'Saturday Reviews' Have Helped Industry, Says Gansler.

• Position: Brief Article - Interview

The "Saturday" meetings that Jacques S. Gansler asked defense industry executives to attend during the past two years have paid off, he said. Gansler is the outgoing defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

These meetings were triggered by failures by some top defense contractors to deliver products on time and on budget. At the time, Gansler said he would conduct "reviews" with the top four or five defense firms.

It was "the only way I could get all the senior people in the government to spend a day reviewing programs," he said during a breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C. The meetings, he said, weren't "geared toward punishment" for companies that weren't performing well, but to remind executives to focus more on customer satisfaction and less on...