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| September 2009
Welcome to The CTMA Connector, a monthly newsletter designed to provide news and ideas about the Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) program. The CTMA program is a joint Department of Defense/National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (DoD/NCMS) effort promoting collaborative technology development between industry and the DoD maintenance and repair facilities. This newsletter highlights ongoing projects, serves as a forum for promoting new project ideas, and provides other news of interest to the program. Our goal is to stimulate your participation and solicit your input. Feel free to submit items for the newsletter as well as any suggestions to make it more useful. More information about the program can be found at http://ctma.ncms.org/. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CTMA Connector, send a message to listserv@listserv.ncms.org with “subscribe CTMANewsletter” or “unsubscribe CTMANewsletter” in the message body. We welcome the following companies into NCMS: 3M Company (www.mmm.com) 3M is a diversified technology company serving customers and communities with innovative products and services. They are primarily science based and are a world-leader in scores of markets from healthcare and highway safety to abrasives and adhesives. Eastern Instrumentation of Philadelphia (www.eiphila.com) Eastern Instrumentation is a manufacturers representative bringing high technology and cutting edge manufacturing and test solutions to their military and commercial customer base in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware area. Clemson University (www.clemson.edu) Clemson is an education and research university that has combined the scientific and technological horsepower of a major research university with the academic and social environment of a small college.Analysis, Integration & Design, Inc. (AIDI) (www.aidinc-usa.com) AIDI is a software and technology integration company that provides hardware and software engineering including system design, integration and test.ARC Technology Solutions, LLC (www.arcserv.com) ARC Technology Solutions provides successful technology-insertion, depot repair, system sustainment and test solutions to emerging companies, the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as, Fortune 500 corporations.Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT) (www.ccat.us) CCAT works with both military and civilian industrial manufacturing needs; promotes energy planning and policy initiatives, stimulates innovation, and addresses workforce development issues concerning technology competitiveness. GSA Service Company (www.gsaservice.com) GSA Service company is a manufacturers representative firm specializing in sales and support to U.S. military agencies, with a specialized interest in maintenance depots and intermediate maintenance facilities. BAE Systems (www.baesystems.com) BAE Systems is a global company engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defense, security and aerospace systems in the air, on land and at sea.Geotest – Marvin Test Systems, Inc. (www.geotestinc.com) Geotest Marvin Test Systems is a global producer of PXI and PC-based test equipment and test solutions. New CTMA Project Approvals: IUID Markings for Legacy PartsSpecifying Item Unique Identifier (IUID) markings for legacy parts is a major issue for DoD. DFARS Clause 252.211-7003 mandates that all parts with value greater than $5,000 shall be marked per MIL-STD 130. To accomplish that, the technical data package for all applicable parts must be modified to specify a marking location, the type of marking, and to reference the specification that governs IUID marking. To accomplish that using the existing change process, a 139 form is filled out to request engineering action, it travels through an approval cycle and eventually ends up with the cognizant engineer (likely in a depot), the engineer performs an analysis and creates a 202 form (engineering change order) for delivery to the assigned engineering function. This fully manual process is estimated to cost $3,000 to $5,000. For parts that already have data or name plates, the location part of the analysis is done, leaving only the type of marking to be specified. For legacy parts, the technical data container is most likely a raster image, 2D drawing scanned from the original manually drawn or CAD output drawing. Technology from three CTMA projects (Legacy Lifecycle Data Management, Casting Cost Advisor, and Modernizing Tech Data Packages) can be integrated to produce a system capable of automatically finding the data or name plate location, adding the IUID marking, and producing an AutoCAD overlay for the ECO. The process will be mostly automated with human quality checks. The result will be a system that can, for this particular case, reduce the cost by an order of magnitude. The impact is potentially enormous. The Air Force has identified 75,000 parts that are the first critical need. Even using the low end cost as the baseline, the technology promises to save as much as $187,500,000, depending on how many of those 75,000 parts have dataplates. The NCMS Contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930. Validation of Functional Trivalent Chromium Plating Process An earlier phase of this project demonstrated that an advanced pulse plating technique to apply a functional chromium deposit from a trivalent chromium bath was a viable alternative to the more toxic hexavalent chromium plating. The original motivation for developing the coating was to avoid the use of hexavalent chromium. The results of limited testing indicated that the new process produces a wear-resistant coating that is comparable to, and may even be functionally superior to, the standard coating plated from a hexavalent bath. This project will assess the capabilities of the electroplating technology for applying functional (wear-resistant) chromium coatings to steel and other substrates and will apply a series of rigorous tests to determine the scope of applicability of the new process. This approach is currently the only viable drop-in replacement for non-line-of-sight hexavalent chromium electroplating. The NCMS Contact is Bill Chenevert, billc@ncms.org, 734-995-7989. Rapid Access to Readiness-Essential (RARE) Parts Rapid Manufacturing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a transformational manufacturing paradigm expected to supplant traditional machining and tooling processes for the fabrication of select products. This revolutionary technology builds net shape or near net shape parts layer by layer directly from CAD. Additive technologies allow part design freedoms not possible with traditional fabrication methods. Complex-multiple part configurations can be constructed in a single build, thus allowing reduction in the numbers of component parts needing assembly. The objectives of the CTMA Rapid Manufacturing & Repair RARE parts program are to:
The NCMS Contact is Connie Philips, conniep@ncms.org, 386-445-2785. Coming to the Defense Maintenance Symposium in Phoenix, October 26-29? Come visit us in Booth 333 where we are showcasing four CTMA projects plus the CTMA program. We’ll be easy to find – look for the ship mast. More information about the Symposium can be found at: http://www.sae.org/events/dod/ You are invited to the following NCMS/CTMA Events Tobyhanna Army Depot Technology Showcase, Wednesday, October 14, 2009 NCMS has made arrangements with the Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) to sponsor an onsite Technology Showcase. This unique opportunity to present innovative technology solutions and meet directly with maintenance personnel is only available to NCMS members. Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) is the largest, full-service electronics maintenance facility in DoD and employs over 5700 workers. TYADs mission is total sustainment, including design, manufacture, repair and overhaul of hundreds of electronic systems that include satellite terminals, radio and radar systems, telephones, electro-optics, night vision and anti-intrusion devices, airborne surveillance equipment, navigational instruments, electronic warfare and guidance and control systems for tactical missiles. The displays will be strategically located in Maintenance Building 1C offering the opportunity for Army personnel to visit with the various companies throughout the day. The event will conclude with a networking reception for depot personnel and participants. For more information please go to http://www.ncms.org/09Tobyhanna Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at the Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point), Wednesday, November 18, 2009 The CTMA project, Laser Paint Stripping of Composite Helicopter Blades, has successfully installed the paint stripping unit at Cherry Point, which is currently being certified for production use (expected mid-September). We welcome people interested in seeing this unit work in production as we celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Cherry Point, North Carolina. The NCMS contact is Lee Patch, leep@ncms.org, 734-995-4972. Save the Date: 2010 CTMA Symposium “Achieve Technology Collaboration”, March 22-25, 2010. Location: The Clubs at Quantico, Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia. Expect to learn about the services technological needs, discuss the new technology roadmap now under development, and to review current CTMA project efforts in addition to tabletop displays and extensive networking opportunities. Stay tuned for more information. The NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038. We appreciate your feedback. Please contact Chuck Ryan with suggestions or input on other topics that would be of interest to you in this newsletter. The CTMA Program is sponsored by the Department of Defense; the content of this newsletter does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the government; no official endorsement should be inferred. |
