Herb Schlickenmaier is the President and Aerospace Engineer at HS Advanced Concepts, and has led projects as a research & developer working engineering and operational certification challenges at the Federal Aviation Administration for nearly two decades; and pushing research and technology solutions to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace as an R&T manager at NASA in controls-and-guidance, vehicle systems and aviation safety technology for two decades; as well as consulting and leading engineers and scientists in the private sector providing solutions to difficult aerospace systems challenges for government customers.

Strategic planning

Establishing a strategic plan is a most fundamental document. It should contain the goals and objectives. It should identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. These are all based on the vision, mission and values of the organization. For a technical, research organization, the strategic plan should also show the quantitative benefits and risks of the goals and objectives. Together, these form a strong foundation for the roadmap to success.

A strategic plan, therefore, is not static. Nor is it changed every day. Finding the right balance for this roadmap is as critical as the document itself.

HS Advanced Concepts has extensive experience in strategic planning for technical activities.

Project management

Project management is a key discipline to embrace in any technical pursuit. It is a very organic process, involving strategic planning, project planning, project execution, process development (or application), budget planning and tracking, and, most importantly, the people to make the project a success.

Project management is not watching a Gantt or PERT chart, EVM, it is not abiding by CMMI, ISO9001 or PMI criteria and-or certifications. These can all be excellent tools to track project progress, assure quality processes for quality products and consistent practices.

HS Advanced Concepts has extensive experience in project management for technical programs in Government technical programs and commercial services.

Mentoring

HS Advanced Concepts has extensive experience in managing technical programs and projects and can provide a service to coach, train, as well as provide advice and assist leaders to develop and inspire their innate skills in leadership to ensure their success.

The Multidisciplinary engineering approach

Aerospace Engineering has a long tradition of being a multi-disciplinary engineering approach to problem solving. From the late 1890s and Otto Lilienthal's glider experiments, to the very early 1900s and Samuel  Langley's ill-fated flight developments and tests, to the ground-breaking engineering achievements of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the key to aviation and aerospace success was coming to grips with the critical balances of aerodynamics, propulsion, flight dynamics, stability and control, among the key.

Whether your problems and challenges are in aerospace engineering, or some other field, the approach of integrating disciplines sets the boundaries on "the box," and allows for "out-of-box" solutions to be achieved in a timely and useful way.

system complexity

One of the most fascinating ways to look at a technical problem is to probe its full complexity. Traditional approaches typically tried to break down a problem area into smaller, more easily understandable parts. There is much merit to this approach, if the problem is what’s considered “linear” or that it can not only be broken down, but that it can be “reassembled” without missing any critical components. Of course, how many times have you taken a piece of technology apart to repair a part inside and reassembled it only to find one or two bolts that didn’t find their way back together? Still worked? Good piece of tech. Still didn’t work (even after you re-disassembled)? Not-so-good piece of tech.
See more on my blog on Autonomy, click here.

advanced concepts

Advanced concepts are, by their very nature, challenges that uniquely require insights into yet unknown areas. These will involve concept exploration, concept development, concept demonstrations in laboratory and relevant environments, prototyping and then production. 

HS Advanced Concepts has unique skills in understanding and applying Technology Readiness Level techniques to a variety of advanced concepts from the very early exploratory and discovery phases, through the demonstration phase, and into prototyping and development.

vehicle systems

HS Advanced Concepts applies unique experience to support technical programs focusing on vehicle systems challenges.