Satellite Consultant: Retired Engineers in High Demand

[Satellite News 07-28-08] Systems engineer and spacecraft bus architecture expert Keith Volkert brings a unique approach to his independent consulting firm, Satellite Consulting Inc. (SCI). He augments his group of more than 140 consultants with retired engineers.
Volkert, a former Comsat and Lockheed Martin engineer, organized and incorporated SCI in March 2001. It was during this time that he came to appreciate the expertise and wisdom of older scientists. “When I was at Comsat I was told that I have to grow a giant organization and a bureaucracy,” he said. “I have to hire young guys and train them, and that answer is not what the market is demanding. The market is demanding the senior guys — the guys who know exactly what the business is.”
    That approach has worked well for Volkert, who today counts many of the major satellite manufacturers among his clients. “I have my guys working 40 hours per week acting as if they were customer reps for the major prime but working in place of major aerospace companies. They are representing the program office for the satellite manufactured, but they’re deeply involved in the design integration of the test, resolution of the problem and the integration of the payload into the bus. In many cases, when we get these assignments, I can integrate my people with the rep or with the reps that are there so we become the outside part of that primary customer program office. That has been one of the secrets to our success — rather than being consultants who sit someplace and read reports, we are right in the fray, with the customers beside us.”
    Volkert spoke with Satellite News News Editor Jeffrey Hill about his business model and the demand for experienced engineers.

Volkert: I found that by bringing in senior retired consultants I got better expertise than I got with the generalists. It also fits incredibly well with the retired consultant’s career and life cycle. They had achieved their high point. They had long illustrious careers and were ready to take a step back. They don’t want 40 hours weeks, or in many cases, the 60 hours a week. They just want to do the good, technical, fun stuff and solve the big problems while still being able to live in the retired mode.

Volkert: One is the basic age of the engineering world. We are clearly not getting enough of the best and brightest coming in on the bottom. There are some very talented people entering the industry, but we are nowhere near the numbers we need to replace the people who are retiring on the top end. Every time there is a major win someplace you look around to see who is going to establish, and the answer is we do not have enough people. That is when these companies turn to me for multiple roles. The management of many of these aerospace companies is set on getting leaner and leaner. The way you normally do that is by getting rid of the senior guys who are costing you a lot of money. However, these are the people who are making it all work. I think the need for the older industry professionals is going to grow stronger, and I am very happy with this model.

Volkert: It comes back to your business model. If the business model requires that you put the entire constellation system in place before you put it on and get the first dollar in revenue, it will be very difficult to follow it. If you have a constellation system where once you launch the first group of six or so satellites you can get your revenue stream started, fill out your constellation and increase your update times, revenue streams will grow naturally.
It is difficult for any start-up company. Part of the problem I have seen repeatedly is that engineers don’t always have the right business partners. … One of the problems is that you can build small, relatively inexpensive satellites all you want, but it still costs you an arm and a leg to launch them. Once we get low-cost launch programs and combine them with small satellites, we will have huge growth in that field. Elon Musk and the Falcon 1 is an example. I hope they are going to be successful in launching this time.

Volkert: I think Elon is looking to bring it down to $10 million. I do not know how he is going to do that, and it is a function of whether or not he’s successful. There are really no economical small satellite launch systems. We are launching several out of Russia. If you had a low-cost U.S. launch system, it would revolutionize our industry. There are a lot of possibilities, but your business model has to make sense.