Today's Officer - Winter 2007 - (Page 11) MESSAGE CENTER CAREER Employer Spotlight MCKINSEY & CO. HEADQUARTERS: It has more than 80 offices in more than 40 countries. CONTACT: Visit www.mck insey.com for more information and register with us at www.mckinsey.com/ careers/usmilitary. MISSION STATEMENT: “To help our clients make distinctive, lasting, and substantial improvements in their performance and constantly build a great firm that attracts, develops, excites, and retains exceptional people.” What types of jobs are available for retiring or former military officers at your company? We are always looking for talented individuals to join us as generalist consultants or knowledge experts or specialists. Most people enter the firm as business analysts or associates, depending on experience. Why does your company hire retired or former military officers? We look for people who demonstrate capabilities in four areas critical to succeed in the day-to-day work we do: problem solving, achieving, personal impact, and leadership. Many retired and former military officers have already developed these capabilities during their military careers. What is the biggest mistake officers make when seeking employment with McKinsey & Co.? [They assume] they need a business background or education in order to apply to McKinsey & Co. We look for candidates with diverse educational backgrounds and experience. TECHNOLOGY Footloose and Air Free IN COMBAT, the most vulnerable area of a vehicle is its tires. If a Humvee’s tire is shot out or flattened, the vehicle and crew can be at risk of an ambush or might not be able to accomplish their mission. But a solution is in the offing — a team of mechanical engineers has made an airless tire that can withstand hits from bullets and shrapnel without going flat. Resilient Technologies in Wausau, Wis., has developed these tires with funding from a defense contract with the Pentagon. The firm’s chief technology officer, Ali Manesh, says the tires are filled with compressed polymers (plastic) instead of compressed air. They work like air-filled tires, he says, because the plastic’s tension gives them strength. “The idea of an airless tire has been around a long time in the wheel industry,” says Manesh, “but a few years ago the need became staggering because of [improvised explosive devices (IED)] attacks on our forces. There’s a need to have continued mobility on a vehicle and tires that resist attack.” Resilient Technologies subsequently developed a new breed of tire design that, unlike a pneumatic pressure tire, has an internal structure so its components are under very little compression but much more tension. Manesh says the airless tire transfers its load from a center hub to the tread layer through honeycombed, interconnected polymer plates. Chuck Pergantis, mechanical engineer and technical program manager at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., says the airless tire has “worked pretty well on a trial basis, but durability is the key to it, especially with military loads and working levels.” Pergantis says the use of non-pneumatic tire technology is envisioned in an urban area, because it’s difficult to decrease the loading for rough terrain. “The tire enhances ballistic performance and can take rounds within the wheel system and keep on going without any change in performance or mobility,” he says. Pergantis says he expects Resilient will produce a fullscale prototype that can be put on a vehicle and run on test tracks at Aberdeen by the spring or summer of 2008. “I think this tire may offer IED protection and prove to be a good complement to the armor systems out there,” Pergantis says. — Alan M. Petrillo IMAGES THIS SPREAD: CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT, DENNIS HARMS; MICK WIGGINS; COURTESY RESILIENT TECHNOLOGIES; SEAN SHANAHAN Winter 2007/08 TODAY’S OFFICER 11 http://www.mckinsey.com http://www.mckinsey.com http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/usmilitary http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/usmilitary
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