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| April 2011
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/organizations into NCMS: Anglicotech LLC (anglicotech.com) System Integration and IT Consulting Microsoft Corporation (www.microsoft.com) Microsoft’s mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) Federal Aerospace and Defense Division ( www.ptc.com) Lifecycle management software and consulting services. TotalSim LLC (www.totalsim.us) Computational Fluid Dynamics Consulting Thanks for your participation in the 2011 CTMA Symposium Plenary speakers put forth their needs and requirements, and the deputy commanders panel spelled out technology needs and deployment practices. We would like to thank RW Appleton and Co, Inc., and Technical Objectives Professionals, LLC (TOP Inc.) for their sponsorship of the tour of the Marine Corps Museum, which is well worth your time. The 2012 CTMA Symposium is tentatively scheduled for March 26-29 at the Fleet Readiness Center Southwest near San Diego. $3.4 million in direct service funds for the CTMA program so far in 1Q CY11:
The PM-LAV Product Data Management TIA is envisioned to harbor all technical data supporting products generated by PM-LAV activity. The TIA will capture and automate the process flows of the current data supply exchange and simplify the effort of sharing data. The TIA will enable collaborative workflows and access to necessary users of generated data. The TIA will support links, systems interfaces, or assimilation of legacy data in a manner that will allow all users to obtain information and make quicker more informed decisions.
Data, a very tactical component with little use by itself, has become a strategic asset with aggregation and visibility. In a world where decision cycles have grown shorter, having the right information at the right place at the right time can mean the difference between victory and failure. Data exploitation is a key enabler of mission success no matter what the operational application. This project will focus on the practical application of technology to increase supply chain and maintenance functions in an expeditionary environment through data exploitation. In many cases, data is stored in disparate systems or data stores with little enterprise visibility. Systems may be operating autonomously. In other cases, additional technology insertions or interfaces between systems can greatly enhance business processes as well as increase the access to data. Finally, all data is not equal. Defining the right data needed to make actionable decisions is just as important. The goals of this project are:
While the maintenance process has dramatically changed over the years, the inspection process has changed little. It is still mostly a manual, paper-based process where personnel examine a product either manually or with some type of device to determine if a defect is identified and log the findings on paper. The process is highly subjective and relies extensively on the knowledge/experience of the person performing the inspection. In many organizations inspections are viewed as a necessary event to maintain the quality of the product. The data is used to correct any defects. As products age or problems arise, efforts are made to analyze the historical data to identify root cause trends and/or patterns. Because the data is non-standard extensive effort is required to mine the data to extract it in a meaningful format. Due to the vast array of abbreviations, slang, and short hand methods used to log the inspection results, much of the data cannot be used and requires extensive subject matter expertise on the specific item to perform even the simplest analysis. This project addresses these issues by developing processes to standardize both the inspection processes and inspection data. The purpose of this project is for Aspire Solutions, Inc. (ASI) to implement a services contract at RRAD. This project will focus on data collection, data mining and data analysis processes. The project will include a full inspection for a vehicle. The proposed vehicle is the FMTV truck. This includes inspection checklist, data validation, reference data (TM, Shop instructions, etc.), training, and analysis/reporting.
The Barstow production line expends extensive time troubleshooting and repairing electrical wiring systems as vehicle wiring configurations have been modified or altered in the field to meet the needs of the warfighter. An automated troubleshooting tool is needed to improve process cycle time and reliability to support the Reset Program objectives. This effort will define the basic requirements for the development of Test Program Sets (TPSs) for use at MCB Barstow applicable to the EWIS II GFE. The Unit Under Test (UUT) for this effort is in reference to a GFE vehicle or vehicle electrical system under test. Contractor will provide the deliverables and support services that will be used to generate / validate and document electrical systems integrity concepts, test equipments, protocols and test programs.
This project will conduct High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) tests on T56 compressor rotor blades and vanes coated with the MDS Coating Technologies (MCT) Corporation Next Generation Coating (NGC) v4. Tests are to be conducted by the Rolls Royce Corporation (RRC) at their Indianapolis, IN test facility. Either 15 (coated blades only) or 30 (uncoated + coated blades) compressor blades each for the 1st, 6th, 9th and 14th stage will be used for testing. At least two (2) coated fixed vane segments will be used for testing. 2011 Michigan Robotics Day On April 12, Michigan Robotics Day was held at NCMS headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan to coincide with National Robotics Week. NCMS partnered with The Michigan Defense Center (MEDC) and Soar Technologies for this event to celebrate robotics in the state of Michigan. Industry leaders addressed a capacity crowd while the corridors and rear parking lot of NCMS was overrun by robots and enthusiastic students. NCMS President & CEO Rick Jarman shared his vision of Michigan companies using collaboration to be a global leader in the design and manufacturing of advanced robotic technologies. Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), who was detained in Washington to due to the budget crisis, welcomed attendees via video and expressed his enthusiasm for the event. Keynote speaker Jim Overholt, Senior Research Scientist of Robotics for the U.S. Army, gave an entertaining and enlightening talk on the state of robotics technology. 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. |
| © 2011 |
