Georgia Executive to Be Director of Rockwell’s New Corporate Operations Office

Rockwell International said Tuesday that it has created a new corporate operations office and chosen the former head of a Georgia division to head it.

The new office, which will work directly under Chairman Donald R. Beall, will oversee the company’s computer operations. It will “sharpen our focus on Rockwell’s activities and processes,” Beall said.

Its first director will be Senior Vice President Paul M. Smith, who is credited with turning the Tactical Systems Division in Duluth, Ga., into one of the best defense production plants in the nation, Rockwell said.

Among other changes, the company said it will rename its Strategic Defense Center in Seal Beach because of a shift in the Department of Defense’s stance of reducing funding on so-called “Star Wars” weapons, a 1980s-era program aimed at stopping full-scale nuclear missile attack.

The new center will be called the Systems Development Center. Its near-term emphasis will be on research for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, which focuses on regional defense rather than space-based weaponry aimed at protecting the entire nation.