Viewing Depot Operations: Building Blocks for the Future

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Viewing Depot Operations:

Building Blocks for the Future

Greg Kilchenstein

OSD(Maintenance)

16 Nov 2011

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Viewing Depots Through Two Lenses

• Efficient Business Operations

– CPI / Lean / TOC

– CBM+

– Total Asset Visibility…IUID/SIM

– Net-Centric Data…ERP/PLM

• Tomorrow’s Industrial Operations

– Improve Current Infrastructure

– Invest in People & Training

– Expeditionary Capabilities

– Improved Supply Support

– Inspect, Test & Measure

– Strip & Coat…Low Observables

- Composites

- Electronics

- Software

- Environmental

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1st Lens: Efficient Business Operations

– Continuous Process Improvement (CPI):

Maximize Readiness / Minimize Costs

– Lean: Dynamic, knowledge-driven, customer-

focused process to continuously eliminate waste

and expense, maximize resources and streamline

operations.

– Theories of Constraint (TOC):

Alleviating process bottlenecks

How Can I Improve?

What We Do Today Will Shape What We Are Tomorrow

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Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+)

• Maintenance performed on evidence of need provided by analysis,

processes & technology

• Enables analysis to forecast sustainment workload and parts required

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– Item Unique Identification (IUID) / Serialized

Item Management (SIM)

• Improved insight into cause-and-effect

relationship between resources & readiness

• Weapon system support decisions will be more

informed and take less time

• Data-driven continuous process improvement

Total Asset Visibility…

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Depot SIM Process Map

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– Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) / Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

• Integration of ERP and PLM allows direct

sharing of engineering and manufacturing

data through an automated process

• Creates modernized Net-Centric Operations

Net-Centric Data

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2nd Lens: Tomorrow’s Industrial Operations

Improve Current Infrastructure

Invest in People & Training

Joint/Expeditionary Capabilities

Improve Supply Support

Strip & Coat…Low Observables

Inspect, Test & Measure

Increased Use of

Composites

Electronics

Software Maintenance

Environmental Impacts

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• Remain Relevant to Today’s Systems

• Incrementally Improve Capabilities

• Efficiency and effectiveness must

improve

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SMART Machines (USA, USN, USAF)

• Issue: Aging fixed assets with archaic controls

• Solution: equip installed machinery with the capability to

automatically gather and report performance in a consistent fashion.

This performance data enables the ability to understand trends,

predict potential delays, and allow shop operations to visibly improve

their equipment and/or process utilization.

• Benefits

>40% productivity improvements

demonstrated.

Increased shop efficiency reduces

non productive time and its cost.

Schedule preventive maintenance

reduces cost.

Improved asset utilization results in

greater throughput and reduced cycle times


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Centralized Fleet Automated Management System (CFAMS)

►Issue: Due to lack of visibility of assets, industrial fleet vehicles are in motion

only 30% of their key/seat time, vehicle fleet size at any given site tends to be

15-25% higher, and are potentially available to unlicensed and/or untrained

operators attributing to lost work time accidents.

►Solution: A COTS wireless fleet management hardware and software solution

that utilizes RF technology.

► Benefits

Increased vehicle readiness and 10%

reduction in fleet size.

Maintenance cost reduction (both labor

and material) by 50% .

Damage to vehicles, cargo and facility

reduced by 25% .

Increase in vehicle uptime.

Operator productivity increased by 10% .

Prevents use of unsafe equipment –

accidents significantly reduced.


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Volumetric Accuracy for Large Machine Tools (VALMT)

►Issue: Large monolithic parts are integral within today’s weapons systems

whether they be submarine propellers, aircraft skins, airframe structures, or

armored vehicle hulls. Fabrication of very large metal parts presents difficult

problems of machine tool accuracy and repeatability, often requiring extensive

re-work and the inability to interchange parts in the maintenance process.

►Solution: Implement a quick metrology method providing compensated

volumetric accuracy of 0.005” or less to the machine tool.

►Benefits

Reduced rework for Navy propellers by 30% resulting

in a reduction of 20 days in the overall cycle time.

Commercial aircraft have realized reduced rework

resulting in $1M savings peraircraft. Military aircraft

could expect similar savings.

Reduced scrap, rework, and hand fit assembly,

decreasing both production costs and “flow days”.


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– Train workforce on new tools and

processes using modern methods

– Apprentice Programs

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Virtual Workplace Simulator

►Issue: Ineffective training methods.

►Solution: The Virtual Workplace Simulator (VWS)

Stresses the most important purpose of any enterprise;

stabilizing, improving and sustaining improvements

that will create value for the customer. The session

provides the students with explicit knowledge, along

with implicit and tacit knowledge critical to delivering results.

►Benefits

Without knowing how to implement learning, nothing significant will

happen, yet most training stops short of this important step.

Think of the System and their role in the System, as well as recognize

the unintended consequences of their actions.

Work as a team to achieve the overall goals of the organization

Move from “Fire Fighting” to “Preparing” and eventually to “Preventing”

problems that occur.


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Training through Gaming

►Issue: Ineffective training methods.

►Solution: Using games methods for training reduces costs and increases

efficiency. Additionally, employees retain training through interactive means

more than they would through lectures or training videos

►Benefits

Consistent training across the

organization

Reduction in training costs

More efficient and faster training

with better retention


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• Increase efficiencies by bringing the

capability to where its needed

• Seek and develop mobile technology that

supports forward operations

• Improve Joint &

coalition Mx

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Enabling Interoperability in Maintenance and Repair

Activities (USMC)

► Issue: Significant redundancy of parts stocks, consumable inventory, and maintenance capability, commonly referred to as the “Iron Mountain”

► Solution: Expand interoperability of maintenance and Serialized Item Management (SIM) data into United States COTS and potentially GOTS applications including the ability to communicate maintenance data in an inter-service and coalition environment.

►Benefits Improved weapons system readiness

and availability with Class IX Inventory reductions

Improved global part/LRU visibility and readiness.

Consistent with Joint Staff doctrine, providing a developed tool to support the Joint Logistics Enterprise


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Fast Field Fluid Assessment Tools (3FAST) ► Issue: The current practice of manually sampling oil from vehicles at time or

service-based intervals, sending the samples to the laboratory, and reporting the

results back to fleet maintainers is an onerous process.

► Solution: Portable, hand-held analytical tools providing a lab-quality assessment

suitable for real-time in-field use. The device gives a soldier or mechanic the ability

to determine oil quality on a real-time basis before or during a mission without

messy and time-consuming sampling.

► Benefits

$828M in increased asset availability

$15M/year in

maintenance/shipping/disposal cost

avoidance

Significantly reduced cycle time and greatly

improved soldier safety


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Improved Supply Support

• Increase efficiencies by reducing inventory

and improving asset visibility and supply

chain operations

• Parts will be re-used…rebuilt, overhauled

• Rapid Manufacturing capabilities

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Rapid Manufacturing and Repair (USA, USAF, USN, NASA, DoE)

• Issue: Lack of availability or long-lead times for legacy parts needed for repair.

• Solution: Additive Manufacturing allows for economical, low-volume

manufacturing of hard-to-replace legacy parts vital to weapon systems

readiness

• Benefits

50 to 70% cycle-time reductions for part

repair and replacement.

Part availability weeks vs. months or

years quoted by bidders

Parts made by the NCMS ADF-RP program

in 78 Case Studies to date saved 344 weeks

or 80% delivery time. Castings can be turned

around in 20% of traditional supply time.

50-75% raw material and labor cost avoidance.

Cost avoidance annually from the NCMS ADF

-RP program of $4.2M/year to date.

Cost avoidance up to 90% per part


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Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS®) ► Issue: Lack of availability or long-lead times for legacy parts needed for repair.

► Solution: LENS® enables the low-volume production of metallic components as

well as repair of legacy parts.

► Benefits

The technology has been used to

repair six engine component parts

at ANAD. The unit was in service

for five years realizing a savings in

excess of $30M.

Torpedo aft fuel tanks – Repair of

corroded surfaces saves$500K/year

Submarine connector rods –

rebuilding up connector rod surfaces saves $110K/year

Compressor crankshafts – Building up crankshaft surfaces saves

$150K/year.


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OptiCam Reverse Engineering ► Issue: Diminishing manufacturing resources and obsolete parts.

► Solution: Development of rapid reverse engineering methods with automated

3D data collection, high data integrity, and translation into manufactured parts.


► Benefits

25% faster 3D data capture than conventional

methods

20% faster 3D data capture than laser

scanning

25% decrease in total modeling time

25% decrease in reengineering labor cost

Annual cost savings of $1.05M/year

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– Inspection and test initiate maintenance

– Streamlined, standard inspection and data

collection is essential

– Test sets must be modernized and

“footprint” greatly reduced

– Modern accurate laser and optical

measurement capabilities improve quality

and reduce RTAT

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Automated Process & Inspection Guide ► Issue: Overhaul and repair inspections are paper based, conducted

over three shifts, not co-located, and are performed by multiple individuals. This leads to no standardization of data capture and inspection processes.

► Solution: Replace inefficient paper-based processes with mobile data capture devices combined with COTS software to guide inspectors.

► Benefits

$8.55M/year for inspections, training,

cycle time and paperwork reduction

Reduced repair cycle time: 2 Flow days

saved per aircraft; 5 hours per HMMWV

Increased industrial capacity with

enhanced failure and trend analysis.


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Synthetic Instrumentation ► Issue: Avionics test stations typically remain in service beyond 20

years, and are specialized to particular weapon systems, are often slow and require a large logistical footprint.

► Solution: Develop and deploy COTS equipment that synthesizes the capability of multiple instruments and leveraging common core functions frequently replicated across a test system.


► Benefits

Reduction in the quantity of instruments needed for testing avionics.

Reduction in storage, documentation, logistical footprint, and personnel training

Performance characteristics that previously could only be achieved with dedicated instruments, such as digital multimeters, oscilloscopes, counters, spectrum analyzers, etc.

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Laser Paint Stripping of Helicopter Blades ► Issue: Manual methods are time consuming and highly variable, with

damage oftentimes induced during the stripping process

► Solution: Develop and implement an automated stripping system that

can consistently and quickly remove the coatings from helicopter

blades with no scrap.

► Benefits

Per unit repair cost reduced from

$1,188.14 per blade to $222.53

per blade

Environmental costs substantially

alleviated

Enhanced work environment

Minimal operator intervention

required.

Stripping and Coating

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Robotic Automated Coating Removal System ► Issue: Coating removal for V-22 repair costly and adds substantially

to the repair turnaround time.

► Solution: Develop and implement an automated stripping system that

can consistently and quickly remove the coatings from an entire V-22

aircraft.


► Benefits

Reduce stripping time for V-22

from current 372 hrs to ~35 hrs.

Unit can be configured to remove

coatings from other components

and fuselages.

Reduce damage resulting from

manual operations.

Reduced environmental waste.

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Automated Processing of Composite Shelters

► Issue: The refurbishment of composite shelters is a highly manual

process and oftentimes shelters are scrapped late in the repair

process because of unforeseen damage. ► Solution: Develop and implement an automated robotic system that

can consistently inspect, remove coatings, repair and repaint a shelter

in a fraction of the time currently needed.


► Benefits

Reduced repair cycle time for

composite shelters by 70%

Labor savings over 90%

Reduce scrap rates by 20%

Improved and consistent

inspection procedures.

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Kinetic Spray Coating ► Issue: Corrosion protection is minimally a $10B problem/year for

DoD.

► Solution: Develop a portable and fieldable system to apply corrosion

protective coatings and as a quick repair technology for metallic

surfaces.


► Benefits

$80K/year cost savings of H-53

Helicopter gearbox repair restoration

(average four/year)

$100K/year cost savings for corrosion

protection of just one 1010 steel

component of LAV fleet on Okinawa

Applicable to a wide range of

corrosive structures with large

potential cost savings.

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Electronics Troubleshooting and Repair

– Systems increasingly electronics intensive

– Remote operation adds to complexity

– Automated troubleshooting replacing

manual methods

– Intermittent fault detection and isolation

– Reduced use of lead solder

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Enhanced Wiring Integrity System (EWIS/AWTS)

►Issue: Wiring has emerged as a critical system due to its complexity,

inaccessibility, high-density, and communications interface. Wiring faults

are an increasing factor in reducing weapon system readiness and

performance.

►Solution: Portable, small footprint COTS technology which can reduce

troubleshooting time by quickly identifying the location of wiring failures

within six inches.


►Benefits

Increased vehicle readiness by 10%

F-15 wiring faults--$49M/yr cost avoidance

and 120 lost a/c days recouped

Improved reliability of the wiring and

electrical system and the increased

mission availability of the platform.

Reduction in man-hours required when

troubleshooting and repairing platform-

wiring discrepancies.

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Intermittent Fault Detection

►Issue: A major cost driver is the maintenance of electronics and

electrical systems that control and operate the wide-ranging

inventory of weapons and weapon systems. One of the highest

contributing causes for these costs is age-related, No Fault Found

(NFF) intermittence.

►Solution: Development of test equipment and test methodology to

detect and isolate intermittent faults.


►Benefits

Increased weapon system

readiness

Improved reliability of the

wiring and electrical system

and the increased mission

availability of the platform.

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Static Event Detection

►Issue: DoD depots are not able to determine if/when a electrostatic

event has occurred and damaged an electrical system under repair.

►Solution: Develop of a Static Event Detector (SED) Health

Monitoring system that alerts inspectors or equipment operators to

an ESD event that may have inflicted catastrophic damage resulting

in degraded weapon systems performance.


►Benefits

Reduction in damaged, destroyed or

degraded electronic devices.

Improvement in the handling of ESD

sensitive devices, resulting in

improved readiness in the field.

Improved repair cycle time on field

returns.

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Lead-Free Soldering Materials ►Issue: Lead must be eliminated from soldering materials

►Solution: Demonstrate and validate an alternative material, an Isotropically

Conductive Adhesive (ICA), to the conventional tin-lead solders used on

circuit card assemblies.


►Benefits

Removal of lead from soldering

materials

Compliance with International

Standards and Use.

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Tomorrow’s Industrial Operations

– New Technology Trends

• Increased Software & Robotics

• Increased Use of Composites

• Environmental Concerns

“Full Spectrum Dominance – Attaining that Goal Requires the

Steady Infusion of New Technology” – Joint Vision 2020

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Enhanced Control Autoclave Processing of Composites

► Issue: Current composite production has not changed sub-

stantially over the past 50 years. Deploying advanced controls

allows optimized curing cycles, higher quality parts, and reduced costs.

► Solution: Optimization of existing hardware through a new approach to

controls and sensing plus a paradigm shift in the approach to the autoclave

curing of composite parts.

Composites

► Benefits

Reduction of the manpower to operate

multiple pieces of process equipment by

a ratio of approximately 8:1

Improvement in cure profiles resulting in

more consistent parts.

Reduction of scrapped materials and

parts.

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Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell (IRPC)

► Issue: Manual repair processes of composite radomes are

inconsistent, resulting in time-consuming, unneeded or missed

repairs.

Composites

► Solution: Development and

implementation of automated

inspection and repair processes, on

the same work cell, for the C-130

radome.

► Benefits

16-30% reduction in day flow

25 – 33% reduction in labor hours

Annual cost savings $2 million

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Environment

►Benefits:

Preliminary 20% improvement

in wearability with commiserate

cost savings.

Elimination of the use of

hexavalent chrome in the

plating process.

Replacement of Toxic Hexavalent Chrome with Non-Hazardous

Trivalent Chrome in Electroplating

►Issue: Chrome plating is unmatched in performance for corrosion protection

and wear surfaces. Current plating processes involve the use of toxic,

hexavalent chrome which is being phased out in use.

►Solution: Replacement of hexavalent chromium in electroplating processes

with non-toxic chromium without sacrificing coating performance.

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Environment

►Benefits: Reduced turnaround time for plating by

40-70% at CCAD and FRCSW (net

savings over $1.6 million)

Eliminates the need for time

consuming masking prior to hard

chrome plating resulting in 45% faster

turnaround time for plating/machining

repair process

Advanced Tooling for Hard Chrome and Nickel Plating

►Issue: Plating shops are environmentally hazardous, produce toxic

waste streams, and are oftentimes bottlenecks in the maintenance

process.

►Solution: Implementation of revolutionary commercial electroplating

methods that resulted in improved product quality and drastically

reduced throughput times

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Environment

►Benefits:

Reduced VOC emissions

Reduced operational costs

compared to current thermal

oxidizing systems.

Reduced maintenance and

replacement costs

Air Pollution Control Systems ► Issue: DoD facilities are under increasing pressure to reduce volatile

organic compounds (VOC) emissions from painting operations.

► Solution: Development and implementation of an air pollution

control system at the USMC Maintenance Center Barstow that

utilizes a biological destruction approach.

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Wrap Up

– The “future” is fast approaching – Depots must

strategically and tactically prepare

– Resources beyond CIP $$ are available

• Aggressively pursue all potential resources

– Remain Customer Focused:

• Quality ,Reliability, and Readiness

• Speed and Value

– Partner with Industry - Remain a relevant “National

Treasure”

Documents

Viewing Depot Operations: Building Blocks for the Future