Rockwell Collins' balance between commercial and government business has been at the heart of what we do since the first shares of COL were traded in June 2001. This balance — unique to our industry — has repeatedly proven its value:

  • Robust cash generation: Ongoing investments in the development of advanced technologies are necessary to meet and drive customer requirements and fortify our competitive advantage. Our balanced approach helps to generate the strong cash flow necessary to fuel those R&D investments. We annually invest about 20 percent of our yearly revenue in R&D, more than $900 million in fiscal year 2013.
  • Shared innovation: Our balanced business model allows us to leverage those innovations in multiple markets and iterations. Technologies and even products — like our Pro Line Fusion® avionics — migrate between Commercial and Government Systems, extending the value of our R&D investment and providing customers with industry-leading innovations that meet the value expectations of today’s competitive marketplace.
  • High efficiency: Across Rockwell Collins, common processes, facilities and resources — developed through our company's dedication to Lean principles — enable the cross-leveraging of technologies, products and capabilities for efficient use of our assets. Integration at the product and system level means lower development costs and faster time to market, and our shared services model centralizes key internal functions for further efficiencies.
  • Strong operating margins: Our balanced business model has been an essential contributor to Rockwell Collins' industry-leading high operating margins. It is balance that makes it possible to leverage talent and intellectual capital — and to scale resources to match market opportunities. This helps support strong returns on invested capital.
Balance in action:
Pro Line Fusion and the AW609 TiltRotor

The Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system was designed to work across a wide variety of platforms and hardware configurations, from Bombardier's Global Express 5000 to Embraer's KC-390 tanker. That flexibility will be amplified yet again in AgustaWestland’s upcoming AW609 TiltRotor, an aircraft targeted for both commercial and government applications. It marks the system's first European customer and the first application in a forward-tilt aircraft. AW609 crews will benefit from touch-control primary flight displays, enhanced graphics capabilities and integrated synthetic vision — exceptional capabilities available in a space-constrained cockpit.

Consistent operating margins (percent)

Even in a challenging market, Rockwell Collins’ balanced business model and dedication to Lean principles has helped us consistently retain total segment operating margins among the best in the industry.

Core processes: Strong and flexible

We extract maximum value from our balanced business model by ensuring that every company activity that does not touch the customer is centralized and runs in a core process. Common engineering tools are deployed in a technically consistent manner. This means that an engineer can readily move from a commercial project to a government project and back again — and function productively in each assignment from day one. Such flexibility means that not only can we deploy talent where it is needed most, but also hone employee skills by executing diverse and challenging assignments.

Consistent processes also enhance the efficiency of our manufacturing operations. Unlike many of our industry peers, Rockwell Collins' commercial and government products are manufactured in the same facilities. Because of this unified manufacturing approach, when demand increases in one business or declines in another, we can quickly reallocate manufacturing capacity to where it is needed most.