From Prototype to Production: What Modern A&D Manufacturers Have in Common

Scaling with Confidence in an Era of OTAs, Early Scrutiny, and American Built Mandates

Across aerospace and defense (A&D), innovation is no longer the bottleneck. Programs increasingly reward speed, experimentation, and rapid prototyping through OTAs (Other Transaction Authority) and commercial-first pathways.

What separates long-term winners is not the prototype. It is production readiness.

As programs scale, manufacturers face a convergence of pressures earlier than expected: rapid increases in volume, pricing volatility during iteration, audit and compliance scrutiny arriving sooner, and rising expectations for domestic supply chain confidence. Across Deltek customers operating in high-growth, regulated environments, the same operational patterns consistently emerge.

These patterns reveal what it takes to move from prototype success to defense-scale production with confidence.

Scale Production Without Losing Control

For emerging and mid-market A&D manufacturers, growth rarely follows a clean curve. Prototype wins turn into production commitments before systems, processes, or teams feel ready.

The organizations that scale successfully recognize early that growth is an operational challenge, not simply an increase in workload. They invest in planning, process redesign, and integration before scale forces their hand.

That mindset is reflected by Lexell Blue, which focused on redesigning how the organization operated before taking on additional volume. As Kelly Nighland, Partner at Lexell Blue, explains, “Through careful planning, process redesign, and integration improvements, we set the organization up to take on more work while meeting compliance requirements.”

In defense manufacturing environments, this same pattern appears when production systems, cost controls, and compliance are designed to scale together rather than being added later. Manufacturing customers such as Frontier Electronic Systems, UIC Government Solutions, and Leonardo DRS consistently highlight the importance of connecting production, cost visibility, and compliance early to avoid disruption as volumes and scrutiny increase.

Takeaway: Production scales successfully when cost, execution, and compliance mature together, not in phases.

When Pricing Volatility Becomes an Execution Risk

Rapid iteration creates pricing pressure. Requirements shift. Volumes change. Assumptions move faster than spreadsheets can keep up.

Manufacturers that treat pricing volatility as a downstream problem often discover it later as margin erosion, delivery strain, or rework. Those that address it early gain speed rather than lose it.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine experienced this firsthand as it brought discipline to an estimating process that had become difficult to manage at scale. Phil Knop, Director of Estimating Compliance, recalls initial skepticism internally, noting, “At first, people thought ProPricer was randomly piling on costs, but they quickly saw that ProPricer was properly enforcing the formulas and cost estimating relationships, preventing them from under-estimating prices. We definitely have a better handle on our costs and what our bids should be.”

With governed pricing in place, iteration accelerated rather than slowed. As Knop explains, “We bid another 10 ships using ProPricer in the time it would have taken us to bid 3 before.”

Takeaway: Pricing discipline enables speed. Ungoverned pricing creates downstream delivery risk and margin erosion.

Why Audit Readiness Can’t Wait for Scale

Fast-moving organizations often believe audit and compliance requirements will matter later, once production stabilizes. In reality, scrutiny arrives as soon as programs show promise.

Organizations that plan for this early preserve momentum. Those that do not are forced to divert attention away from delivery to assemble proof after the fact.

Adaptic LLC chose to design its operations with audit readiness in mind from the start. Aaron Solar, CFO and CIO of Adaptic, explains the rationale clearly: “We designed Adaptic to be audit-ready so no matter what is thrown at us, we are equipped to handle any type of requirement as they evolve. Running our business on Costpoint provides credibility as a subcontractor on a mature platform.”

Apogee Engineering took a similar approach, recognizing that security and compliance pressure would arrive earlier than expected as the organization scaled. Rather than treating compliance as a future problem, Apogee moved early to establish a secure, audit-ready foundation.

As Josh Reid, Director of Infrastructure Development at Apogee Engineering, explains, “[Costpoint] GCCM is an offering that allows us to not stress or worry about whether our data is being protected for us to meet regulations.”

At larger scale, Fluor Mission Solutions reinforces the same principle. As Katy Burnau, VP Mission Support, notes, “In today’s environment, you cannot overstate the importance of rigorous compliance and cybersecurity. Deltek gives us the confidence we need to conduct our business.”

Takeaway: Audit readiness is not a milestone. It is a posture that allows organizations to scale without fear of scrutiny.

Supply Chain Confidence Is Now a Production Requirement

As production scales, delivery risk increasingly shifts beyond the four walls of the manufacturer. The Build America Buy America Act, domestic sourcing requirements, and heightened supplier scrutiny mean supply chain readiness can no longer be assumed.

For A&D manufacturers, the question is no longer whether suppliers exist. It is whether supplier commitments, quality, and traceability can be proven under pressure.

Organizations that scale successfully treat supply chain visibility, supplier quality, and traceability as part of production readiness, not procurement cleanup.

Takeaway: Production confidence now depends on supplier accountability, traceability, and the ability to demonstrate domestic compliance as volumes increase.

Why This Matters Now

Programs like the Drone Dominance Gauntlet competition highlight this shift in real time, rewarding innovation early while accelerating the need for production readiness, pricing discipline, audit confidence, and supply chain proof.

These pressures are not unique to one program. They reflect a broader transformation underway across aerospace and defense manufacturing.

The organizations that succeed are not reacting to these forces. They are already operating with production readiness in mind.

Turning Production Pressure Into Performance

As production needs accelerate, most organizations layer on additional tools just to keep up. Deltek simplifies that complexity by unifying the entire prototype-to-production lifecycle. The Deltek Platform supports every step — from the earliest signal to full‑scale delivery — with built‑in intelligence, governance, and control. When your business depends on programs, each phase should build seamlessly on the one before it.

Win: Identify and Anticipate

• Production readiness begins long before an award.
  Market signals, OTAs, and prototype programs often reveal which opportunities will scale — and which will stall.
• Deltek brings market intelligence and governed pricing together so teams can pursue the right work and commit with confidence.

Plan: Price and Prepare

• Rapid iteration creates pricing volatility and delivery risk.
• Deltek embeds pricing discipline and capacity visibility before commitments are made — so production plans reflect real cost, supplier readiness, and operational constraints.

Execute: Operate Securely and at Scale

• As scrutiny increases, visibility must increase with it.
• Deltek provides a secure system of record that connects cost, labor, contracts, manufacturing, and quality — so execution stays controlled even as volumes rise.

Analyze: Control and Improve

• Scaled programs require cost–schedule–risk intelligence that surfaces issues early and strengthens future bids.
• Deltek connects performance insight across programs, helping leaders adjust before risk escalates.

Across this lifecycle, specialized capabilities — GovWin IQ, ProPricer, Costpoint GCCM, PPM, and TIP Technologies — operate as one connected platform, not disconnected tools.

Prototype success opens the door. Production readiness turns innovation into impact.