Gail McConnell of Collins Aerospace

Thursday 13 April 2023

I’m Gail McConnell and I work at the Kilkeel facility of global aircraft seating manufacturer, Collins Aerospace. My role within the company is Operational Excellence Manager within the interiors division.

Collins Aerospace, which is a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corporation is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and has over 78,000 employees across more than 300 locations globally. Within the Kilkeel facility, we currently have over 800 employees.

I graduated from university with a degree in Sports Studies with the intention of undertaking a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). I applied to Collins Aerospace for a summer job as a production operative on the shop floor, which consisted of building aircraft seating products for many global clients and 10 years later, I’m still working at the company having built myself a successful career.

The great thing about a career at Collins Aerospace is the progression opportunities that are available. I progressed from production operative to master assembly in operations and logistics, to Operational Excellence team lead before my most recent promotion in November 2022 to Operational Excellence Manager. Now I manage a team, consisting of Operational Excellence technicians and manufacturing engineers, and I’m also undertaking the Digital Transformation Toolbox course with Queen’s University in Belfast. This course will provide me with the tools and understanding that I need to lead the operations modernisation / Industry 4.0 team in the most effective way.

There is so much encouragement from management within the company to progress and go for opportunities and I have had great role models who’ve helped me develop my career. This has given me the confidence I’ve needed to push myself to the next level and it’s empowered me in my role to make the correct decisions for the company.

I have gained a wealth of experience during my time with Collins Aerospace, most recently in lean and more specifically, the line back logistics methodology and continuous improvement activities between operations and logistics. It is great to work as part of a forward-thinking company that is raising the standards in all aspects, particularly in my area of digitalisation and automation.

Outside of work, I enjoy playing hockey for my local team and given the beautiful part of the world that I live, I also regularly enjoy hiking in the Mourne Mountains.

To connect with Gail on LinkedIn, click here.