"Getting to Know Adam Pogue" Q&A

1. Your service extends back to Boeing days. Other than the obvious of divestiture from Boeing, talk about how the Wichita business has changed.

I have always been a bit of a Wichita historian. In fact, my wife and I live in Old Town. Aerospace and manufacturing have been at the core of Wichita business for almost 100 years, and Spirit remains an essential part of that. I would say the most significant changes at our Wichita site have been centered on automation. With the addition of things like the automated beam line, the GDLC, and the 5 Axis COE, today’s technology is changing many of our processes. But at the end of the day, it’s still our people who put the planes out the door!

2. What is the most important thing we should know about you?

I think it’s how much I truly care about the ongoing success of the Wichita site. My grandfather was a welder in Plant 1, constructing the frames of the Kaydet Trainer starting in 1931. I grew up on the floor as a plumber and pipe fitter, hiring in at 18 years old. This site, and the people that make this site what it is, have been a part of my life as long as I have been alive. It’s a big part of what made me who I am today.

3. What do you enjoy most about your current job?

The people and the products! The people in Defense & Space are incredible. Maybe it’s a different sense of pride and fulfillment building the products that protect our country and that of our allies. It just has a different level of excitement. And the products! There is cutting edge work going on in the organization that will set the course for how things get manufactured in the future. It’s pretty cool!

4. What makes you smile when you awaken each day?

If you know me, you know I’m always upbeat. Maybe it’s because after almost four decades here, I have never been in a situation where we didn’t pull together and find a way through! And there’s been some tough ones, going all the way back to 9/11. I still get to work with people every day I worked with over 30 years ago, and I find that amazing. I love sharing everything I’ve learned over the years and I love learning from today’s generation!

5. What book would you say has made the biggest impact on you?

Wow. That’s a tough one as I love to read. I would say “Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Viktor Frankl, where he writes about his own experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and searches for purpose in life. I read it after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., years ago, which was also very impactful on me. It opened my eyes and I have never been the same since.