon goal.
“It drives us to be more innovative, and it presents a different set of challenges compared to other industries.”
The 55-acre site on the outskirts of Ampthill, which Lockheed Martin acquired in 2005, is one of many sites the corporation has in the UK, but it is its only wholly-owned UK location. It employs some 500 people—around one in four of the total workforce in the UK.
The site is currently producing gun turrets for the Ajax armoured reconnaissance vehicle—formerly known as the Scout Specialist Vehicle—which is being developed for the army by General Dynamics UK. The current contract ends next year.
Lockheed Martin has been working since 2019 towards a target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Before then, it had been operating a series of Go Green initiatives. In 2022, it made a commitment that its UK operations would be carbon neutral by 2050.
“We take our responsibility on sustainability and our environmental stewardship very seriously,” said Steve.
The good news is that Lockheed Martin is ahead of its net-zero targets, having reduced its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions—those generated either directly from sources owned or controlled by Lockheed Martin, or indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat, and other energy sources—by 62% against the 2019 baseline figure.
The figure is higher at the Ampthill site, where carbon emissions are down by 82% on pre-2019 levels.
“That is excellent progress,” said Steve. “Ampthill is our only wholly-owned site, and because of that we have greater autonomy over what we do.”
The fall has been achieved by significant investment in the efficiency of its buildings. Phased roof replacement has improved insulation levels, and the company has upgraded to energy-efficient HVAC heating, environmental air conditioning systems, and more energy-efficient lighting. Electricity has been sourced from 100% renewable green resources for the past three years.
“We are educating our employees on helping us to improve our energy usage,” said Steve. “It is all small things—turning lights out, computers off, for example—but they collectively have a significant impact.”
Lockheed Martin’s Scope 3 emissions—those generated through the company’s other activities, such as business travel, employee commuting to and from work, transport, distribution, and waste generation—account for some 80% of its remaining emissions.
To reduce that figure, the Ampthill site has gone digital and paper-free. Procedures and processes at the factory building the Ajax turrets have moved from being paper-based five years ago to running entirely paperless via tablets.
“It gives us greater efficiency and accurate live data, which allows us to analyse all of our processes as often as we want,” said Steve. “Now we are focused on the whole end-to-end process, what is going on in the engineering, using simulation software to create processes that shorten lead times.
“We have done a huge amount of work on how we drive the data. We used to rely on paper print-outs; now it is all digital and live data, and we are working out how to drive that data and monitor it as often as we want to.”
The Ampthill site no longer sends waste to landfill. All waste produced is either recycled or incinerated.
“We have made some fantastic progress at the Ampthill site to reduce our emissions by more than 80%. We are now thinking about our strategy going forward.”
Lockheed Martin reviewed its corporate sustainability programme earlier this year and committed to strengthening communities, stewardship of the environment, and growth through innovation, integrity, and security.
It, like every other company, has a role in meeting the challenge of mitigating the risks of climate change while identifying and taking opportunities to maintain a strong business model into the future.
Its immediate goals are to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by a further 36% from 2020 levels by the end of the decade and to match 40% of electricity used in the company’s operations worldwide with electricity produced from renewable sources.
Scope 3, Steve admitted, is more challenging. Air travel, for example, is an essential part of Lockheed Martin’s work because of its international business.
“Air travel is essential for us. We operate in a global marketplace, and face-to-face conversations are critical. It is the nature of what we do, but we always look to work remotely when we can.”
“I do not foresee a future without any air travel, but we are challenging ourselves to find solutions that are more carbon-friendly and to work virtually as much as possible.”
Lockheed Martin has health and safety and sustainability professionals across the UK, whom Steve calls on for support. In the USA, Lockheed Martin has an entire sustainability division working on net zero and other climate initiatives.
But key to the success at the Ampthill site—and which is being mirrored across the UK—is the engagement of and with the employees.
“The majority of our workforce are already thinking about climate change and what is going on in the world. The message from us has been well received and has really good support.”
Employees’ thoughts were part of a company workshop as part of the 2024 review.
“One of the results of that workshop is a shift in our communications strategy from awareness to everybody playing a role and contributing,” said Steve. “It is a collective responsibility. Everybody has a role to play in helping the business get there. A lot of our employees really care about this and have some great ideas about what to do. They have made our job as a business so much easier, and when they feel part of something, they want to champion it and drive it, and that is what we are seeing.
“We can be rightly proud of that, but that is not the whole answer. The challenge is not to generate waste in the first place. It is about not wasting energy; it is about making sure we are in control of materials.”
The Ampthill site is ahead of its targets on its net zero journey to 2050. “Our aim is to continue to drive ahead of the plan,” said Steve. “We will continue to reduce as much waste in our business as we can.”
His message to other organisations working towards net zero or considering enhancing their sustainability efforts: “We are all in this together. It is long-term work, but if we understand the problem, we can then find ways to solve that problem and come up with a plan. That plan does not need to cost a lot of money.
“We take our responsibility seriously in our obligation to the taxpayers. Their money to the Treasury is paying for what we do.
“Lockheed Martin’s mission is to solve complex challenges, advance scientific discovery, and deliver innovative solutions for any domain. How do we do things faster in a rapidly changing world? We have always had clever people doing innovative things, but it is about how we do it better.”
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