Haggerty vouches for U.S. efficiency, innovation to maintain competition
Retired Navy officer and Boeing’s former Vice President of Engineering Allen Haggerty met with students to share insight on how to “take charge” and “take flight” the way he has been able to throughout his work with the world’s largest aerospace company.
Business fraternities Alpha Kappa Psi and Delta Sigma Pi hosted a banquet Monday night to learn from the story of Haggerty’s journey to success, according to second-year hospitality management student and Alpha Kappa Psi brother Megan Frank.
Haggerty‘s narrative of “The Lean Enterprise” touched on how he helped improve the efficiency of engineering and manufacturing of aircrafts throughout his time as a U.S. Naval Officer, military consultant and VP of Boeing.
“It is important for America to be competitive,” Haggerty said. “We have a lot of smart people. We can create things but we have to be able to produce efficiently to compete.”
Efficiency is all about “eliminating waste,” Haggerty said.
Many students resonated concerns about such efficiency in the current state of the economy as they took turns answering prepared discussion questions from Easter baskets placed on each table. One question asked students, “What are the biggest challenges facing college students?”
“Jobs and debt after college,” fourth-year international business student Mary Gotschall said. “I feel we have gotten lazy. We give up easily because we expect everyone to hand us things,”
Haggerty stated quality and innovation are what America is missing in order to compete with other countries and for big ideas to be successful.
“We must create a value stream, by taking the idea and improving the quality at each step,” Haggerty said. “There is a whole bunch of people out there who would like to eat our lunch. And some of them like to eat it with low labor rates. We are competing with a whole bunch of people who would like to take our system away.”
Some students said the first place to start practicing efficiency is at USC. First-year international business student David Lazaroff emphasized the importance of campus organizations and events.
“Take advantage and get involved,” Lazaroff said. “It only takes 10 students and one teacher to start your own club.”
Students said the interpersonal connections and strong international presence at Carolina has taught them how to be more cultured, which could be vital in the global business sector.
”You only have 4 years here. Streamline yourself straight into the real world,” fourth-year international business student and Alpha Kappa Psi Vice President Mitchell Trott said. ”You want those skills to be so efficient, assimilating after college is smooth and easy.”