TUCSON, Ariz., April 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vector, a microsatellite launch company comprised of new-space and enterprise software industry veterans from SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Sea Launch and VMware, today announced plans to reshape the aerospace industry by incorporating best practices from the automotive industry to mass manufacture its Vector-R and Vector-H launch vehicles. Spearheading the revolutionary endeavor will be Brian Barron, Vector's new vice president of manufacturing. Barron brings to Vector more than two decades of global automobile manufacturing experience, most recently at BMW Manufacturing and Lucid Motors, an automotive electric vehicle startup.

Barron will oversee manufacturing at Vector's upcoming state-of-the-art rocket manufacturing facility in Arizona, where Vector will draw upon the company's widespread passion for automobile racing to revolutionize the mass production of rockets much like the assembly production of Henry Ford's Model T once changed the automotive world. Using automated manufacturing processes, such as 3D printing, on its assembly line, Vector plans to scale full production of the Vector-R up to 100 rockets per year – a rate never before achieved in the traditional aerospace industry.

"Vector was influenced and shaped by the automotive industry, and we continue to see numerous parallels between automobiles and rockets," said Jim Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vector. "The systems and assembly techniques used to produce high-end, luxury cars is an approach we believe can easily be applied to build Vector's family of launch vehicles. By tapping Brian's expertise in this area, Vector will build rockets analogous with the methods used to mass produce cars, a carbon fiber Model-T as it were, enabling us to deliver on our goal of producing hundreds of launch vehicles per year."

Vector will transform the paradigm of how rockets are mass produced in a low cost and reliable manner, allowing Vector to reduce overall costs for buyers, much like the modern automobile. Leveraging Barron's extensive knowledge from his career in the automotive industry, Vector will establish high-volume aerospace manufacturing operations, including solidifying the manufacturing strategy and direction, selecting the required supply chain to provide high quality components, and recruiting the team to establish and run the manufacturing operations.

"Applying automotive manufacturing principles to the aerospace world is a vision that I share with Jim, and strongly believe in its ability to enable Vector to push the envelope for the industry," said Brian Barron, vice president of manufacturing at Vector. "I am honored to join the Vector team at such a pivotal stage in the company's growth and look forward to taking part in transforming how Vector will mass produce launch vehicles."

Before Vector, Barron spent nearly 20 years at BMW, where he held a variety of leadership roles and was responsible for thousands of employees, hundreds of workstations, and several assembly lines across the BMW Group. Prior to his latest role at Lucid Motors, Barron was director of operations at NIMR Automotive, a producer of wheeled military vehicles. In his role at NIMR Automotive in the United Arab Emirates, he was responsible for the entire automotive manufacturing operation for military and security vehicles. Barron is also a veteran of the United States Navy, where he served six years as a sonar technician and mainframe weapons/computer systems technician.

To learn more about the Vector-R launch vehicle, please visit: https://vector-launch.com/vector-r/.

About Vector:

Founded by the original founding team of SpaceX, Vector is a disruptive company that connects space startups and innovators with dedicated, affordable and reliable launch services, enabling platforms and vehicles to access space efficiently and in a more optimized way than ever before possible. For more information, visit http://www.vector-launch.com

SOURCE Vector

Related Links

https://www.vector-launch.com

