In the business of defence, maintaining a strategic advantage requires the ability to push the boundaries of what we know is possible.
For our development teams at Rolls-Royce Defence in the UK, that means finding ways to increase the pace of innovation, product development and deployment that will enable new and future air combat system capabilities at scale.
Developing these ways of working to deliver a new twin-spool small engine demonstrator was one of the core programme objectives for Pauli Markkanen, Project Exec for Future Programmes and Alexander Darvill, Integrated Project Team Leader.
Starting from scratch
“When the Orpheus project kicked off in 2020, we were a two-man team, just me and Alex,” explains Pauli. “We didn’t really know what we were going to do, but we knew we wanted to work together to innovate, experiment and find quicker ways to learn.”
Through examination of previous Rolls-Royce Defence projects, Alex estimated the product development process would take roughly three years and utilise around 100 team members across design, manufacturing and testing.
“We wanted to see if we could do it in half the time, with half the people. We wanted to show that to achieve something like this, we had to do something radically different. It wasn’t just about working harder or cutting corners. It was about a complete paradigm shift.”
Rapid innovation for extraordinary times
Key to the success of the project was building a team in which each member had a willingness to start from scratch and a thirst for learning.
From an engineering perspective, the team worked to slim down design processes. By setting up a rapid-make, fast-moving supply chain, they were able to reduce lead times and work with more agility. The team also employed scrum techniques, focusing on transparency, empowerment, inspection and adaptation.
Through continuous feedback and coaching from subject matter experts, the team were empowered to work more collaboratively and explore new ideas. Upskilling each member of the team meant that they could be involved in broader aspects of the process, reducing handover time and ensuring continuity.
“We also involved the customer much more closely in what we were doing, bringing them along to sprint reviews to give them a share of voice within the process. This helped us build a shared vision of what the end product would be,” explains Pauli.
Reaching the testbed in half the time
Through this agile approach, the Orpheus team were able to get the engine to the testbed within just 18 months, as opposed to an estimated three years via a more traditional approach.
“We were prepared for it to be unsuccessful. A project like this, by its very nature, removes the rigorous sign-off processes we have to follow in some parts of the business, so there were definitely some sceptics,” says Pauli. “But this ultimately meant that we could get past a lot of boundaries, take risks and effect real change.”
Throughout the next eight months, testing of the engine demonstrator was a success, proving that engines like this can be designed, built and tested at a new and different scale as well as faster and more cost-effectively than ever before.
Think big. Start small. Scale fast.
In the future, this could lay the blueprint for a potential engine family applicable to emerging Defence markets, as well as empowering teams across the wider business to work in new and more agile ways.
“It’s a cultural transformation,” says Pauli. “As Alex always says, ‘think big, start small, scale fast’. That’s the mantra for a lot of what we do and gives us the learning to address certifiable product roadmaps in the future.”
Wider industry acclaim
Outside of the business, the Orpheus project has received wide recognition. In 2022 the team received a MOD Quality Award for Supplier Excellence, recognising the team’s fundamentally different approach to product development.
The project also received the Association for Project Management Award for Transformation Project of the Year alongside Alex Darvill, who took home the Project Professional of the Year Award for his significant contribution to the project’s delivery.
