The Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community
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Fleet Readiness Centers and NAVAIR Logistics and Industrial Operations
Strategic Planner Rear Adm. Mark F. Heinrich Commander Naval Supply Systems Command and Chief of Supply Corps
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March 2013 Volume 7, Issue 2
Exclusive Interview with: Rear Adm. CJ Jaynes Commander, U.S. Navy Fleet Readiness Centers, and Assistant Commander for NAVAIR Logistics and Industrial Operations
Ranking the 2012 Supply Chain Industry O Corrosion Control Unmanned Re-Supply
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MILITARY LOGISTICS FORUM
March 2013 Volume 7, Issue 2
Features
Cover / Q&A Fleet Readiness Centers and NAVAIR Logistics and Industrial Operations
Special Pull-Out Supplement
Exclusive interview with
Rear Admiral CJ Jaynes Commander U.S. Navy Fleet Readiness Centers and Assistant Commander for NAVAIR Logistics and Industrial Operations
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12
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As part of this 8th Annual Supply Chain Top 25 research, over 300 manufacturing companies were analyzed on supply chain financial metrics: return on assets, inventory turns and revenue growth. By Ray Barger Jr. and Jane Feitler
Corrosion has a profound impact on defense budgets. One study showed that the Navy spends one-quarter of its maintenance budget, around $7 billion per year, on corrosion. A 2010 report showed that the Department of Defense as a whole spent $23.2 billion, or 23 percent of its maintenance dollars, on corrosion. By Peter Buxbaum
Ranking the Supply Chain Industry in 2012
Rust Busters
7 Unmanned Re-Supply
The value proposition for unmanned supply is clear; is current technology up to the task? Unmanned supply options keep logisticians and others out of harm’s way and allow resupply in even critically hostile environments. By Henry Canaday
Departments
Industry Interview
2 Editor’s Perspective 3 Log Ops/People 10 Supply Chain 19 Resource Center
Greg Jaknunas
Electronics & Media Product Manager IHS
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Your single-source solution for material and services. www.SupplyCore.com
Rear Admiral Mark F. Heinrich
Commander Naval Supply Systems Command and Chief of Supply Corps
Given these mission sets, I believe our biggest challenge is the financial environment. We will rise to this challenge, proving our worth in a time when budgets are significantly cut. As the Navy’s business leaders, our people know how to stretch $1 into $10. - Rear Admiral Mark F. Heinrich
Military Logistics Forum Volume 7, Issue 2 • March 2013
Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community Editorial
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EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE Recent estimates are that DoD spent more than $171 billion on logistics— including supply chain management—in fiscal year 2011. A recent Government Accountability Office report looked at the department’s effort and process to improve its in-transit visibility. Since 1990, DoD’s supply chain management was identified as a high-risk area, and the GAO has previously reported that limitations in asset visibility—including the visibility of assets in transit—make it difficult to obtain timely and accurate information on the assets that are present in the theater of operations. DoD began working on a draft strategy for asset visibility and in-transit visibility. After comprehensive collaboration with the various components in the process, the strategy is expected to be completed in June 2013. Part of this process was that each Jeffrey D. McKaughan Editor-IN-CHIEF component was tasked with reporting on their plan of execution for its in-transit visibility efforts. The component reports are also to address the challenges or gaps and specific plans of action for addressing them. Some of the identified challenges include unmet delivery standards and timelines for cargo shipments; incomplete delivery data for many surface shipments; inadequate radio-frequency identification information to track all cargo movements to and within Afghanistan; lack of a common operating picture for distribution data that integrates DoD’s many transportation information systems; difficulties in collecting information on all incidents of pilferage of and damage to cargo; and ineffective tracking and managing of cargo containers. According to GAO, between the Joint Staff, U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Central Command, the Defense Logistics Agency and the military services there are 34 in-transit visibility efforts being conducted by the various components. The department has obligated about $701 million for fiscal years 2009 through 2011 for these efforts and projected about $455.3 million in costs to be incurred for fiscal years 2012 through 2015—a total of approximately $1.2 billion. One complication to a coordinated approach to better visibility is control. Based on information from the GAO, no single defense component could identify all of the efforts across the department or provide cost figures for them. Based on their analysis, 27 of the 34 efforts are each led and funded by a single defense component. For example, the Army leads and funds the Next Generation Wireless Communications effort, a wireless network that provides location, condition, and intrusion-detection information on DoD assets. Of the remaining seven efforts, each is co-led by two or more components. For example, TRANSCOM and the Defense Logistics Agency co-lead an effort to merge data from several sources into one system. Perhaps we need a visibility guru at the top of the pyramid.
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LOG OPS Bringing Together Solutions from Different Angles SAIC has announced the names for the businesses expected to be created in the latter half of this fiscal year following its planned separation into two independent, publicly traded companies, as announced August 30. The technical services and enterprise information technology (IT) business will continue the SAIC name, and the national security, health and engineering business will be named “Leidos”—a coined word, clipped from “kaleidoscope,” signifying how the company will bring together solutions from different angles, yielding innovative and effective solutions. “With this announcement, we take another step in the disciplined, deliberate process that will result in two world-class companies when our board approves the separation,” said Chairman and CEO John Jumper. “With the name Leidos, we signal that the company will deliver transforming technologies, analytics and cross-disciplinary insight for our customers to deliver realworld benefits at the speed the real world demands,” said SAIC COO Stu Shea, who will serve as president and chief operating officer of Leidos. “It’s a memorable word with dynamic connotations that capture the energy, talent and passion that our employees bring as they work to deliver solutions that protect our nation, our communities, and our families.” Continuing the SAIC name for the new services company will help enable future performance and success, according to Tony Moraco, SAIC’s future chief executive officer. “SAIC has brand equity built over 44 years of outstanding performance delivering for customers in technical services and enterprise IT, and we will capitalize on that,” he said. “We will be going to the marketplace with both a current success story and the beginning of a new era.” The separation is expected to occur in the latter half of the company’s fiscal year, pending final approval of SAIC’s Board of Directors. The name change is subject to stockholder approval.
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Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Aircraft Support AAI Logistics and Technical Services, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company, announced that it has been selected by Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support in Philadelphia, Pa., to deliver PBL support for the EA-6B Prowler, E2C Hawkeye, and C-2 Greyhound aircraft. The three-year base contract allows two one-year options and has a total potential value of $7 million over five years. Based in Jacksonville, Fla., AAI Logistics & Technical Services’ PBL program will provide logistical support for 110 hydraulic components utilized for aircraft. Services include forecasting demand, forecasting and scheduling repair activities with organic depots, managing and providing material in support of repair activities, warehousing, inventory management and reporting. “AAI Logistics and Technical Services has proudly served the U.S. Navy since 2005,” said Senior Vice President and General Manager Diane Giuliani. “During that time, we’ve delivered superb results with greater than 98 percent availability over the life of the contract, and 100 percent availability for the past 55 months straight. AAI Logistics and Technical Services’ PBL programs offer Department of Defense customers an opportunity to see immediate availability improvements for their legacy systems, with the affordability required in today’s budgetary climate.”
DLA Troop Support Meets Urgent Request A team of Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Medical personnel fulfilled a deploying Marine unit’s urgent request for lifesaving kits within 24 hours, a customer representative said. Partnering with DLA Finance at Philadelphia and DLA Distribution in New Cumberland, Pa., the team ensured the request for 15 combat lifesaver bags was processed, packed and shipped to the unit within 24 hours, Kim Angeny said. The CLB is a first-aid kit designed to save lives in a combat situation and is used by specially trained members of a unit. The kit includes components such as splints, decompression needles, chest dressings, survival blankets, tourniquets and nasal trumpets, among other specialty items. Angeny said the bags are stocked in the depot, but going through routine channels would have taken about one week for delivery to the unit, which is deploying in support of U.S. Southern Command. “The Marine unit was scheduled to deploy within the week, and immediate action was needed to ensure receipt before their deployment,” Angeny said. “Any delays could have resulted in a postponed mission departure or a lack of proper tools to accomplish the mission.” Roy Diaz, DLA liaison officer to U.S. Southern Command, said the DLA Troop Support Medical team far exceeded expectations given the short timeline. By Dena Selkow, DLA Troop Support
PEOPLE Brigadier General David C. Wesley, staff judge advocate, Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., has been transferred to staff judge advocate, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Renee Roman has been named the Defense Logistics Agency’s new chief of staff by DLA Director Navy Vice Admiral Mark Harnitchek. Roman took over as the agency’s interim chief of staff following the retirement of Fred Baillie in January. She previously served as DLA Logistics Operations’ executive director for support.
MLF 7.2 | 3
Ranking the Supply Chain Industry in 2012 By Ray Barger Jr. and Jane Feitler
Recommendations
This article summarizes 2012 research on aerospace and defense (A&D) top 25 supply chain companies’ performance. This is the fourth year we’ve listed the A&D top 25 firms. As part of our 8th Annual Supply Chain Top 25 research, over 300 manufacturing companies were analyzed on supply chain financial metrics: ROA [return on assets], inventory turns and revenue growth. To create a total composite score, 175 Gartner and industry supply chain peer opinions were included for each firm. Both A&D prime contractors and major subcontractors were included in the 2012 results. The goal of this research is to raise awareness of the supply chain discipline. It also describes how A&D companies are positioning their supply chains to cope with industry changes and we discuss key trends we are seeing in top A&D firms.
• Position for a continued demand shift to commercial aerospace and a transition to global defense in emerging markets. Reassess your core competencies— supply chain network design, including the use of A&D nearshoring—and the capacity and agility of your key suppliers. • Enhance “should cost” and overall costmanagement capabilities to estimate production and life cycle costs and to support segmentation trade-offs. • Assess your commercial industrial and defense supply bases using supplier segmentation to align business requirements with supplier relationships, performance measurements and master agreements. This will help reduce supplier risk and position your company to improve supply chain performance.
Key Findings
Analysis
Lockheed Martin topped the A&D ranking again in 2012, followed closely by Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing as the best prime contractor supply chain companies. United Technologies (UTC) and Rolls-Royce, both Tier 1 suppliers, had the best major subcontractor supply chains supporting the A&D primes. Changing market demand was reflected in flattened financial metrics for the Supply Chain Top 25 for A&D. In 2012, firms continued repositioning away from declining Western defense spending, and toward global defense and commercial aerospace markets. Fulfilling commercial backlogs continues to be constrained by talent availability and supplier capacity. A&D companies are struggling with project-based demand management processes as they seek to rebalance supply with increased commercial demand and reduced defense demand. Merger and acquisition activities, plus actual or announced defense program/platform terminations, are impacting firms’ industry positionings, growth opportunities and talent requirements.
As noted in 2011 Gartner Supply Chain Top 25: A&D, with aggregate Western defense demand being reduced and aerospace backlog increasing, the requirements for companies to effectively manage their supply chain strategies, capabilities and execution have never been greater. This trend is demonstrated by a drop in the three-year weighted average revenue growth for prime contractors from last year [see Table 1]. Lockheed Martin is once again ranked as the No. 1 A&D company in an industry where the overall A&D average composite score has remained flat year over year. Consistent with last year’s Supply Chain Top 25 for A&D, major subcontractors are broken out in our ranking. The past year has been challenging for the A&D companies on the Supply Chain Top 25, with mixed results: Prime contractor average metrics dropped, whereas subcontract average metrics improved, except inventory turns. Overall, year-over-year A&D average inventory turns dropped, and three-year weighted revenue growth moved lower. These trends confirm a transition to a slower growth period for U.S. Department of Defense and EU Ministry of Defense (MoD)
4 | MLF 7.2
defense prime contractors, while emerging market defense and commercial aerospace ramps up to address a multiyear backlog. Along with adjustments to R&D spending to boost organic growth, Gartner expects major primes and foremost subcontractors, e.g., UTC, to acquire other upstream suppliers as A&D primes and industrial companies seek to gain leverage and rebalance their global defense/commercial mix. Gartner 2012 Supply Chain Top 25: A&D 2012 A&D Rank
2011 Company A&D (in A&D Ranking) Rank Prime Contractors 1 1 Lockheed Martin 2 3 Northrop Grumman 3 2 Raytheon 4 6 Boeing 7 4 General Dynamics 8 5 BAE Systems 10 12 Bombardier 12 14 EADS 14 13 Finmeccanica Major Subcontractors 5 7 United Technologies 6 9 Rolls-Royce Group 9 N/R L-3 Communications 11 N/R Safran 13 8 ITT Exelis N/R = not rated
Six Key Capabilities for A&D In response to evolving market conditions, we find six key A&D capabilities that are impacting supply chains now and will continue to do so into 2013. [see table on page 6]
Looking Forward—Challengers We are closely watching the competitors: Rolls-Royce versus Safran. Both companies, which are diversified in A&D, but primarily focus on jet engine products and technologies, are well-positioned to benefit from the ramp-up in commercial aerospace platform deliveries in 2013 and beyond. Rolls-Royce was added to the Supply Chain Top 25 list of manufacturing companies last year, with Safran added this year. We look forward to seeing which company improves its Supply Chain Top 25 composite score the most by responding to industry demands. www.MLF-kmi.com
Key Capabilities in A&D Companies KEY CAPABILITY
DESCRIPTION
Rebalance Demand and Supply
Re-evaluate project-based demand management processes as part of rebalancing demand and supply.
Lockheed Martin is “right sizing” their business resources to align internal supply to reduced demand.
Cultivate more foreign commercial and defense opportunities, particularly in emerging markets.
Per Boeing’s recommendations, suppliers have nearshored operations in Mexico, shortening lead times and reducing transportation costs.
Review Supply Base
As part of supplier relationship management, reassess existing supply bases for global footprint, upside commercial and defense capacity, supplier risk and ITAR compliance, and greater future flexibility in sourcing.
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon manage suppliers via a dedicated portal with a common supplier master data for external vendors and associated users.
Assess Organization and Talent
Given the “graying” of existing talent, and challenges involved with hiring new talent, A&D companies need to reassess their talent skills/ mix, training and supply chain organization structures.
Raytheon transformation efforts include center-led strategic sourcing, talent management, and agile, affordable supply chain processes and solutions driven by performance metrics.
Cost reduction and support of internal collaboration on supply chain trade-offs are driving A&D companies to reassess their cost management capabilities and end-to-end cost models.
General Dynamics is implementing integrated engineering systems to reduce technology lifecycle costs.
Environmental compliance and leveraging green initiatives (such as green biofuels for aircraft) are essential to reputation, and also have the potential to contribute to long-term cost savings.
Safran and Honeywell’s Electric Green Taxiing System is being tested on Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
Develop Alliances and Nearshore Opportunities
Evaluate Cost Management Practices Build in Sustainability
The Challenge: A&D Supply Chains The past three years have seen a drop in A&D overall financial metrics and supply
EXAMPLES
chain peer recognition. The challenge for A&D companies is to lift their supply chain performance metrics and recognition by addressing the six key supply chain capabilities previously mentioned. We’ll recognize those companies
with the greatest gains in 2013. O Ray Barger Jr., CSCP, CPSM, BB; and Jane Feitler, PhD., are research directors Supply Chain Research, Gartner Inc.
THE TOP CHOICE OF SERVICEMEMBERS. People talk. And right now, they’re talking about AMU. Built upon student referrals, AMU is the global leader in education for the U.S. military. Offering more than 85 online degrees, from Business to Transportation Logistics, you can do anything you set your mind to — whether in the military or transitioning out.
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LEARN MORE AT WWW.AMUONLINE.COM/ML *As reported by Military Times/Edge Magazine We want you to make an informed decision about the university that’s right for you. For more about the graduation rate and median debt of students who completed each program, as well as other important information—visit www.APUS.edu/disclosure.
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American Military University MLF 7.2 | 5
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SYMPOSIUM AND EXPOSITION A Professional Development Forum
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The value proposition for unmanned supply is clear; is current technology up to the task? By Henry Canaday, MLF Correspondent
U.S. ground forces have been pushing ahead with techniques to re-supply troops via unmanned, partially manned or remotely controlled vehicles. These autonomous or semi-autonomous technologies exploit both air and ground vehicles. Start with an operating unmanned helicopter. “K-Max is designed specifically for aerial lift,” explained Eric Pratson, integrated product team leader for Cargo Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) at Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons. “K-Max commercial applications ... provide a proven, stable design for unmanned delivery of cargo to austere combat outposts.” www.MLF-kmi.com
K-Max is the only purpose-built, heavylift helicopter now in unmanned aerial vehicle configuration. “Its design allows it to be easily maintained with about 1.4 maintenance hours per flight hour, and it is reliable with a 94 percent mission capable rate,” Patson said. Intermeshing rotor blades yield low noise, aiding selfprotection. K-Max deployment was in its 14th month by early February 2013, having delivered over 2.7 million pounds of cargo and flown over 1,100 hours. “It will continue service in Afghanistan in support of deployed Marine Corps units for the foreseeable future,” Patson said. The K-Max deployment is the only unmanned capability funded by NAVAIR
now. “However, there is continued interest in cargo UAS capability,” Patson noted. All cargo supply by K-Max uses ground airports and ground-control stations. Making this system work at sea “would involve a fair amount of engineering effort.” “K-Max has been in Afghanistan since December 2011 and is going extremely well,” summarized Jim Naylor, director of business development for Lockheed Martin Aviation Systems. K-Max has flown more than 900 missions. “We have been extended to March 2013 and I expect will be extended until at least September 2013.” Naylor said K-Max has proved unmanned aerial supply of cargo and hopes the Marines or Army will want more of the capability. MLF 7.2 | 7
Lockheed also has a $47 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with the Army Aviation Technology Directorate to develop capabilities for unmanned re-supply that are platform-agnostic. The company has fielded one such capability, a beacon that can be left at a combat post to aid a UAS delivering a load. Lockheed also has a contract for autonomous aerial cargo utility systems (AACUS), not to build a new platform, but to take UAS cargo capabilities to the next level. “The aircraft will demonstrate supervised autonomy, which puts low-level decision-making in the hands of the aircraft, while a human maintains oversight,” Naylor explained. “The aircraft will have the ability to make decisions using intelligent logic.” The AACUS contract is in its first 18-month phase now,
with Lockheed and another firm competing for down-selection on the five-year program. Airborne Systems offers guided precision aerial delivery systems (GPADS), high-performance, lightweight gliding parachutes, and airborne guidance units loaded with autonomous navigation software. The six GPADS are MicroFly, FireFly, FlyClops, DragonFly, MegaFly and GigaFly. GPADS supports payloads of 200 pounds to 42,000 pounds. Most are certified for airdrops from up to 24,500 feet, while FlyClops supports payloads between 200 pounds to 2,200 pounds and is certified for airdrops from up to 17,500 feet. Combined with Airborne’s jTrax missionplanning software, GPADS delivers payloads precisely. It requires only impact coordinates and landing direction for precision delivery
SMSS Controlled from 200+ Miles Lockheed Martin recently completed a successful demonstration at Camp Grayling, Mich., in which its Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) was being controlled via satellite from more than 200 miles away. The SMSS vehicle conducted several battlefield surveillance operations while being controlled beyond line-of-sight via satellite from the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Mich. “These demonstrations allow the Army development communities to better understand capabilities available to them with SMSS right now,” said Joe Zinecker, director of combat maneuver systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “We are showing our customers innovative ways to employ SMSS vehicles in missions while demonstrating that we are ready to move from technology development to fielding these valuable and mature new capabilities.” The demonstration proved that the combination of autonomy, vehicle mobility, surveillance sensors and satellite communications can provide a means of battlefield situational awareness while keeping soldiers out of harm’s way. During the demonstration, SMSS was equipped with a Gyrocam 9M tactical surveillance sensor and a General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies “SATCOM on-the-move” system. SMSS incorporated an adjustable-height mast with the Gyrocam 9M, acquiring on-the-move, high-resolution electro-optical and thermal video. In testing, the SMSS movement and sensor functions were controlled from the remote station via teleoperation, demonstrating control of the vehicle through the satellite. In another simulated mission, the operator provided a pre-planned route and SMSS autonomy allowed navigation with minimal operator intervention, while other autonomous functions, such as follow-me, go-to-point and retro-traverse, were also demonstrated. Lockheed Martin conducted several demonstrations of the SMSS for the U.S. Army during 2012, outfitting the vehicle with different mission equipment packages to conduct logistics, counter-IED, mobility, dismounted-soldier support, and reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. Four SMSS vehicles were successfully tested by soldiers in Afghanistan in 2012 as transport and logistics vehicles to lighten the load for soldiers in combat operations. “The concept of an affordable common mobility platform coupled with specialized mission equipment packages is the right answer for UGVs to reduce development, production and sustainment costs, while providing maximum flexibility for commanders,” Zinecker said. “SMSS continues to demonstrate its readiness to move
into the next phase of the Army’s UGV roadmap.” 8 | MLF 7.2
from high altitudes and automatically steers itself to the destination. GPADS has a glide ratio, the ratio of forward motion to unpowered descent, of close to four-to-one and thus a very long range. Depending on weather conditions, GPADS can be dispatched from an aircraft over 20 kilometers from the landing area. GPADS accuracy is shown by its circular error probable (CEP), the radius of the circle around the target point within which a certain portion of drops will land. The MicroFly has a CEP of 100 to 150 meters for 80 percent of drops. The FireFly’s CEP is less than 150 meters for 80 percent. The equivalent CEP for FlyClops is also 150 meters and for DragonFly it is less than 250 meters. Both MicroFly and DragonFly have been fielded to U.S. forces. Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology (MMIST) makes next-generation parachutes and UASs for cargo, said Alexandre Cote, Sherpa Product Manager. Two main products are Sherpa and Snowgoose. Sherpa is dropped from an aircraft and flies to the target as a parachute re-supply system. It is capable of high-altitude lowopening operation (HALO): dropping from up to 35,000 feet and 20 miles from the target to keep the aircraft safe. It can do a vertical free-fall and then deploy the parachute, or can be dropped with a significant offset from the target. Sherpa parachutes carry from 100 to 10,000 pounds. Thirdgeneration Sherpa parachutes are now being used by the Marines and Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Cote said one big advantage of Sherpa is that it is the only HALO system that can do free-falls over long distances and up to 35,000 feet. Further, Sherpas are modular systems in which one guidance system fits differently sized parachutes, easing logistic burdens. And MMIST’s Skylink allows parachuting soldiers to have situational awareness on screens and to control a Sherpa in-flight. Snowgoose is an unmanned aerial vehicle, a rotorcraft that can fly to the target after being launched from either ground or airborne platforms. It is a fully autonomous delivery system for payloads up to 575 pounds. A Bravo version of Snowgoose has vertical take-off and near-vertical-landing capability. Bravo can be operated from unprepared launch and landing sites. The Bravo Snowgoose has more than twice the wind penetration, twice the range in zero www.MLF-kmi.com
winds and four times the range in 15-knot headwinds as the standard Snowgoose. Unmanned re-supply on the ground is also advancing. For example, TerraMax unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) technology started out with a practical challenge. “IEDs were a big danger, so could we make an unmanned truck drive into the danger of the front line?” recalled John Bryant, vice president and general manager of Joint and Marine Corps programs at Oshkosh Defense. “We worked with the government since 2004 to demonstrate a fieldable kit, and the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to allow a commander to replace operators in the most dangerous part of convoy.” TerraMax allows standoff control of tactical wheeled vehicles. Inserted in the vehicle, the system allows the truck to appear much as a manned vehicle. A dashboard switch converts the vehicle to manned or unmanned operation in an instant. The technology works in day or night and in adverse weather, such as dust, snow or fog. “It started with the 2004 DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] challenge,” explained John Beck, Oshkosh’s chief unmanned systems engineer. “We have continually refined it as computers have become more powerful and rugged.” TerraMax recently completed tests as a cargo UGV for the Marine Warfighting Laboratory. It was installed on two MK25 variants of the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement, of which Oshkosh has delivered more than 11,000. “They looked at TTPs and concept of operations and were able to use a single operator to replace six people,” Beck said. TerraMax has 3-D situation awareness, its computer recognizing and understanding road edges, grades and potholes. “It can see the road without an obstacle, then put the obstacle back and classify it as a real roadblock, like a rock, or not a real [roadblock], like vegetation,” Beck said. In fog, TerraMax slows vehicles down like a human operator and can use a map to find its location without GPS. The Marine Corps is now deciding whether to do more tests at another laboratory, for example at the Office of Naval Research. Oshkosh could deliver it today, but continues to refine algorithms. Beck said the Army is also interested. Bryant says the safety of manned vehicles could be improved by TerraMax technologies www.MLF-kmi.com
such as stability control, collision avoidance, anti-lock brakes and sensors. Although the Marines want TerraMax for its semiautonomous capabilities, it could also be installed on vehicles to deliver cargo in full autonomous mode. Torc provides the ground unmanned support surrogate (GUSS), optionally manned autonomous vehicles that lighten the load of dismounted warfighters and aid casualty evacuation. GUSS can carry 1,800 pounds and reach autonomous speeds up to 10 miles per hour, about the speed of dismounted warfighters, over a variety of off-road terrain. GUSS uses the capabilities of Torc’s unmanned conversion kits: by wire, tele-op and through autonomy. Autonomous GUSS navigation has the capability of manned vehicles through perception, planning and control architecture. Using onboard sensors, GUSS detects and classifies its environment similarly to the way drivers see objects. GUSS plans around obstacles and determines an optimal path to its objective similarly to the way humans plan. And GUSS actuates throttle pedals, steering and other controls of the vehicle similarly to how drivers control speed and steering. Unlike some other autonomous ground vehicles, GUSS does not require continuous GPS for operation. Torc’s WaySight is a simple handheld control unit with three buttons. With the first button the operator can rotate WaySight for remote control. The second button makes GUSS follow the dismounted warfighter at a standoff distance. The last button enables the operator to sight a waypoint, through a monocular scope, for GUSS to autonomously achieve. During the Enhanced Marine air-ground task force Operations Limited Objective Experiment 2.2 in summer 2012, Marines operated GUSS in dismounted operations, including long-range patrols, point-to-point re-supply, tactical evacuation and line-ofsight reconnaissance. GUSS-variants are also being used in counter-IED, sample collection, reconnaissance, mobile mapping and runway assessment. Elizabeth Carlson, project lead for GUSS at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Unmanned and Robotic Systems Branch, said, “GUSS is an extremely capable autonomous vehicle that can perceive and classify objects in a completely unstructured environment and in GPS-denied conditions. A technology like this could be instrumental in how Marines of the future fight.”
Boston Dynamics has been developing robots for rugged terrain, explained President Marc Raibert. The first, BigDog, was a research-and-development project to prove that a robot with legs could actually improve mobility in terrain where wheeled and tracked robots cannot go. The current effort, LS3, Legged Squad Support System, is more of a mission-focused robot. “It is not fully autonomous currently, but might eventually be turned into a fully autonomous system,” Raibert said. “At present LS3 is meant to semi-autonomously follow Marines as they maneuver in rough terrain, carry a load and thus lighten the load on the dismounted Marines.” The firm has been working on LS3 with support from DARPA and the Marine Warfighting Laboratory for a couple of years and now has two prototype units. “We just returned from field testing a month ago and we are planning the next field test at Twentynine Palms later this year,” Raibert said. LS3 would inter-operate with Marine squads and might deliver materials in dangerous areas. It has some autonomy now and four different sensors, including light detection and ranging and several types of cameras. LS3 is designed to carry a 400-pound payload 20 miles on a 24-hour mission. It automatically follows a leader using computer vision or could travel to designated locations using sensing and GPS. Packing matters in any re-supply, manned or unmanned. Pikes Peak Cargo Secure makes cargo straps and collapsible containers and was the only pure-logistics company invited to make a presentation at a cargo unmanned aircraft systems day hosted by the U.S. Army Logistics Innovation Agency in early 2012. Vice President of Business Development Brad Brackel said PPCS did a presentation on its most popular product, the TL-FICCS (Flexible Integrated Collapsible Container System), of which it has sold thousands to the Army. “It is ideal for unmanned resupply,” Brackel said. “It is light, 57 pounds, so it can be air-dropped. It can be used on anything from an all-terrain vehicle to a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck. It is made like a Lego so it does not take up much space.” O
For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.
MLF 7.2 | 9
SUPPLY CHAIN
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Long-Term Support of the Halverson Loader Air Force Materiel Command has issued a draft request for proposal, in support of a potential Halvorsen contractor logistics support (CLS) acquisition. The Halvorsen is a selfpropelled 25,000 pound capacity designed to transfer loads to and from warehouses, and to and from cargo aircraft on the flightline. The Halvorsen interfaces with docks in warehouses and all Air Force cargo aircraft, including many commercial Civil Reserve Air Fleet aircraft. The loader’s powered conveyor system moves loads on unit load devices: pallets, platforms and containers. The Halvorsen was designed for a service life of 30 years with a maximum of two overhauls.
Improved Cargo Handling for Rota Naval Air Station To improve cargo handling capability, the Navy is looking to install a new mechanized materials handling system at the air cargo facility at Rota Naval Air Station, Spain. The system includes pallet lifts, non-powered 463L pallet conveyor, and electric 463L pallet jacks. The air cargo handling system will be used to build up, break down, store, stage, and transfer air cargo pallets and pallet trains. Single pallet outbound cargo will be assembled and built-up on a pallet on the pallet lifts, transferred to a ball transfer conveyor, and then transferred to a staging dock conveyor (SDC). Some outbound pallets will arrive built-up from other locations and will enter the system via forklift at the pallet lifts before being transferred to an SDC. Inbound pallets are transferred from a K-loader onto an SDC. Finally, the inbound pallet is transferred to a pallet lift so the pallet can be broken down and the cargo removed. Some inbound pallets will leave built-up by truck and will be transferred from the pallet lift to the truck dock by an electric 463L pallet jack or 10k forklift.
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The Air Force does not own the technical data for the Halvorsen loader; therefore, the contractor will be required through reverse engineering to develop and deliver a technical data package (TDP) to the Air Force. The contractor will use and maintain the TDP as part of the lifecycle management of the Halvorsen weapon system. OEM/vendor exclusivity agreements, patents, foreign content and licenses may exist; however, the level and extent are unknown. Operator and field maintenance manuals are available subject to limited data rights. The contractor will tear down and rebuild two loaders and develop a Halvorsen overhaul instructions manual for manufacturing
to qualify and accomplish future overhauls. The contractor will be expected to conduct depot overhaul on up to 50 loaders each year. The contractor will address structural abnormalities and non-standard repairs as they are discovered.
Side Connector Updates The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Expeditionary Program Office has a requirement for the overhaul, repair and fabrication of two sets of side connectors for the improved Navy lighterage system (INLS). A side connector set consists of 20 side connector assemblies, one removable hydraulic cart and three ISO containers. The INLS systems that use the connectors include the roll-on/roll-off discharge facility and the floating causeway system. The three primary worksites are Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story, Va.; Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Calif.; and Blount Island Command, Jacksonville, Fla. These parts will be used for the overhaul effort or kept as a rotatable pool of spare parts.
Point-of-Use Vending Solutions CribMaster, a provider of solutions for managing indirect materials, announced a new addition to its line of traditional point-of-use vending solutions. “We designed the ProLock to provide control, security and hassle-free distribution in managing returnable assets or high-use consumable items,” said Larry Harper, CribMaster president. “Our goal was to develop a flexible system that would automate the process and establish basic accountability for monitoring the usage for an array of MRO items. We strive to have the right inventory management solution regardless of the processes or business culture.” The ProLock is a small footprint storage cabinet, available in either 24- or 12-door models. Each locker has configurable shelves allowing for easy on-site customization to
expand for larger items. The clear doors on each locker combined with white interior provide easy visibility of the stored inventory. The authorized user simply self-authenticates, selects the required item on the touch screen, and the electronic door lock opens for easy access to the item. The software-driven locker system immediately records the transaction, indicating when the tool was issued, when it was returned and who was accountable. The system also tracks usage by cost center, reduces stock outs, eliminates theft and increases employee accountability. CribMaster software driving the ProLock vending system contains the functionality needed to manage any type of indirect material, from tooling, spare parts inventory, PPE and MRO.
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Readiness Maintainer Rear Adm. CJ Jaynes Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers NAVAIR Assistant Commander for Logistics & Industrial Operations
2013
U.S. NAVY NAVAL AIR System COMMAND
U.S. Navy naval Air systems command
Readiness Maintainer
Q& A
Supporting Strategic Priorities: Future Capability, Current Readiness and People Rear Admiral CJ Jaynes Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers NAVAIR Assistant Commander for Logistics & Industrial Operations Rear Admiral CJ Jaynes is serving as commander, Fleet Readiness Centers, and as the assistant commander for Logistics and Industrial Operations, Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR) Command. She is responsible for seven fleet readiness centers engaged in aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul services for the naval aviation enterprise; and for overseeing logistics support efforts for both fielded and developmental aviation systems. Jaynes graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics education, followed by a master’s degree in mathematics in 1982. She was commissioned in March 1983 via the Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., and was designated an aeronautical engineering (maintenance) duty officer in 1985. She was designated an Acquisition Professional Community member in 1996 and received a Master in Business Administration from Norwich University in 2008. Operational tours include: Training Squadron (VT) 86 in Pensacola, Fla.; Patrol Squadron (VP) Five in Jacksonville, Fla.; Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, Mayport, Fla.; Commander Helicopter Wings Atlantic, Jacksonville; Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance department, Diego Garcia; and officer-in-charge, Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Pacific, Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment in Lemoore, Calif. Jaynes completed the Naval War College Command and Staff (non-resident) program in 1995, and earned a Systems Engineering Certification from California Institute of Technology Industrial Relations Center in 1999. Her awards include the Legion of Merit (two), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (four), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal (with Service Star), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and numerous unit awards. She is authorized to wear the Professional Aviation Maintenance Officer Warfare insignia. Q: The Air 6.0 Strategic Plan is described as defining the command’s long-term priorities and goals. How would you characterize the plan to date? A: The Air 6.0 Strategic Plan is developed through a systematic and collaborative process, which included gaining input from PEO, PMA, fleet customers and other stakeholders; performing an in-depth assessment of our external environment; and taking a more introspective look at the effectiveness of our internal operations. www.MLF-kmi.com
The Plan serves as my direction for AIR-6.0 and includes goals, objectives and long-term priorities which will align our activities across the national organization, in support of strategic priorities that include future capability, current readiness and people. Future Capability ensures logistics and sustainment considerations are incorporated early into the design and development of aviation weapons systems, delivering more affordable and supportable capabilities. We support this strategic objective by engaging NAE [Naval Aviation Enterprise] stakeholders throughout the acquisition phase, determining, articulating and properly incentivizing supportability in procurement strategies, and by developing innovative and affordable support strategies for new and transitioning weapons platforms. The success of future capability includes identifying risks for logistics programs at Pre-MS B and Pre-MS C, conducting comprehensive support system design reviews and determining suitability and pre-determined operational requirement through OPEVALS. The goal of current readiness is to sustain and improve fielded logistics and maintenance support systems to ensure aviation war fighting assets meet the Navy and Marine Corps’ demand for aircraft ready for tasking, at the lowest possible cost. Strategic objectives that support this goal include: delivering products and services to all program and fleet customers on time and at the lowest possible cost; communicating in-service resources, including manpower and investments needed U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command | MLF 7.2 | 1
U.S. Navy naval Air systems command NAVAIR SYSCOM
2013
Vice Adm. David Dunaway Commander
Garry Newton Deputy Commander
Rear Adm. Kirby Miller Vice Commander
Cmd. Master Chief Bret A. Joel
Program Executive Officers
Rear Adm. Paul Grosklags Air ASW, Assault & Special Mission Programs
Rear Adm. Donald Gaddis Tactical Aircraft Programs
Rear Adm. Mathias W. Winter Unmanned Aviation & Strike Weapons
Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan F-35 Lightning II Program
NAVAIR COMPETENCIES
Keith Sanders Acquisition Executive Program Management
Rear Adm. Paul Sohl Assistant Commander Test & Evaluation; Commander, NAWC Weapons Division
Diane Balderson Assistant Commander Contracts
Rear Adm. CJ Jaynes Division Commander Fleet Readiness Centers and Assistant Commander for Logistics & Industrial Operations
Rear Adm. Mark W. Darrah Assistant Commander Research & Engineering; Commander NAWC Aircraft Division
Gary Kurtz Assistant Commander Corporate Operations & Total Force
Logistics & industrial operations
Vacant Deputy Assistant Commander
Capt. (select) Bob Farmer Executive Director
Dennis West Deputy Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers/Director Industrial Operations
Toni Meier Director Logistics Management Integration Department
Tracy Moran Director Industrial & Logistics Maintenance Planning/Sustainment Department
Dan Nega Director Aviation Readiness & Resource Analysis Department
U.S. Navy naval Air systems command to ensure safety and readiness levels are achieved; developing robust capabilities to analyze the performance of our supported systems and resulting impacts to total ownership costs and readiness, within and across T/M/S teams; and to identify, develop and implement solutions to improve in-service logistics support processes and maintenance practices that support supportability, maintainability and affordability of our aircraft, weapons and related systems. Markers that indicate success include key measures such as cost-reduction proposals, return on investment, the implementation of non-material support systems and response turnaround time to fleet-reported support system deficiencies. Our people are our most important resource. Our goal is to attract, retain and develop our workforce to meet 21st-century naval aviation challenges. In doing so, we promote an environment that values innovation, diversity and achievement of both individual and team excellence. We also ensure our workforce has the skills needed to support current and long-term needs of the USN/USMC, with a focus on improving logistics technical training and increasing knowledge of continuous process improvement. Q: What are Naval Aviation Enterprise’s major challenges? A: Our national defense strategy has revolved around several enduring security interests: defense of the homeland, assured access to sea, air space and cyberspace, while preserving a balance of power to prevent authoritarian domination of any region. Recent global trends that challenge those interests include the threat of violent extremism and terrorism, the rise of new global powers in Asia, the continued struggle for power in the Middle East, accelerating competition for resources, the problem of failed states, and the rapid diffusion of technology. To meet these challenges, naval aviation leadership has focused on sustaining our capability superiority, ensuring wholeness in naval aviation and maintaining sufficient capacity to meet strategic demand. We envision a family of core capabilities centered on the carrier and its embarked air wing, supported by long-range maritime patrol platforms that extend the reach of sea control, both on and under the surface. We are on the verge of introducing new capabilities and concepts that will sustain our maritime air superiority through 2030. By sustaining our technological edge and using an evolutionary approach to integrate multiple generations of platforms and payloads, we will be able to deliver state-of-the-art war fighting capability when and where needed. We are also on the leading edge of achieving revolutionary changes in capability and operating concepts that include, most notably, unmanned aerial systems as well as fifth-generation lowobservable strike-fighters. To successfully perform our full range of missions, we also must organize, man, train and equip naval aviation as a whole. Responsibly managing our resources will be central to ensuring maritime air superiority. We have embraced affordability, which is generally driven by two elements: the acquisition cost to develop and procure the platforms and their capabilities, and the cost to man, operate and maintain them over their service life. Our approach to conducting business in an enterprise manner gives us the tools to make this happen. We have pioneered operations and maintenance cost reductions through cost-wise readiness initiatives that have included reductions in manpower and logistics and supply chain management, as well as training and readiness efficiencies. Maintaining sufficient capacity has two elements. Our aircraft carrier and air wing aggregate capacity, or force structure, is a matter of 4 | MLF 7.2 | U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command
national policy and is currently mandated by law to maintain 11 carriers and 10 carrier air wings. Operational capacity, however, is the quantity of capabilities that can be brought to bear by a given naval aviation force, and is determined by the number of aircraft within a squadron and the number of aircrews available. Additionally, MH-60 R/S helicopters will complement the air wing by providing capabilities ideally suited to neutralizing a variety of surface and subsurface threats while providing search and rescue and logistics support. Our unmanned platforms will give us our first persistent, organic carrier-based intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting capabilities. Naval aviation remains rooted in the concepts of sea control and the projection of power, influence and deterrence from the sea. The aircraft carrier and its embarked air wing have been key naval and joint enablers since the Battle of Midway in 1942 and will continue to be so in 2025 and beyond. We will adjust to meet the demands of today’s environment, but we will remain focused on systematically establishing an enduring, affordable, lethal and adaptable approach to meet and shape strategic objectives. We will continue to operate forward with revolutionary new capabilities designed to deal with future threats in an increasingly contested operating environment. Q: Where is the Navy element to the Global Combat Support System and how do you communicate with the other services? A: The Global Command Support System Combatant Command Joint Task Force [GCSS CC/JTF] was developed by the Defense Information Systems Agency to respond to the operational concept of Focused Logistics articulated in Joint Vision 2020. Focused Logistics is the fusion of logistics information and transportation technologies for rapid crisis response; deployment and sustainment; the ability to track and shift units, equipment and supplies; and the delivery of tailored logistic packages directly to the warfighter. The GCSS delivers accurate, timely and relevant information to the joint logistics warfighter. The system operates in a web-centric and net-centric environment to provide information to authorized users regardless of geographic location and enables asset visibility from disparate authoritative data sources to provide the warfighter an integrated picture of the battlespace. The Navy, along with the other services, works jointly to ensure that the right personnel, equipment, supplies and support are in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities across the full spectrum of military operations. Q: What is your command’s role in managing aging and legacy aircraft? A: We continue to examine solutions to traditional aging aircraft issues as legacy aircraft operate near or beyond their original design service life. As this dynamic plays out and average age continues to rise, addressing the issues related to aging aircraft becomes more and more important in order to maintain acceptable force numbers, readiness levels and aircraft maintainability. Our command’s role is to strike a balance in supporting legacy aircraft while expanding our scope by considering air worthiness, examining the entire fleet life cycle while supporting new aircraft entering the fleet. Our charter is to ensure that fielding and sustainment costs are thoroughly vetted throughout the early stages of development and our www.MLF-kmi.com
U.S. Navy naval Air systems command maintenance strategy is supportable and cost effective. Additionally, we examine the designs of yesterday, including life extension consideration and implementation, while supporting the development of new technology including improved materials, structures, systems and processes. Q: What are some tangible examples of public-private partnerships? A: Another element of NAE PBL successes is depot partnerships. The NAE PBLs encourage public-private partnerships [PPPs] to attain desired performance outcomes. Nineteen PPPs have been awarded with more in process. PPPs are an effective use of NAE depot expertise that allows sharing of best practices, while satisfying statutory requirements which specify continuing organic depot repair capability and workload. PPPs combine unparalleled depot artisan “touch labor” expertise, and the engineering and supply chain proficiency of industry and third party logistics providers. There have been several examples of successful PPPs in which the innovation and responsiveness of private industry has collaborated with the expertise and capacity of one of our fleet readiness centers. One example was the repair and upgrade of lasers installed in forward looking infrared [FLIR], turrets which are utilized on military aircraft to detect, identify and track tactical targets. Fleet Readiness Center Southeast worked with Northrop Grumman Laser Systems based in Apopka, Fla. The two groups trained together and shared skills and resources while working as a team in establishing dual repair capabilities. The collaborative efforts resulted in accelerated repair cycle times and an increase of 36 ready-for-issue FLIR turrets produced annually.
The future of PBL will also entail more joint and enterprise sustainment, and the NAE is working with USD AT&L staff, the other services and DLA to pursue PBLs across DoD and international partner enterprise that will consolidate multiple contracts with the same OEMs to gain further efficiencies, with potentially significant savings. The NAE is actively involved in an ASD L&MR pilot enterprise PBL program for APUs. Q: How do you manage, control and maintain the right level of inventory so that it never negatively impacts readiness? A: Managing, controlling and maintaining the optimum level of inventory within fiscal constraints demands close coordination across the NAE. This coordination must be especially close between NAVAIR, the FRCs, DLA and NAVSUP Weapons Systems Support. Inventory stock posture and budgetary decisions are based primarily on historical demand and complex forecasting models. However, new airframes, and airframes like the F/A-18 that are exceeding their expected number of flight hours, require close coordination to anticipate material requirements and build future budgets. Anticipating material needs and collaborating with our supply chain partners [NAVSUP and DLA] enables them to obtain material within required logistics response times and budget. Building a timely and accurate forecast is essential for the NAE to communicate material demands while carefully operating within a constrained budgetary environment. Our ability to apply an enterprise approach with our supply chain partners is a key ingredient in our long-term success.
Q: Do you see PBLs rising favor? Q: What is the status of the Logistics University? A: We anticipate more performance-based support strategies in the future. The alternative to PBL or outcome-based strategies is the traditional transactional business model where we pay for each repair, spare or reliability improvement instead of purchasing sub-system or component availability. In lieu of buying individual parts or supplies, PBL is buying a comprehensive, performance-based support package with guaranteed availability, improved reliability, obsolescence management, and other desired integrated product support elements. The NAE specifies the outcome and the PBL provider figures out the best way to deliver it. The long-term nature of PBL contracts promotes and facilitates supplier material management, encourages technology infusion, and enables other return on investment decisions not possible with traditional transactional support vehicles. USD AT&L released the “Endorsement of Next-Generation PBL Strategies” memo, May 14, 2012, spearheading an effort focused on enabling broader, more effective implementation of PBLs across the inventory of DoD platforms, sub-systems and components. Additionally, the USD AT&L “Better Buying Power 2.0” memo, November 13, 2012, includes an initiative to increase effective use of PBL, citing sufficient data on the effectiveness of PBL at reducing cost and improving support performance. Recent PBL awards demonstrate the coordination achieved in the process [APU TLS, H-60 T2T, V-22 Joint PBL]. Lessons learned from these awards are the NAE template for PBL going forward and have been passed to the USD AT&L Next-Generation PBL IPT, which is developing a repeatable, standardized approach to PBL across the services. Most of the NAE’s major programs, including the V-22, H-60, P-8 and H-53 programs, either have PBLs in place or are developing a PBL strategy. www.MLF-kmi.com
A: One of the key enablers in achieving our goals is having a skilled and diverse workforce. Logistics University, or LogU, has been established to do just that. The successful setup of LogU and its customized learning programs has required several different elements to come together as a unified whole. The creation of LogU’s mission, mission statement and goals has been established. A strategic learning plan has been drafted that encompasses such elements as program curriculum, structure and organizational readiness. This document will then be used to create LogU’s educational programs and related courses, and curriculum. We have built a fundamentals course that addresses our organization and culture. We are currently developing a communication venue where written/oral/visual communication skills and techniques will be taught. We have built a toolkit to assist our employees with everyday questions from protocols and military traditions to what product support activities, documents and decisions require the participation of the logistician. The latter is provided in a Job Aid entitled Navigate Logistics. The Navigate Logistics Job Aid provides the AIR-6.0 logistics community the ability to access logistics related information from a wide variety of sources quickly and easily, in an easy-to-use PDF format. Each product support element [PSE] is displayed as an interactive image and can be clicked to learn more about the logistics responsibilities for that PSE, along with the relevant tools, issuances, references and associated training. We are currently establishing a LogU COI where an employee can go to take online courses, enroll in classroom courses, access the toolkit and provide feedback to leadership. O U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command | MLF 7.2 | 5
SUPPLY CHAIN
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Corrosion Sensing Technology
Naval Aviation Center for Rotorcraft Advancement (NACRA) Technology Demonstration and Development teams have joined industry partner Luna Innovations Inc., to test and demonstrate integrated corrosion sensing technology. “We estimate 90 percent of an aircraft’s total ownership cost occurs after delivery,” said Ashley Morgan, NACRA’s technology project coordinator. “More than 30 percent of that is due to corrosion and those costs escalate as the aircraft ages.”
But more importantly, Morgan asserted, the issue is safety. “Corrosion can alter residual strength and structural integrity,” Morgan said. “If you can put sensors in the aircraft structure for early detection and take appropriate corrosion mitigation actions, you can decrease overall downtime and expense, not to mention add a higher degree of safety,” said NACRA’s resident materials expert Dr. Suresh Verma. Enter NACRA’s corrosion sensor project that extends development efforts initiated through the Navy’s Small Business Innovation Research Program. “We installed a combined wired and wireless corrosion monitoring system provided by Luna with installation design provided by Wyle on our UH-1N testbed helicopter in July 2012 and have been flying it as a ‘ride-along’ with our other project work,” Morgan said. “With this technology installed, we can track environmental exposure and specific conditions at corrosion hot-spots as a function of time, using inputs from various environmental and corrosivity sensors.”
Specifically, the project measures air and surface temperatures, relative humidity, solution resistance and polarization resistance to predict aluminum corrosive activity. Morgan said the aircraft sensors gathered and stored this environmental data that test engineers sent to Luna for analysis. “Data from the wired sensors and the wireless sensor hub were used to classify corrosivity within the airframe and the environmental measurements were strongly correlated to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather station data,” said Luna’s Dr. Fritz Friedersdorf, director of intelligence systems. “This project and the resulting data contributed to the Air Force ordering a total of 20 of these systems for demonstration on Air Force H-60s,” Friedersdorf said. “The first set will be installed the week of February 18, 2013. This would not have been possible without the Navy’s support and the availability of the NACRA test bed aircraft.” The project is scheduled to fly on the NACRA testbed indefinitely.
Global Hawk Sustainment Program Recognized The U.S. Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft program was recently awarded the 2012 Dr. James G. Roche Sustainment Excellence Award for demonstrating the most improved performance in aircraft maintenance and logistics readiness. Northrop Grumman Corporation is the prime contractor for the high-flying fleet of Global Hawks. “Even with a year marked with fiscal challenges and heightened operations tempo, the Global Hawk government-industry team was able to increase aircraft mission capability by 26 percent in fiscal year 2012. This increase allowed the Global Hawk team to execute and fly more than 13,400 hours last year,” said George Guerra, vice president of the Global Hawk program for Northrop Grumman’s
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Aerospace Systems sector. “This prestigious award signifies that the entire team is constantly striving to improve in every area and doing everything we can to support U.S. and allied troops.” “Congratulations to Northrop Grumman for ensuring our warfighters are equipped with a system that is ready and available when they need it,” said Colonel Carlin Heimann, Global Hawk system program director for the U.S. Air Force. “It is encouraging to be recognized at Air Force levels for the contributions this team makes to improving Global Hawk reliability and sustainability. This will always be a joint government-contractor effort and together we earned this award, which is a reminder that we have our priorities right.”
MLF 7.2 | 11
Strategic Planner
Q& A
Meeting Strategic Goals to Manage an Effective Supply Chain
Rear Admiral Mark F. Heinrich Commander Naval Supply Systems Command and Chief of Supply Corps
Rear Admiral Mark F. Heinrich became commander, Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) and 46th Chief of Supply Corps on July 22, 2011. Previously, he served as commander, NAVSUP Global Logistics Support headquartered in San Diego, Calif. Heinrich’s additional flag officer assignments include extensive joint experience. He served as director, Logistics Operations and Readiness (J-3/4) for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va. He deployed to Kuwait from June to December 2008 as director of the United States Central Command Deployment and Distribution Operations Center at Camp Arifjan, where he applied deployment and distribution expertise to enable the planning and execution of joint and combined force military operations. His first flag officer assignment was as commander, Defense Supply Center Richmond, Va., the lead supply center for aviation within DLA. The center is now known as DLA Aviation. Heinrich is a native of southern California. He was commissioned in the Navy Supply Corps following graduation from the Naval Academy in May 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. He also holds master’s degrees in business administration and petroleum management from the University of Kansas. He is also a graduate of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management Advanced Executive Program. He is a member of the Defense Acquisition Corps. Heinrich’s sea tours included duties as assistant supply officer of USS Kinkaid (DD 965), and supply officer of USS Gridley (CG 21) and USS Constellation (CV 64). His additional shore assignments included serving as force supply officer on the staff of Commander, Naval Surface Forces; commanding officer of the Naval Petroleum Office; supply officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island; executive assistant to the commander, Naval Information Systems Management Center; and special assistant for pollution prevention and compliance in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment). 12 | MLF 7.2
His personal decorations include two Defense Superior Service Medals, two Legions of Merit, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and various other awards. He is a qualified Surface Warfare Supply Corps officer and a naval aviation supply officer. Q: You released the Strategic Plan 2013-2017 and your commander’s guidance in mid-January. What distinguishes the new Strategic Plan from the previous version? A: It has been more than eight years since Naval Supply Systems Command [NAVSUP] has had a comprehensive five-year strategic plan. Given the dynamic environment in which we’re now operating, we needed a clear outline of our priorities going forward. As the commander of NAVSUP and the chief of Supply Corps, I saw the undeniable benefit in the shared responsibilities and mission of these two entities I lead. The merged capabilities of these organizations create the arsenal of the Navy’s premier business managers and logisticians, delivering readiness to our warfighters while remaining stewards of public trust. The Strategic Plan I’ve put forth outlines the path ahead for NAVSUP and the Supply Corps. The plan provides a roadmap for our personnel, stakeholders, and customers to understand our long-term objectives with four goals: world class workplace; unity of effort; effective, efficient performance; and data driven decision making. www.MLF-kmi.com
By defining both near- and mid-term tasks, we combine action steps with long-term vision to face the challenges of an increasingly harsh budget environment. The strategic objectives will help us meet these goals allowing us to continue to perform in the exemplary manner that defines our community. Q: Looking at your Commander’s Guidance, what are your primary initiatives and how will you go about implementing those? A: Our four primary initiatives are: (1) Create and sustain a world-class workplace. The goal is to create and sustain a working environment that fosters teamwork and collaboration, rewards innovation, and provides the tools, resources and developmental opportunities employees need to be effective. This initiative is about ensuring our civilians, military and contractor workforce are prepared to face and overcome the inevitable barriers that arise within the environment that we operate within. This means improving communications, providing training to ensure our people are certified in the areas of acquisition, finance and supply chain management. (2) Drive unity of effort across the Naval support network. The goal is to drive unity of effort throughout the Naval support network by strengthening relationships, optimizing processes and focusing on customer outcomes. Driving unity of effort means leveraging the subject matter expertise within NAVSUP and our strategic partners to strengthen our relationships, drive best practices and stay focused on customer outcomes. It is imperative that NAVSUP become the advocate for Naval logistics and quality of life initiatives. (3) Refine our internal business processes to deliver effective, efficient performance. The goal is to continually refine our business processes to lean out non-value added steps and reduce operating costs. Refining our internal business processes means actively employing CPI resources to lead efforts focused on delivering effective and efficient performance across the NAVSUP enterprise to enhance support to our customers. (4) Create and sustain an environment that enables datadriven decision making. The goal is to create and sustain an information environment that leverages evolving technology to deliver greater transparency while facilitating data sharing. This will enable the enterprise to make better, more informed decisions. It is imperative that our information systems remain relevant and provide the correct data for our personnel to make datadriven decisions. We deliver value by our mastery of the supply chain, powered by Navy enterprise resource planning [ERP]. By mastering it we increase effectiveness by improving efficiencies. Navy pilots fly F/A-18s ... Navy surface warfare officers command Arleigh Burkes ... and Navy submarine qualified officers drive the Virginia class. We “Fly ERP ... our weapon system.” Q: What will be the command’s biggest challenges in 2013? A: Our guidance comes from the Chief of Naval Operations’ tenets—Warfighting First; Operate Forward; Be Ready—which direct us to deploy to the strategic maritime crossroads of the world, and to be ready when it matters. With the pivot to Asia, the U.S. Navy continues—and may even expand—operations overseas. While other services are moving their forces back stateside, the Navy is the nation’s first line for immediate response to crises, 14 | MLF 7.2
and the service of choice to assure allies, to build partnerships, to deter aggression and to contain conflict. Given these mission sets, I believe our biggest challenge is the financial environment. We will rise to this challenge, proving our worth in a time when budgets are significantly cut. As the Navy’s business leaders, our people know how to stretch $1 into $10. It is part of our culture to make every dollar count. While I take our current financial situation very seriously, we will turn this budgetary challenge into an opportunity wherever possible. NAVSUP and the Supply Corps will turn the proverbial lemons into lemonade. We will continue to partner with the fleet and other providers to offer more efficient solutions to deliver the mission as set by the CNO. We will work jointly to support our customers where it makes the most sense, forgoing service parochialism. We’re proud of our history of direct involvement within the joint governance structures, and of our daily interactions with the fleet and providers. NAVSUP and the Supply Corps are worldwide, and we think globally. Our Supply Corps officers are on every platform and expeditionary unit in the Navy. Even our female officers are serving on submarines now, like Lieutenant Britta Christianson, who, in June 2012, became the first woman to qualify in submarine warfare. Our unique perspective is critical in these times because of the value we add across the vital global horizontals in the Navy—supply chain management, contracting and acquisition, financial management, fuels management, and business system management—skills which apply to every weapon system and every platform, and skills which we can deliver in spades. Q: What is Navy Supply doing to prepare and plan for the drawdown from Afghanistan? A: I think you have to look to the CNO’s Navigation Plan to understand that, while all the talk is of the preparations for a smaller presence in Afghanistan, the Navy presence will actually increase in that part of the world. Of his three tenets—Warfighting First; Operate Forward; Be Ready—the “Operate Forward” tenet means that we will be the first line of defense; we will be ready to engage with our resources focused on providing the necessary effect. From an increased littoral presence in Bahrain—mine countermeasure ships, coastal patrol ships, and soon the littoral combat ship—to engagement in Horn of Africa, to the Asia-Pacific pivot, I can safely say that, in light of the planned Afghanistan drawdown, NAVSUP and the Supply Corps are focused on our enduring mission as we return to our historical environment of maritime logistics in the Central Command area of responsibility. During this transition period, one of our Supply Corps flag officers, Rear Admiral Bob Gilbeau, is leading the logistics of the drawdown. And as we look forward, we are advocating for expanded capabilities in the Middle East and the Pacific to support the readiness of our operating units through our partnerships with the Defense Logistics Agency [DLA] and United States Transportation Command [TRANSCOM]. Q: Last summer you launched a distribution continuous process improvement initiative. How did that go and what were the conclusions? www.MLF-kmi.com
A: We are making progress on this complex initiative to deliver $100 million in transportation savings. Bringing together subject matter experts from across NAVSUP, the fleet, TRANSCOM and DLA, the team’s first step was to understand how the current ‘as is’ process is working to identify inefficiency and areas of opportunity in the processes. Beyond the savings goal, success on this project is defined as delivering policy that drives processes and behavior to meet customer requirements at the best value to the Department of Defense. This means carefully defining our sourcing algorithms and understanding the net effects of redistributing serviceowned material to fulfill new requirements. The team is looking to internally source stock and to utilize free issue material to replenish assets which will result in a lower overall transportation bill to DoD. Stock positioning is another area the team is investigating, looking at what types and how much material should be forward positioned. Fleet-ordering behavior is being reviewed to understand how actions taken by fleet personnel may inadvertently cause second- or third-order effects that drive cost increases. Q: What are the challenges of bringing more biofuels into the Navy supply chain? At the current of near-term predicted levels, will there be issues with storage facilities and delivery systems for the different types of fuel? A: The main challenge of bringing in more biofuels into our Navy supply chain will be the commercial availability of the biofuel product. The biofuel industry is not yet mature and many of the existing plants are not yet producing the quantities that the Navy requires. The supply chain also must be considered. To support the Navy’s needs, a biofuel supplier must be able to blend their product with traditional JP5 and/or F76 up to a 50 percent blend ratio. Transportation is another factor to be considered. Due to the large fuel volumes required, the most cost-efficient way to transport to a Navy location is through pipeline, railway or barge. Therefore, the location of the biofuel plant can be an important factor since being strategically positioned to take advantage of established supply chains, including transportation, could affect overall cost. To provide a biofuel blend to the Navy, a potential supplier must be able to demonstrate a potential to meet all applicable environmental regulations. They must also demonstrate the potential for commercial viability. Additionally, their product must be cost competitive with traditional petroleum products since DLA Energy awards contracts using full and open competition with low price, technically acceptable procedures. For the Navy to certify a biofuel blend, the fuel must be a drop-in replacement for traditional fuels with no adjustments to be made by the operators to accommodate a change in fuel type. The biofuel must meet all environmental and safety requirements, require no change to aircraft, ship or infrastructure, and have the ability to be mixed or alternated with traditional petroleum. Using a biofuel blend must not require any modifications or enhancements to the Navy’s existing fuel storage or transfer infrastructure. The bottom line is that the Navy is doing its part to be prepared as the biofuel industry matures. We are working to certify www.MLF-kmi.com
various production pathways as they become commercially available. We are investigating the capabilities of prospective alternative fuel producers, including a recent meeting with Golden Renewable Energy LLC, a company producing renewable fuel products from waste materials such as fats, oils, and greases and municipal sewer sludge. Q: There were a couple of overseas projects that were underway last year—in particular the fleet logistics centers in Bahrain and Sigonella. What is the status of those projects? A: NAVSUP is working towards converting Fleet Logistics Center [FLC] Sigonella Site Bahrain to NAVSUP FLC Bahrain. In light of the 5th Fleet’s operational tempo and strategic lay down, a dedicated Echelon IV command in Bahrain can best support the emerging logistics mission. This FLC would be fully empowered to address the rapidly expanding suite of material, services and support called for by NAVCENT, 5th Fleet, CNIC’s regional commander, NSA Bahrain, Isa Air Base, DLA and other stakeholders in the area of responsibility. NAVSUP already has a large presence in Bahrain in the form of FLC Sigonella Site Bahrain. So, with incremental resource investment, endorsement by the 5th Fleet commander, and approval from SECNAV and CNO, we intend to put a dedicated Echelon IV logistics provider in theater to focus on the 5th Fleet warfighter. Q: How does Naval Exchange Service Command’s inventory management, asset visibility, contracting services and delivery of quality products to its clientele stack up against similar retail businesses in the civilian world? A: The Navy Exchange Service Command [NEXCOM] operates for one reason—to provide a valuable benefit for our military members and their families. The $2.8 billion retail business operates over 300 NEX retail selling locations on 100 military installations worldwide from Djibouti to Singapore, as well as online at www.mynavyexchange.com. NEXCOM carries 150,000 stock-keeping units [SKUs] across its varied store formats. In comparison, a Super Target carries 125,000 active SKUs in any given store. In 2011, NEXCOM’s shrink was 0.3 percent of sales compared to a retail industry average of 1.4 percent of sales, thus giving them approximately $15 million more profit compared to the retail average. NEXCOM profits are invested in the Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation fund to provide support facilities and events for Navy sailors and families—our shareholders! NEXCOM’s corporate contracting team operates under DoD regulations and maximizes competitive procedures to the greatest extent possible. Its contracts either generate revenue or provide supplies and services required to sustain operations. As a Navy organization, NEXCOM establishes industry relationships under greater limitations and scrutiny than a commercial retailer. To improve its supply chain efficiency, NEXCOM opened a state-of-the-art 350,000-square-foot Northeast Distribution Center in Suffolk, Va., last October. This impressive facility increases productivity through reduction of steps and automation in receiving, picking and shipping. NEXCOM’s nine distribution MLF 7.2 | 15
centers process $1.1 billion of merchandise at cost per year. In FY12, NEXCOM’s distribution centers issued $4.4 million at cost per day worldwide. While sales and profits are extremely important to the NEXCOM business, sailors and their families are at the heart of NEXCOM’s mission. For commercial retailers, the holiday selling season typically begins the night of or the day after Thanksgiving. In November 2012, with encouragement from the CNO, NEXCOM began the holiday selling season earlier to enable deployed sailors to take advantage of holiday specials by shopping online. NEXCOM took a fresh and more sane approach to Black Friday by emphasizing Navy core values, family and holiday tradition through its ‘Navy Blue Holiday’ season. This new take on an expanded holiday selling season made it possible for families to spend time together instead of rushing off to take advantage of limited-time, limited-quantity sales. It also provided broader access to Navy Exchange sales items for afloat and deployed sailors. Q: Across the command how important are relationships with small businesses and how do such partnerships benefit Navy Supply? A: NAVSUP is committed to utilizing small businesses to provide goods and services. In addition to the critical role that small businesses play in our economy and communities, we recognize the important role they play in helping the Navy accomplish its
mission. The Global Business Solutions [GBS] contract is one great example. Awarded in August 2011, it is a contract reserved for multiple small businesses to compete to provide Service Contract Act type support services across 15 business categories. As of the end of FY12, small businesses received more than $100 million of contract work through this GBS contract. Similar contracts are being worked in other markets with equal success, and new markets are currently being analyzed. NAVSUP is doing much work in the area of strategic sourcing to drive best value in our procurements. Strategic sourcing can often be viewed negatively as people assume that small businesses will be precluded from opportunities. However, for more than four years now, we have led the way in balancing goals of efficiency, demand management and improved contract arrangements with the goals for socio-economic participation. Intensive market research and analysis identifies what role small businesses play. NAVSUP works toward a goal that the resulting contract strategy maintains or increases small business share of the commodity or service. So far, small businesses have benefitted from this strategy. We’ve set an aggressive goal to award nearly $2 billion in small business contracts over the next year. Other examples of successful small business strategic sourcing relationships can be found in office supply procurements and furniture. Since 2005, the small business share of office supply procurements grew from approximately 20 percent to more than 85 percent. Similarly, the strategic sourcing initiative for furniture delivered a small business share of nearly 60 percent last fiscal year, far exceeding the NAVSUP small business goal. Long-term relationships with small businesses are very important, and we will continue to seek opportunities to maximize small business participation in our business. Carol Decker is the NAVSUP small business program manager, and she is actively looking at leveraging small business to the greatest extent possible. She may be reached at carol.decker@ navy.mil. Q: Any closing thoughts? A: Going back to the financial issues we are facing, I’m proud to say we’re doing okay. Though money is tight, our military and civilian workforce is willing and infinitely capable of meeting the needs of our fleet customers. We make the greatest contributions in times of need, and we do so in the back office environment, behind the scenes, and without fanfare because we do it to make a difference, not to be gloried. Navy ERP could not have been instituted throughout the supply system at a better time. It gives us asset visibility, accountability, and the ability to get things done quickly, efficiently, and right the first time. Effectively written contracts, like our performancebased logistics contracts, ensure best value for our customers and to the taxpayers who provide those funds. When the dollars are down, Navy leadership looks to NAVSUP and the Supply Corps to lead, and these are times when we can make our greatest contribution to the Navy. Our new five-year strategic plan will guide us in the right direction as we face bumps in the road ahead, and the world-class workforce of NAVSUP and the Supply Corps are well prepared to innovate, adapt and overcome the challenges that come our way. O
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Corrosion eats up about 23 percent of DoD’s maintenance budget. By Peter Buxbaum, MLF Correspondent
Corrosion impacts the U.S. military on multiple fronts. Maintenance is affected by the increased costs over the life cycle of an asset. It impacts readiness when an asset is not in condition to meet a required mission. Safety is impacted when deterioration resulting from corrosion brings the asset to a condition where it is no longer safe to use. Corrosion also has a profound impact on defense budgets. One study showed that the Navy spends one-quarter of its maintenance budget, around $7 billion per year, on corrosion. A 2010 report showed that the Department of Defense as a whole spent $23.2 billion, or 23 percent of its maintenance dollars, on corrosion. The ongoing redeployment of equipment from Southwest Asia casts a bright spotlight on the necessity to take measures to prevent corrosion. “Corrosion is ubiquitous,” said Edward Lemieux, director of the Center for Corrosion Science and Engineering at the Naval Research Laboratory. “It affects operations, the expected service life of equipment, and can also cause service failures.” “Anything that can be done to protect corrosion provides more beans and bullets,” said Mark Schultz, a project development manager at Sherwin Williams. “Doing things properly the first time provides equipment with greater longevity and saves DoD money. The goal is to reduce total ownership costs for a piece of equipment.” “With the ongoing redeployment, more equipment is headed for long-term storage and corrosion prevention plans are required,” said Steve Hanna, president of Protective Packaging Corp. “The key is that you have to be flexible. It is impossible to develop one system to do everything for everybody.” The U.S. Marine Corps has a formal Corrosion Prevention and Control (CPAC) program that is charged with the prevention of corrosion on all ground assets through a three-pronged approach. The first involves support to new acquisition platforms. “Here, corrosion prevention is emphasized from the design phase to ensure proper materials, manufacturing techniques and maintenance processes are used to minimize deterioration,” said Matthew Koch, the CPAC program manager. The second involves sustainment operations. “Corrosion prevention is emphasized as a maintenance and storage philosophy,” said Koch, “including the application of corrosion prevention compounds, dehumidified warehousing for long-term storage of equipment, and applying protective covers.” The third is applied research and testing to identify corrosion prevention technologies and methodologies for vehicles. “This is a comprehensive program where fleet issues are evaluated against solutions from industry, academia and the military labs to maximize the benefits to the Marines while considering costs and other impacts,” said Koch. The Marine Corps operates corrosion repair facilities where corrosion repair and vehicle repainting are performed. There are also numerous dehumidified temporary shelters and existing warehouses that are used for long-term storage of equipment. The Marine Corps also fields corrosion service teams that use mobile trucks to apply corrosion prevention compounds and do touch-up painting. www.MLF-kmi.com
The Navy also makes strenuous efforts at corrosion prevention. “The best time to effect material selection is during the design phase,” said Lemieux. “After that the program is usually married to the materials selected and it is hard to change them.” Cathodic methods are a common way to prevent corrosion. “Passive cathodic protection involves allowing one level of metal to corrode and sacrifice itself for the protected metal,” Lemieux explained. “Active cathodic methods involve placing electrodes and delivering an electric current to the protected surface.” Since the 1980s, almost all Navy ships have had active cathodic systems protecting their outer hulls. Development and selection of advanced paints and coatings is another part of the Navy effort. “These prevent not just corrosion but also the buildup of barnacles and organisms on the hull,” said Lemieux. “The use of ultra-high solid coatings on the topside prevents corrosion as well as UV degradation.” Oshkosh Defense, which provides the U.S. Army with trucks, has long delivered the vehicles with a triple layer of coating designed to prevent corrosion. “We have traditionally applied by spray a zinc-rich primer followed by an epoxy coating followed by a top coat,” said Mike Ivy, vice president and general manager for Army Programs at Oshkosh Defense. “When we won the FMTV contract in 2009 there was a new requirement that corrosion prevention measures had to last 22 years.” Oshkosh’s response was to invest in a 150,000-square-foot facility to perform a new method called electrode deposition, or e-coating. After an initial zinc phosphate coat, all components are 100 percent immersed in a paint solution. After that, the coatings are strengthened through a heat curing process before given the top coat. “E-coating is fairly standard in the auto industry but it is not common in the defense industry,” said Ivy. “The FMTV vehicles are backed by a 22-year warranty that they will not fail due to corrosion.” E-coating allows all of the nooks and crannies of truck components to be coated, a condition that cannot be assured with a manual application of coating. “Once the investment is made in the e-coating facility, e-coating is probably less expensive than other ways of applying corrosion prohibiter,” said Ivy. “CPAC maintains that the best time to consider corrosion control is during the material development and design phases,” said Koch. “Emphasizing the importance of corrosion control early helps manufacturers weigh corrosion prevention against other functional characteristics, allowing for informed tradeoff decisions. We work closely with program managers, to assist them as corrosion control subject matter experts as they develop contractual language with regard to corrosion control, evaluating design recommendations from manufacturers, testing those designs and identifying areas needing redesign or additional consideration for maintenance activities.” CPAC also works with OEMs on corrosion prevention in the manufacturing process. “Included in this support is a full vehicle corrosion test where the system is operated under typical conditions, while subjected to various corrosive environments,” said Koch. “This is a yearlong test where conditions representative of up to 20 years of service MLF 7.2 | 17
can be simulated. The results are used to improve the design or change the frequency or type of maintenance performed. Systems where CPAC has been involved since the start of the acquisition program have been much more corrosion resistant than their predecessors.” The Marine Corps also acquires specific products and services for corrosion treatment or prevention. “For sustainment activities we utilize products that have been demonstrated to provide increased service life and reduced deterioration on ground equipment as well as the authorized chemical agent resistant coating paint systems developed by Army Research Lab,” said Koch. “For new acquisitions we evaluate the proposed materials of manufacture to ensure that they will meet the desired performance, in terms of length of service and operating environments, of the system and that they are compatible with the CARC system.” Protective Packaging Corp. designs covers for specific types of equipment. “The design depends on whether it is to be short- or longterm protection and whether the equipment is to be stored outdoors or indoors,” said Hanna. “Do they want to park the equipment somewhere and forget about it until the next war? It also depends on whether the equipment is to be protected from corrosion or also mold, mildew or static electricity. We gather a whole host of information from our customer and then develop the cover that meets those specifications. When we put a protective flexible cover over the equipment with the right amount of desiccant, we can guarantee there won’t be any corrosion.” Desiccant is a moisture-absorbing mineral or compound. Protective Packaging provided a packaging solution to a defense contractor for the preservation of the JDAM precision guided weapons system. The company was able to provide packaging that protected the equipment against any damage caused by corrosion or electrostatic discharge and also provided a 20-year warranty to that effect. The protective covers provided by companies like Protective Packaging Corp. and Shield Technologies Corporation are strong yet breathable so that they don’t capture moisture inside them. “Vinyl traps moisture and is rapidly broken down by grease and oils,” said Bob Ward, Shield’s chief executive officer. “It also deteriorates rapidly from the UV radiation of sunlight.” Shield Technologies’ product, Envelop Protective Covers, is waterproof, yet allows moisture to escape. The Envelop material contains NAVAIR’s PMA-261 (manages the family of H-53 helicopters) is participating in a small business technology transfer solicitation that seeks to use peridynamics theory to predict corrosion fatigue across length and time scales in naval aircraft. The difficulties in accurate prediction of corrosion damage point to the fact that corrosion fatigue is inherently a multi-scale process in both length and time. Although qualitative effects from three basic sources of corrosion, i.e., design, environment and maintenance, are well understood, prediction of corrosion fatigue damage in service has been a quite a challenge despite several decades of research. Peridynamic theory is a nonlocal extension of classical continuum mechanics that is based on integral equations, in contrast with the classical theory of continuum mechanics, which is based on partial differential equations, and has the capability to handle multi-scale modeling for both length and time, and address discontinuities and non-linearity. The peridynamic theory has the potential to serve as a basic model across all scales avoiding the difficulties inherent in multimodel coupling in addition to the ability to efficiently link with many microscale models, including molecular dynamics.
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a vapor corrosion inhibitor, which floods the covered space, bonds to metals and prevents oxygen from initiating corrosion. Shield Technologies developed and provided a set of Envelop Protective Covers for the U.S. Army’s Patriot missile system. In December 2012, the company delivered two protective covers for a U.S. submarine’s vertical launch platform designed to protect the weapons from heat and humidity while stationed at the Polaris Point Naval Submarine Base in Guam. The company also recently began to design covers for the F-16 Block 30, and introduced its Magnum product line last year. “We listened to our customers, who told us they wanted lighterweight covers,” said Ward. “The lighter Magnum material also goes on quicker. It takes a soldier just minutes to cover vehicles like the Bradley or Stryker.” The U.S. Navy turned to Sherwin Williams when it found that corrosion-inhibiting coatings on vessel ballast tanks typically failed at the edges. This, in turn, led to the failure of the remainder of the coating in the tanks. “The thought was that if we could arrest the corrosion on the edges we could make the entire system last longer,” said Schultz. “Our research found that ultra-high solid coatings are superior to their traditional counterparts in protecting the edges.” Those solids are also low in volatile organic compounds. “As a result of this innovation,” said Schultz, “the service life of the ballast tanks went from five to 10 years to 15 to 20 years. NAVSEA came to the conclusion that this product saves 20 percent in costs and 50 percent in scheduled maintenance time.” Sherwin Williams has also, in recent years, provided the Navy with a new vessel topside coating that provides higher levels of corrosion resistance. The NRL has itself developed a new topside coating that is skidresistant and more durable to environmental conditions. The new polysiloxane coating has several attributes that contribute to corrosion resistance as well as lower maintenance costs for the Navy. “The first is that it does not require mixing of components,” said Lemieux. “It goes on quicker and reduces costs. It provides better performance in that it is skid-resistant, provides better color retention, and does not easily degrade when exposed to ultraviolet light. Older coatings tended to crack and delaminate quicker. When that happens, moisture and contaminants seep in and corrosion begins to occur.” The new product is currently in a demonstration phase. Lemieux expects it to be available to the fleet next year. Koch foresees that the Marine Corps will place more of an emphasis on tracking and understanding the condition and benefits of technologies being used to mitigate corrosion. “All of this will help support efforts to extend the useful service life of materiel,” he said. “Corrosion prevention and control will become a large part of the consideration for new acquisitions as well as of service life extension programs to minimize its effect on maintenance costs, readiness and safety.” The NRL is also working in software designed to aid in the prediction of material corrosion rates so that the Navy can better select materials and plan maintenance activities. “This will help in design and material selection,” said Lemieux. “We would like to be able to assess the materials going into components and systems. “That is not a capability we have today,” Lemieux added. “Currently we rely on subject matter experts, our knowledge base, and the available literature. But we don’t have a tool to predict quantitative performance. That is a goal we are working toward at the research level.” O For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.
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MLF RESOURCE CENTER Advertisers Index American Military University....................................5 www.amuonline.com/ml
April 2013 Vol. 7, Issue 3
NEXTISSUE The Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community
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Special PULL-OUT SUPPLEMENT
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Cover and In-Depth Interview with:
John B. Johns
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Maintenance Policy & Programs Special Section • Protecting the Logistics Cyber World
Features • • • •
Expeditionary Shelters Details of Life Cycle Red River Army Depot PBL & Delivered Savings
Calendar April 8-10, 2013 Sea-Air-Space National Harbor, Md. April 9-11, 2013 AUSA Army LandPac Symposium Honolulu, Hawaii www.ausa.org April 22-24, 2013 Tactical Vehicles Summit Alexandria, Va. www.tacticalvehiclessummit.com May 7-9, 2013 Army Sustainment Symposium Richmond, Va. www.ausasustainment.org September 7-11, 2013 NDTA Forum & Expo San Antonio, Texas www.ndtahq.com/events_forum_expo.htm
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Air Force Life Cycle Management Center A special pull-out supplement featuring an interview with Lieutenant General C.D. Moore II, commanding general of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, plus a detailed look at the new organizational structure and business operations of the LCMC. Other features include a two-page pictorial spread of LCMC’s senior leadership plus a review of top critical contracts.
Bonus Distribution Quad-A
Insertion Order Deadline: March 21, 2013 Ad Material Deadline: March 28, 2013 To Advertise, Contact: Contact: Jane Engel, MLF Associate Publisher 301.670.5700 x 120 • jane@kmimediagroup.com
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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Military Logistics Forum Greg Jaknunas Electronics & Media Product Manager IHS Q: How would you describe IHS’ position within the DoD logistics enterprise? A: IHS provides experts, information and analytical decision support tools that allow DoD to support strategic and operational activities, from acquisition and purchasing through to planning, MRO and obsolescence management. IHS solutions help keep equipment in service and troops safe, allowing DoD staff to better meet their mandates. Q: What are IHS’ strengths and how can you best partner with the military? A: The military is subject to aggressive costcutting and manpower reductions, while maintaining a mandate of efficiency. The focus on cost-cutting and greater efficiencies throughout IT, acquisitions, operations, logistics and sustainment is where IHS is best positioned to help. Our mission is to provide content, expert analysis and flexible delivery methods via tools and services that can help the military make decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. Proven industry-leading solutions like IHS Haystack Gold provide the ability to integrate procurement and logistics databases and analytical capabilities into the systems and processes already used across departments. Increased use throughout DoD provides shrinking teams of under-funded and over-burdened personnel with immediate access to the critical information they need to perform their mission. With increased mission requirements for data sharing across departments and gaining centralized visibility into critical data, integration of IHS acquisition, life cycle, logistics, sustainment and other data can quickly advance the military’s requirement to do more with less. Q: What are IHS’ primary challenges? A: Our greatest challenge is informing government organizations that we can immediately provide comprehensive information, tools and expertise that are already adopted in industry and delivering value to government and private sector customers. Another challenge is communicating that 20 | MLF 7.2
the breadth of IHS capabilities has expanded well beyond the tools you are familiar with to include a wide range of solutions, services and industry experts ready to solve missioncritical issues faced by military logisticians. Q: How can you help DoD meet their efficiency and budgetary challenges? A: Although you may be familiar with our IHS Haystack Gold parts and logistics solution that reduces the time spent researching parts and maximizes supply chain effectiveness, you may not be familiar with Haystack’s ability to seamlessly integrate with business systems via XML, improving system deployment and access to critical information. Budgets for supply can be overrun by volatile commodity prices and failure to forecast future demand and costs. The IHS Military Parts & Supply Cost Forecasting Service [MPSCFS] provides current and future cost forecasting across the entire equipment and supply requirements spectrum. Driving improvements in areas like performancebased logistics, IHS MPSCFS delivers cost/ price benchmarking and commodity/market forecasting that can result in cost savings and mitigation of costly supply chain challenges. Industry figures show that an individual obsolescence incident can cost between $3,000 and over $1 million, and require four to 64 weeks to resolve. IHS offers data and analytical tools for more than 340 million electronic, electro-mechanical and hardware items to mitigate and avoid these costs. This includes lifecycle forecasts, alternate sources of supply, datasheets, compliance information, parametric properties, counterfeit incidents and other critical information used to support part selection, sourcing, logistics and sustainment mitigating these challenges. This information can also be integrated via XML to provide a more valuable and efficient way to
access the data throughout military systems. As staffing levels are reduced to dangerous levels, processes like logistics, engineering and obsolescence management that rely heavily upon core engineering staff can be jeopardized. IHS can provide a total engineering obsolescence service using our tools and capabilities to perform analysis and present military personnel with expert answers. Finally, counterfeit part incidents have increased dramatically in recent years, presenting a threat to national security, the reliability of weapons systems, and to the safety of all servicemembers. The 2012 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act adds regulations for counterfeit part detection and avoidance, including the stipulation to procure electronics from trusted suppliers. As such, IHS has industry recognition for its information, tools and expertise to mitigate counterfeit risks, including trusted and high-risk supplier databases, the largest source of counterfeit incident risk information, and data regarding authorized component suppliers for critical parts. Q: Are industry partnerships part of your strategic plan? A: Yes. Our longstanding strategic industry partnerships enable us to better understand customer requirements and design solutions that DoD can then implement as best practices. Worldwide, tens of thousands of key government, defense and commercial supply chain participants in public and private sector organizations rely upon IHS products and services to provide strategic and operational capabilities to advance critical decisions across complex global supply chains. Q: What are specific goals for this year? A: Our goal is to become a more strategic partner to DoD and drive awareness across the military community that the breadth of best-practice, readily available, proven IHS solutions that industry is using on a daily basis can be crucial to alleviating the impact of military budget cuts, reductions in personnel and overall cost-cutting, while maintaining effective support of our warfighters. O
greg.jaknunas@ihs.com www.MLF-kmi.com
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