Formal education completed Alan was taken on as a control engineer in Ground Test Services run by Derek Thomas. His mentors were Brian Indge and Richard Cannon for whom he worked. He likened these two to Watson and Holmes: Richard the Holmes, all flashes of genius and an irritatingly quick problem solver; Brian the Watson, with rigour and absolute attention to detail.

Alan’s first major challenge was to design the multi-channel Harrier tail unit fatigue rig using Moog servo-actuators with load feedback, the first system of this type attempted by GTS. The system ran successfully.
    Then came the revolution that changed, well, everything; DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) produced the PDP11 mini-computer. Previously there had been large IBM and ICL mainframes but the PDP11 was the first computer designed by engineers for engineers.

Under Richard’s leadership, with copious supplies of the free manuals, GTS learned how to apply a completely new discipline to instrumentation and control having purchased PDP11 No.230. The first application was to the already-running hot gas ingestion rig where 45 thermocouples were mounted in radial rings in a Harrier intake model and were scanned 30 times. Now data reduction took one hour instead of six weeks.
    Next came the Hawk main airframe fatigue test. Two PDP11s were used running identical software checking each other. Software design - the overall structure integrating all the control and monitoring elements, the individual algorithms and the detailed coding - was four years in the making and many techniques developed for the design and management of software subsequently became industry standards for real-time software design. And it worked - although Alan was always relieved to see the big loads come off after they peaked.

GTS was now responsible for developing the Harrier airborne flight test instrumentation system, rather than Production who had previously done the job. Again new technology: a multiplexed serial PCM encoder, tape recorder, transducers and power supplies. Ray Arlott was leading the work on the tape and multiplexer side and Alan lead a small team managing the overall instrumentation side. The programme was late and a meeting with the General Manager, John Glasscock, was called to decide whether or not there should be reversion to the antiquated Production system. Alan clinched the matter by saying that the old system could be used but as ‘design authority’ GTS could not underwrite any of the recorded data.
    What was working in GTS at that time like? Alan said that they had the best boys’ toys in the world: big steel structures, airframes, pumps, electronic computers…so everyone ate, slept and breathed their design work. It was not just a job, it was a hobby too. The only thing lacking was a decent salary.
    Now Alan came to the “poacher” in the title. Senior engineering staff were not represented in the Company trade union structure, only the draughtsmen through DATA. So Alan went to Bob Chitty, the Kingston Personnel Manager, to ask what was necessary to get representation and his answer was: 50% department membership of a recognised trade union. Clive Jenkins’s ASTMS was the obvious choice and 50% of GTS joined so ASTMS was recognised by the Company.

GTS was asked to help with the fin and tailplane loads calibration of a flight test Harrier which involved 12 hour shifts at Dunsfold but as no additional compensation was offered this caused a lot of unrest. Consequently as the ASTMS Representative Alan advised the Management that the GTS staff would not do shift working as it was outside their terms of reference…unless they received additional compensation. Along with the other ASTMS rep, Ray Arlott, Alan met with Ralph Hooper, Bobby Marsh and Bob Chitty. All knew that Systems Dept Analysts were working shifts running the central ICL mainframe computer and were getting 25% so Alan asked for 50% as compensation for disruption in their lives. He got 33%. However, it was not until a professional salary structure was introduced under Colin Chandler that engineers’ salaries began to match their responsibilities.
    Alan was next appointed Head of Design Computing and Design Quality Manager, under Bob Marsh, tasked with integrating all the elements of Design Computing and managing the new computing suite in the centre of the Design floor with BAe committed to developing their own systems such as CAD. He also had to secure ISO 9000 approval for the Design Department. As Assistant Chief Engineering Manager Alan next worked for Gordon Jefferson, taking his computing responsibilities with him, who taught him that manpower planning was not a science but an art, illustrated by a freehand sketch of the design labour build-up applicable to any project.
    Mike Turner succeeded Colin Chandler as General Manager of the new Kingston-Weybridge Division and Alan was appointed Administration Manager responsible for integrating the two sites. Weybridge resented Kingston with a passion; they had had no major project for ten years and as a result a culture very different from Kingston’s had grown up, a culture in which status seemed to be dominant.

To start the integration process Alan arranged seminars at the Ashridge College for Senior Management to be attended together by managers from both sites. However, the new BAe Managing Director, Frank Roe, held that the Weybridge site development would be too expensive and be subject to further review… but the courses continued anyway as the decision was not yet final! Eventually in June 1986 closure of Weybridge was announced and Alan was made Personnel Director tasked with managing it which, seen by BAe as the precursor of several more, had to be done well.

By now Weybridge’s resentment had turned to anger and many still had to be persuaded to come to Kingston. Alan decided to arrange a presentation on the great future to be had there, with Mike Hoskins and John Farrow, to 500 hostile people in the works canteen. Chairing question time Alan received a statement from a Weybridge worker who said he didn’t believe a word of what had been presented; he had been recruited on 25th June with the promise of 20 years of work…and on the 26th closure was announced. With all eyes on him he walked out and slammed the door. The moment was saved by one of the trade union representatives present who said they were here to hear about future prospects.    
    When Chris West took over as General Manager from Mike Turner, Alan was promoted to Personnel and Resources Director with an operational focus. Jack Golding from Weybridge was now Production Director and he wanted Alan to negotiate the pay settlement with the manual unions.

Previously Kingston’s long standing Production Director, Roy Adolphus, had done this. The ‘final offer’ was paramount and Roy went to these negotiations with a piece of paper folded over three times, at each fold there being an offer, the final at the third. The unions were used to this and Alan had no such paper to unfold and his final offer was turned down! Quality was now part of the negotiating strategy and memorably one manufacturing manager said, “You have to remember, Mr Millican, that this quality business is new to us in manufacturing.” Manufacturing had their own culture in which the ‘F’ word was very important, the number of ‘Fs’ indicating the scale of the problem; a five ‘F’ problem was very serious.
    Alan recounted a story of a visit by Jack Golding and Roy Britain to Boeing. Jack’s introduction of Roy was misheard and throughout the visit he was referred to as, “Roy Britain from Dungsville”. Roy later remarked that he had lot of crap to deal with at Dunsfold but this was going too far.
    Jack wanted Alan to negotiate out the production bonus rate as the only people who understood it were the men working it and the Chief Rate Fixer! To Alan’s surprise the unions were keen to see the back of the bonus scheme as well and a fair deal was achieved. But then came the industry-wide ‘37 hour week’ strike. Alan believes that it was the wrong issue. All the personnel directors thought that working hours, canteens, working conditions and so on needed to be equalised across the Company and that the real issues were flexibility and productivity, changes needed for operational efficiency.

Eventually the 37 hours was conceded in return for agreement over working practices. Kingston was the last factory to return to work after the longest strike, five months, in aerospace history; another ‘first’ for Kingston! Alan said change was always going to be difficult to achieve as job protection and demarcation were entrenched in the manual workers creed; it was certainly not merit based.
    The lesson is that if you want everyone to contribute equally and to their full potential everyone must be treated equally. For example, Kingston had a multitude of dining places: Works Canteen, Supervision Staff, Monthly Staff, Executive Mess, Directors’ Mess and Main Board. Also, as an illustration, manual worker absenteeism was higher than staff but the unions reminded Alan that if he felt unwell his secretary would bring him a nice cup of tea in his cosy office, an option not available to workers out on the cold factory floor.
    Alan’s final job at Kingston started when he was appointed Director and General Manager when Chris West left. The big task was managing the Kingston closure. BAe bought Arlington Properties who acquired land at the RAE Farnborough site to develop a business park and in 1991 the closure of Kingston was announced.

There were six major programmes in progress and at a meeting with BAe Chief Executive John Weston, Alan together with Chief Engineer Mike Sharland said they could only manage the closure and protect the programmes if Dunsfold was retained. Every assistance was given to help redundant employees, from SERP and retraining to the Small Business Fund. Nevertheless it meant the loss to the industry of many good people and with no Kingston factory there was no need for a General Manager, so that is when Alan’s Warton story began, a story for another time.