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:

ANSYS, Inc. (www.ansys.com)

ANSYS develops, markets and supports engineering simulation software used to foresee how product designs will behave and how manufacturing processes will operate in real-world environments. We continually advance simulation solutions by, first, developing or acquiring the very best technology; then integrating it into a unified and customizable simulation platform that allows engineers to efficiently perform complex simulations involving the interaction of multiple physics; and, finally, providing system services to manage simulation processes and data — all so engineers and product developers can spend more time designing and improving products and less time using software and searching for data.

Four projects are being featured at this years booth:

Imaginestics – IUID for Legacy Parts

Ecylpse International – Enhanced Wiring Integrity Systems

ID Systems – Centralized Fleet Automated Management Systems

Advanced Tooling Corporation – No Mask Tooling for Plating Baths

While you are at the Maintenance Symposium, come vote for one of the three CTMA projects entered into Great Ideas Competition including:

CTMA Project Opportunities

Enabling Interoperability in a NATO Environment; Maintenance and Repair Activities

Having successfully completed the first phase of this effort, the CTMA team will endeavor to follow the same methods and protocols to facilitate interoperability of Maintenance and Repair activities in a Coalition Environment harvesting IUID data across US service components, US Maintenance Centers and NATO Maintenance Centers. This data will serve as the enabler to allow maintenance activities to be conducted within and across joint service as well as international coalition environments. The effort will result in a field evolution to showcase NATO interoperability. The project will test visibility and interoperability of data between a COTS/GOTS US information system, the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) Automated Information Systems (AIS) and the USMC Maintenance Centers at Albany, GA and Barstow, CA.  This visibility and these transactions would show basic functionality of Coalition Logistics Interoperability (a key logistics enabler in coalition operations) and serve as a cornerstone function as the USMC evolves to a fully functional Naval Logistics Integration (NLI) initiative in the Enterprise Sense and Respond environment.

This effort will demonstrate a scenario depicting the coordinated physical movement of assets from an operational environment such as a NAMSA maintenance and repair facility, or the USMC Maintenance Centers at Albany or Barstow. The data structures describing the assets and the movement will be defined where necessary based on international standards. The relevant data messages will be created and distributed according to the scenario and the actual physical movement and change to the assets. The gaps in data, communication, or technical capability will be identified and addressed. Existing capabilities and emerging contingency tools will be incorporated in the process.

The NCMS Contact is Debra Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

Precision Form Correction of Aircraft Fuselage Panels

Laser Shot Peening is increasingly being used in commercial and military aircraft to improve the fatigue resistance of a variety of critical flight components.  In 2008, laser peening forming began commercial application with Boeing to shape the curvature for the thick sections of the large wing panels for the new 747-8 aircraft, helping enable it to become the world’s most efficient aircraft on a per passenger mile basis. This highly precise forming technology can be used to correctively shape components such as the F/A-18 701 wing skins and on a specialty basic for aircraft needing replacement wing and fuselage skins.

In the proposed project, the team would work with NAVAIR to demonstrate and deploy laser shot peening corrective forming of the  F/A-18 701 skin panels in order to adjust as-manufactured panels to the required tolerance in shape.  Laser peening has the unique capability to generate controlled curvature and strain into panels including thick panels as used on wide bodied commercial aircraft wing skins and much thinner (0.050 inch thick) panels such as for aircraft fuselages including the F/A-18 701 skin.

The NCMS Contact is Chuck Ryan, chuckr@ncms.org, 734-995-4905.

Make plans next year for the 2012 CTMA Symposium

26-29 March, San Diego

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.

Plan to visit the NCMS/CTMA Booth at the Defense Maintenance Symposium, Fort Worth, November 14-17.

Four projects are being featured at this year’s booth:

Imaginestics – IUID for Legacy Parts

Ecylpse International – Enhanced Wiring Integrity Systems

ID Systems – Centralized Fleet Automated Management Systems

Advanced Tooling Corporation – No Mask Tooling for Plating Baths

While you are at the Maintenance Symposium, come vote for one of the three CTMA projects entered into Great Ideas Competition including: Automated Process and Inspection Guide Modernization of Metal Electroplating with No-Mask Conforming Anodes Composite Structure Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell (IRPC)       For companies exhibiting at the Maintenance Symposium, NCMS member company, TOP, Inc., can provide booth transportation services, including booth setup and breakdown.  Contact Todd Eggler at TOP for more information, todd@cwsmail.com, 507-273-7938.

If you are at the Materials Science & Technology 2011 Conference:

Come see Connie Philips present the CTMA-project brief entitled “Laser-Based Material Deposition, Consolidation, & Removal Technologies:Road to Adoption” .  Connie will outline the advances made by the Additive Manufacturing project team, and what steps are being taken to more quickly bring this far-ranging technology onto the production floor.  The brief will be at the Mechanical Properties of Additive Manufactured Materials and Components session on Tuesday, October 18 at 10:20 am.  Further information can be found at http://www.matscitech.org/.

CTMA Project Extension: Metal Finishing Development Program Phase II

(DoD Partners:Corpus Christi Army Depot; Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center; Navy Fleet Readiness Center SW)

Phase II of the highly-successful Metal Finishing Development Program is being launched.  In Phase I, a 5 module, 3½ hour Computer Based Training (CBT) course in basic hard chrome plating was developed and made available to the participating DoD Partners.  This course uses a newly published Hard Chrome Training Handbook developed under a separate EPA grant as its companion reference text.

The objective of Phase II is to expand the learning experience into a real games-based learning approach. Phase II allows platers (both new and seasoned alike) through computer simulation to run a plating process that allows them to select parts, plate the parts, vary parameters (anode distances, current, masking, current diverters/robbers), observe results and make adjustments to improve the process.  Platers are able to “learn by doing” in an instructive, engaging and entertaining way on how best to electroplate from a cost, quality, safety and environmental viewpoint.  What made this games-based simulation possible was being able to adapt some powerful electro-chemistry process simulation software, originally developed by Elsyca for commercial purposes, into a learning tool.  The modified software generates results that are true to life and accurate for the components chosen to simulate.

The plan is to integrate/enhance the simulation software with Flash animations, tutorials, etc. to make the simulated plating shop experience as representative of the real world as possible for the learner.  Additionally, troubleshooting modules (based on real life experiences of the depots) are being developed to supplement the simulation.

The NCMS Contact is Bill Chenevert, billc@ncms.org, 734-995-7989.

Make plans next year for the 2012 CTMA Symposium

26-29 March, San Diego

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.

We welcome the following companies/organizations into NCMS:

Honeywell Process Solutions division of Honeywell International

(http://hpsweb.honeywell.com)

Honeywell Process Solutions is a division of Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) and has been a pioneer in automation control for more than 30 years.

CTMA Project Completion: Laser Coating Removal for Helicopter Blade Refurbishment

(DoD Partners: Navy Fleet Readiness Center East, Naval Underseas Warfare Center Keyport)

To satisfy operational needs, Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) East must refurbish up to 150 main helicopter rotor blades each month. During blade refurbishment, workers remove the topcoat of paint using manually-operated, air-driven orbital sanders. The process requires extensive, tedious labor in a dusty, uncomfort­able environment. As illustrated in Figure 1, personnel must wear cumbersome and costly personal protection equipment to avoid dust inhalation due to toxic compounds in the coatings. Personnel complain of repetitive stress injuries and fatigue, and lost time is significant. Hand-sanding with air-driven orbital sanders often leads to substrate damage resulting in additional delays (Figure 2). Until this project, manually-controlled sanding was the only coating removal method approved for blade refurbishment operations at FRC East.

The Integration of Laser Coating Removal for Helicopter Blade Refurbishment project was initiated to:

• Evaluate economic efficacy of alternate stripping technologies and down-select the most promising.
• Develop and execute a test program to qualify the selected stripping process.
• Develop a performance specification for a practical and economical blade stripping system.
• Design, fabricate, and implement the specified Automated Rotor Blade Stripping System (ARBSS) at FRC East.

This project resulted in the approved use of automated laser paint stripping for thin composite helicopter rotor blades using high-speed process feedback to protect the substrate. The feedback system relies on color recognition to selectively strip topcoat while preserving primer and substrate, thereby ensuring substrate integrity. The process strips a blade in less than one-third the time compared to conventional techniques, eliminates the generation of secondary hazardous waste, and provides an unprecedented level of safety and comfort for the maintainers.

The system was installed at FRC East in June 2009 and is currently stripping rotor blades (Figures 3 and 4). The project has demonstrated the ability to successfully implement a set-and-forget automated blade stripping system, and has involved industry partners to ensure further commercialization and dissemination of the technology. The successful implementation of this system represents a leap in both laser stripping and automated system technology.

Figure 1.  Conventional Helicopter  Stripping Process     

Figure 2.  Blade Damage from Orbital Hand Sanding

Figure 3.   ARBSS at FRC East Prepared to Strip Rotor Blade

Figure 4.   Operator Control Room

The technologies developed and proven in this effort can now be readily applied to a broad array of composite and metal structures throughout the Department of Defense (DoD) that are costly to refurbish, such as aircraft wings, stabilizers, and fuselages.

The project promises numerous benefits to both warfighters and to those who support them. Specifically, helicopter rotor blade stripping time is reduced from 22 hours/blade to 8 hours/blade, and will be further reduced to <3 hours/blade with a planned laser upgrade. The reduction in processing time will enable FRC East to boost throughput in order to meet operational needs.

The quantitative benefits are considerable. The per unit repair cost would be reduced from $1,188.14/blade to $222.53/blade. With a production rate of 940 blades per year ($908K annual savings), the Phase II system would generate a straight line payback of 1.54 years. Additionally, the use of real-time sensor feedback to control stripping will prevent any inadvertent secondary damage to the blade, eliminating any additional delays.

The FRC East labor normally expended to strip rotor blades can now be put to use on other immediate warfighter refurbishment activities of critical need to the warfighter.

The blade stripping maintainers who support the warfighter will benefit through elimination both of repetitive stress injuries and the need to wear personal protective equipment, which is hot, cumbersome, and difficult to work in.

Laser stripping technology eliminates secondary waste generation and reduces mass of effluent to less than the mass of coating removed, and thus offers both environmental and worker health and safety benefits.

The project has brought the state-of-the-art of both laser stripping and robotic system integration to a level in which it is readily available for transition to other DoD applications, such as stripping of flight control surfaces and many other refurbishment activities.

NCMS Contact is Doyle Maleche, doylem@ncms.org, 360-782-1370.

Plan to visit the NCMS/CTMA Booth at the Defense Maintenance Symposium, Fort Worth, November 14-17.

Four projects are being featured at this years booth as we try to regain best booth honors taken from us last year by “Big Ass Fans”.  With a western theme, our booth includes:

Imaginestics – IUID for Legacy Parts

Ecylpse International – Enhanced Wiring Integrity Systems

ID Systems – Centralized Fleet Automated Management Systems

Advanced Tooling Corporation – No Mask Tooling for Plating Baths

Make plans next year for the 2012 CTMA Symposium

26-29 March, San Diego

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.

We welcome the following companies/organizations into NCMS:

Osterhout Design Group (www.osterhoutgroup.com)

Development and manufacture of commercial and DoD electronics devices.

Emerson Process Management LLLP (www.emersonprocess.com)

Emerson is a diversified global manufacturing and technology company offering a wide range of products and services in the areas of network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and tools and storage businesses. Recognized widely for our engineering capabilities and management excellence, Emerson has approximately 127,700 employees and 240 manufacturing locations worldwide.

New Mexico Computing Applications Center (NMCAC) (www.nmcac.net)

The NMCAC provides innovative and effective solutions to complex challenges by creating partnerships between businesses and organizations that include Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico’s institutions of higher education, and New Mexico’s forward-looking state government. This network draws on the full range of talent in the State while also driving progressive education, workforce and community development efforts that are critical to successfully growing high-tech businesses.

CTMA Project Extension: Validation of Functional Trivalent Chromium Plating Process

Project results to date have validated the trivalent chrome process ablility to successfully pass several key tests. The coating performed comparably to hexavalent chrome for thickness, hardness, adhesion and hydrogen embrittlement. Additionally, the trivalent chrome plating bath tests showed no signs of residual hexavalent chromium after more than 1,400 amp/hrs of use, which indicates the new process does not appear to generate harmful hexavalent chromium ions impacting the environment and worker safety. While initial wear tests at high loads were not favorable, the team strongly believes the failure was due to an unusual microstructure (less dense and columnar in nature) observed in the trivalent chrome samples. The unusual structure introduced various failure modes including cracking of the columnar deposits and liberated columns of material functioning as abrasive particles during the wear tests, particularly during the higher loads wear testing. The cause of the unusual microstructure was felt to be due to a less than optimized process. As such, the project team will perform a “Hull Cell Experiment” to identify more optimal process parameters (e.g., current density and bath temperature) to address the unusual microstructure issue that caused wear test failure.

NCMS Contact is Bill Chenevert, billc@ncms.org, 734-995-7989.

Three CTMA Projects Selected for Great Ideas Competition at the DoD Defense Maintenance Symposium, Fort Worth, November 14-17.

Half the projects being presented at the Great Ideas Competition this year are part of the CTMA program.  Come to the Symposium and vote for one of these projects:

1. Automated Process and Inspection Guide

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.  This project is demonstrating the benefits of replacing inefficient paper-based processes with mobile data capture devices combined with COTS software to guide inspectors.  Anticipated benefits include:  inspection cost reduction, reduced repair cycle time, increased industrial capacity and enhanced failure and trend analysis.

1. Modernization of Metal Electroplating with No-Mask Conforming Anodes

Thousands of metal parts make up expensive vehicles, aircraft, and machinery; some moving, some stationary, all exposed to forces of corrosion and wear. Electroplating is critical to making them perform better and last longer.  Unfortunately, the basic activity of electroplating has not changed substantively in over 100 years. Carefully hand mask areas of a part you wish to protect from plating, and dip in an electrified tank for several hours. Time consuming (masking takes hours and is highly error prone), inefficient (as much as 90% of the electrical power is wasted), and dangerous (plating baths are highly toxic). This CTMA project addresses all issues with a single, powerful solution: eliminate masking labor, achieve faster plating times, and improve uniformity of deposits.

1. Composite Structure Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell (IRPC)

IRPC is a direct response to reducing sustainment cost by increasing the availability and reliability of critical composite structures through replacement of artisan dependant inspection and repair operations with computer based technology. The current manual practice includes tap testing as the detection method, manual scarfing to remove the defect, and manual patch preparation, all contributing elements of inaccuracy and waste. This CTMA project is identifying and demonstrating a suite of integrated technologies to achieve this goal. The baseline artifact selected for evaluation of the technologies is the C-130 Radome although the technique can be applied to new aircraft program materials to identify manufacturing defects as well as structures being refurbished. Defects include delamination, physical damage, and presence of moisture.

New ASTM Additive Manufacturing Specification Answers Need for Standard Interchange File Format

The additive manufacturing industry will greatly benefit from a new ASTM International standard that will allow computer- aided design programs, scanners and 3D graphical editors to communicate with 3D printers and additive manufacturing equipment. The standard will answer the growing need within the industry for a standard interchange file format that can work with features such as color, texture, material, substructure and other properties of a fabricated target object.

The new standard, ASTM F2915, Specification for Additive Manufacturing File Format (AMF), was developed by Subcommittee F42.04 on Design, part of ASTM International Committee F42 on Additive Manufacturing Technologies.

“As additive manufacturing technology is quickly evolving from producing primarily single-material, homogeneous shapes to producing multi-material geometries in full color with functionally graded materials and microstructures, there is a growing need for a standard interchange file format that can support these features,” says Hod Lipson, Ph.D., associate professor, Cornell University, and an F42.04 member. “ASTM F2915 is XML-based, covers these new capabilities and allows for expansion.”  According to Lipson, ASTM F2915 will provide engineers, architects, artists and anyone involved in 3D design and printing to seamlessly transition from design to physical printed object, independent of the specific software or printer hardware being used.  “This is similar to the PDF file format that allows any document to be viewed and printed regardless of the display and printer being used,” says Lipson. “The availability of such a standard is key to growth of the additive manufacture industry and the proliferation of new applications.”

Lipson notes that geometric design software vendors and 3D printer manufacturers will be the primary users of ASTM F2915, but he also says that anyone involved in the design, aggregation, fabrication and consumption of 3D objects using new additive manufacturing technologies would benefit from use of the new standard.  A website with files, documentation and forums for ASTM F2915 is located at www.stl2.com.

The NCMS contact for this program is Connie Philips, conniep@ncms.org, 386-445-2785.

Make plans next year for the 2012 CTMA Symposium

26-29 March, San Diego

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.

listserv@listserv.ncms.org with “subscribe CTMANewsletter” or “unsubscribe CTMANewsletter” in the message body.

We welcome the following companies/organizations into NCMS:

The National Center for Technology Advancement (NCTA) (www.tnctech.org)

The National Center for Technology Advancement (NCTA) and its subsidiary organizations apply and extend the application of digital sciences for enhanced development and empowerment through technology innovation. Serving at the intersection of governmental, educational, and private sectors, the NCTA was created to act as the umbrella non-profit modeled on the success of its first subsidiary, the National Agribusiness Technology Center (NATC), across multiple domains.

The Ohio State University/ Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) (www.osc.edu)

The Ohio Supercomputer Center is a statewide resource that provides supercomputing services and computational science expertise to Ohio university researchers as well as Ohio industries. OSC has provided these services for over twenty years, and in fiscal year 2008 we estimate that Ohio researchers that use OSC have won over $85M of research funding for Ohio – a return on investment of 17:1.

General Dynamics – OTS ( www.gd-ots.com)

General Dynamics-Ordnance and Tactical Systems empowers the U.S. military and its allies with an extensive range of overarching product segments.. applied across all levels of strategic and tactical operations.

CTMA Project Extension: RARE Parts through “Rapid Manufacturing & Repair” (Phase III)

DoD participants:  Fleet Readiness Center East; 2. Fleet Readiness Center Southeast; Trident Refit Facility, Kings Bay; Oklahoma City Air Logistic Center; Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport; Anniston Army Depot; Corpus Christi Army Depot;Tobyhanna Army Depot; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Naval Foundry & Propeller Center; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard;  NAVAIR  China Lake

This active project is focused on advancing the maturation of a new transformational manufacturing industry, Additive Manufacturing (AM), for use within DoD maintenance activities through technology insertion, technology-knowledge deployment, and standards formation.  DoD and industry continue to join the project team with the additions of Corpus Christi Army Depot and Baxter Healthcare.  Maintenance activities are acquiring Additive Manufacturing equipment now with their own funding and learning through team involvement how to best implement the technologies within their depots.

Through the efforts of this team and with the AM community at large, members are involved in ASTM standards generation through ASTM F-42 Committee.  The pace of national and international activity has quickened over the past two years, with the establishment of the ASTM F-42 Committee (over 120 members world-wide), and with the adoption of AM by an increasing number of DoD Maintenance activities.  We are on the cusp of sweeping changes in how DoD will perform manufacturing and repairs.  With the additional 20 months time, the project team will continue these current activities, will evaluate new AM software that enables .stl file accommodations uniquely for varying AM processes to produce any 3D AM part design, and will evaluate and perform Design of Experiment studies on new lower-end machines to measure their fabrication capabilities against the team’s current AM equipment capabilities.  If these lower end machines (SLA and FDM types) allow users to make accurate 3D structures, albeit more slowly, and with material properties equal to currently utilized SLA and FDM machines, low quantity tooling and masking could be economically made by any depot or in the field on these small, portable and relatively inexpensive machines.

Additionally, the team continues to follow the materials development occurring for EOS and ARCAM metals processes, favored by NAVAIR and the Air Force, and the polymers and rubber-like materials that can produce gaskets, plugs and seals on the Objet Connex, possibly for use in field repair.  Reverse engineering studies comparing inspection/software systems using a standard test piece, Amber, continues as well.   Team members having acquired new inspection systems will use Amber to assess the accuracy and fidelity of their systems.

NCMS Program Manager is Connie Philips, conniep@ncms.org, 386-445-2785.

NCMS Partners with Navy to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through remotely operated vehicle challenges

NCMS is working with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Keyport to manage its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program focused on Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) on the Kitsap Penisula. The cooperative agreement between NCMS and NUWC Keyport will support the Department of Defense’s (DoD) mission of scientific outreach and education in working to nurture future scientists capable of providing support to the development of DoD identified critical technologies.

The current lack of robotics-specific degreed engineers and technicians poses a serious threat to future development and deployment of robotic and unmanned systems which are integral to ensuring the safety of the warfighter. This program will inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers by engaging students, kindergarten through college, in STEM-related hands-on learning activities using Navy content, preparing them for future employment in ROV disciplines, supporting academic institutions or the naval contractor community. Finally, it will help employ, retain and develop naval STEM professionals to support this technologically advanced sector.

NCMS will leverage its experience in workforce training and interactive games-based learning to ensure that an educated and well-prepared ROV workforce is available to meet both naval and national competitiveness needs.

The NCMS contact is Doyle Maleche, doylem@ncms.org, 360-782-1370.

Make plans next year for the 2012 CTMA Symposium

26-29 March, San Diego

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.

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:

OBD Solutions (www.obdsol.com) Leader in advanced On Board Diagnostics (OBD II) technologies for vehicles.

CTMA Project Completion: Integrating Sensors and Predictive Maintenance Systems with Performance Support Technology to Increase CH-53 Readiness and Reliability

DoD participants:   PMA-261 (CH-53E Program Office);  HMT 302 Marine Corps Air Station – New River, NC;  Fleet Readiness Center East; Fleet Readiness Center Southeast

CH-53E Helicopter readiness rates are declining due to maintenance groundings associated with high operational tempo, component breakdown, and age-related problems, such as structural fatigue and rotor wear and tear.  Each CH-53E helicopter requires more than 40 hours of maintenance for each flight-hour of operation. There are approximately 145 operational CH-53E airframes in the fleet. PMA-261 spends roughly $500M per year on fleet maintenance.

The purpose of this project was to join the Integrated Mechanical Diagnostic System (IMDS), a Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS), with an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) to provide CH-53E helicopter maintenance technicians with a seamless prognostic, diagnostic, and repair suite that measurably increases the readiness and availability of the aircraft while reducing or eliminating associated maintenance expenditures.

The suite is composed of three main consoles: System Developer, Maintenance Control/Admin, and Maintainer. The System Developer console is used to make modifications to the system such as technical manual updates and procedural changes. The Maintenance Control/Admin console is used for creating and managing user accounts, as well as receiving updates from the System Developer console. Finally, the Maintainer console is used by the maintainer as a point-of-maintenance tool that aids maintainers to troubleshooting, repairing and maintaining the various systems on the CH-53E.

Achieving a 3% reduction in maintenance costs through faster and more accurate troubleshooting could result in a $15.3M in annual cost savings at PMA-261. Findings suggest that savings could be high as $50M – if 10% maintenance cost avoidance is achieved.

NCMS Program Manager is Doyle Maleche, doylem@ncms.org, 360-782-1370.

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.

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.

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:

1. Product Data Management, Technical Information Architecture (Marine Corps System Command)

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.

1. Expeditionary Logistics (Marine Corps System Command)

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:

•   Increase deployed asset visibility
• Identify short term technology injectors to improve the capacity of the current Supply Chain and Maintenance readiness in Afghanistan and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF
• Introduce technology to reduce the number of convoys needed to meet capacity in Afghanistan
• Identify short term technology injectors to improve the capacity of the current Supply Chain and Maintenance readiness while aboard Naval Shipping
• Identify ways to decrease USMC Equipment Restructuring and Reset Costs

1. Automated Process and Inspection Guide and Depot Data Capture (Red River Army Depot)

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.

1. Enhanced Wiring Integrity System (Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Barstow)

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.

1. Erosion Corrosion Coatings (DoD Environmental Security Technology Certification Program)

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.

Photos and Webcast

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.

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:

Climax Portable Machine Tools, Inc. (www.cpmt.com) Manufacturer of Portable Metal Cutting Machine Tools used in the repair and manufacturing of industrial machinery and equipment. Providing both standard and custom built tools.Optomec, Inc. (www.optomec.com) Supplier of advanced manufacturing equipment for the Electronics, Photovoltaic Display and Defense industries using clean technologies to fabricate and repair next generation end-products with improved functionality at lower cost.

Intel Corporation (www.intel.com) Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products, and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Founded in 1968 to build semiconductor memory products, Intel introduced the world’s first microprocessor in 1971.

Why should you come to

the 2011 CTMA Symposium

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

1) Project Opportunities – the funding model for the CTMA program has evolved from congressionally-directed funds to service-directed funds.  Since January 2010, the CTMA program has received over $17 million in funding for projects, which is far above the $6 million annual average we received from 1998-2009.  We are on-track for receiving substantially more project funding in this calendar year as well.

2) Our focus on technology development and deployment – CTMA projects span DoD technology readiness levels 5-8, with a strong focus on delivering capability to the DoD.  Therefore, project teams are in better positions to continue to deploy their technologies to other DoD facilities when the project has been completed.

3) Reach into DoD – The CTMA program has well established relationships with all the DoD depots, and have expanded relationships into the intermediate repair facilities in all the services as well.  Now we are making inroads in establishing new relationships with Program Executive Officers, weapon system programs managers and chief engineers who establish DoD needs and drive technology development and deployment.

Coming to the Symposium will expose you and your technology developments to a wide variety of DoD personnel.  If you can fill a DoD need, the CTMA program offers an opportunity to meet those needs.  The CTMA cooperative agreement offers a convenient contracting mechanism to DoD organizations to quickly apply funds to new project efforts, and to bring collaborative teams together to solve their highest priority issues.

It is not too late to register, and to reserve a tabletop display to further educate Symposium participants about your technology solutions.  The agenda and registration can be found at http://www.ncms.org/2011CTMA/agenda.htm.

Project Approval: Corrosion Resistant Solid State Thin-Walled Component Joining for Maintenance and Repair Applications – Phase II

Phase I of this project created a design for a bolt-on replacement to the current belt up structure of the HMMWV. The purpose of the replacement cage is to provide a nonintrusive low weight structure that produces a pallet for a low weight composite and reduced weight metallic armor solutions while including main components of the armor into the structure, resulting in a stiffer overall end result. Emphasis was placed on hydroforming and Deformation Resistance Welding (DRW) welding to produce a final design that, while meeting the crucial criteria in advancing the current structural and weight characteristics, is also feasible as a cost effective solution at the production level. Phase II will validate the DRW technology as both a tool for the direct manufacture of next generation military vehicle with specific reference to space frame structure development. The initiative of this phase of the DRW design study will follow close collaboration and coordination between the industrial team and the Program Manager Tactical Vehicles – US Army to identify weight savings opportunities on the HMMWV that also hold applicability for currently fielded vehicles (RESET/RECAP) and future vehicle programs such as JLTV and GCV.

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.

Featured at the 2011 CTMA Symposium:

Major General James A. Kessler

 Commanding General

Marine Corps Logistics Command  

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

The CTMA Symposium:

1. Creates networking opportunities among the DOD facilities, and among industry and DoD.
2. Provides transparency of various maintenance facility needs, which then permits other attendees to provide input and/or join forces.
3. Provides a fertile hunting ground for other potential collaborations for technology development and implementation.

The Symposium will focus on the rapid response to the needs of the warfighter and will include DoD experts on warfighter needs, depot deputy commanders outlining their current needs, and project showcases/presentations.  The working agenda and registration can be found at http://www.ncms.org/2011CTMA/agenda.htm.

Recently Completed Project: Item Unique Identifier Markings for Legacy Parts

DoD Participants:  Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC); U.S. Air Force Materiel Command  

The Department of Defense (DoD) in 2003 mandated that all parts meeting specified criteria receive Item Unique Identifier (IUID) marks. The mandate can be relatively easily implemented for new acquisitions, but the non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost for updating the technical data for hundreds of thousands of legacy National Item Identification Numbers (NIINs) and physically marking millions of legacy parts in inventory is a daunting task that has delayed implementation for legacy NIINs. To address at least a significant portion of the total legacy part issue, an automated IUID Engineering Change Order (ECO) process was successfully developed under this CTMA IUID project.

The system has been validated using actual parts and their related TDP and TO data from the Oklahoma Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC). Preliminary results show that this system can immediately provide substantial cost savings to all defense services in their non-recurring cost in creating ECOs for legacy parts that require IUID markings.

The following benefits are being realized:

·   Helped establish a fixed cost (15:1 cost reduction from current $3,000 rate) and 80% cycle time reduction per ECO creation for an IUID marking for legacy parts.

·   Improved quality and reduction in human errors of marking identification on the drawings.

·   Established a cost-effective process for IUID part-marking and ECO creation, so others across DoD can adopt it.

·   In the short term, has potential to substantially impact the non-recurring cost- and time-savings for all of the defense services for IUID markings for legacy parts.

·   A financial benefit analysis indicated a maximum potential cost savings of over $700M if project technology is deployed to all branches of service as quickly as possible.

·   The estimated return on investment of broad deployment is about 25:1.

The NCMS Program Manager is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

New NCMS Website debuts:

Check out the new NCMS website at http://www.ncms.org.  It is designed to more easily access information that would be helpful to you. We would also welcome your feedback so that we can continuously improve the site.  Let me know your critiques, positive and constructive by contacting chuckr@ncms.org.

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.

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:

University of Louisville (www.louisville.edu) The University of Louisville is a state supported research university located in Kentucky’s largest metropolitan area.Portal Dynamics Inc. (www.portal-dynamics.com) Portal Dynamics integrated solutions represent an extensive understanding into how information and telecommunication technologies can improve the way your work is conducted. Among these are web-based applications involved in inventory life cycle management, the tracking of physical assets, and facilitated workflows.The Pacific Center for Advanced Technology Training (PCATT) at Honolulu Community College (www.pcatt.net) PCATT provides leadership and training in advanced technologies to enhance economic and workforce development programs and initiatives in the State of Hawaii and the Pacific Rim.Universal Synaptics Corporation (www.universalsynaptics.com) Since 1996, Universal Synaptics Corporation, based in Ogden, UT., has been an industry leader in detecting and isolating elusive intermittent faults, and spent years in the “trenches” researching and solving complex diagnostic and testing problems. Their research into the primary root causes of intermittent / No Fault Found (NFF) problems and the massive digital testing void that exists today with conventional scanning test equipment, led to the development of the patented Intermittent Fault Detector (IFD), hardware neural network and all-lines-all-the-time wiring / circuit analyzer test solutions.

Enjoy a chance to get perspectives from Deputy Depot Commanders

at this years 2011 CTMA Symposium

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

The CTMA Symposium:

1. Creates networking opportunities among the DOD facilities, and among industry and DoD.
2. Provides transparency of various maintenance facility needs, which then permits other attendees to provide input and/or join forces.
3. Provides a fertile hunting ground for other potential collaborations for technology development and implementation.

The Symposium will focus on the rapid response to the needs of the warfighter and will include DoD experts on warfighter needs, depot deputy commanders outlining their current needs, and project showcases/presentations.  The working agenda and registration can be found at http://www.ncms.org/2011CTMA/agenda.htm.

Recently Completed Project: Automated Intensifier Measurement System (AIMS-II)

DoD Participants:  U.S. Army – CECOM; U.S. Army – Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD); U.S. Navy – NSWC Crane; U.S. Army – RDECOM CERDEC, Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate

There are approximately 900,000 image intensifier tubes in the field. Roughly 10,000 of these image intensifier tubes are returned annually from the field and are demilitarized (destroyed) due to a lack of retesting verification. However, image intensifier tubes identified for demilitarization in the field have successfully passed MIL-Specs in Automated Intensifier Measurement System (AIMS-II) re-evaluations at continental U.S. (CONUS) depots. Returning reevaluated and fully functional tubes to the warfighters via AIMS-II can save $15-22.5M annually and can reduce the nearly two-year new tube procurement backlog; thus providing our warfighters with the night vision devices required to support their mission readiness.

AIMS-II is a NIST-traceable, calibratable, machine vision system developed to produce rapid, automated, quantifiable, and reproducible results on all 21 of the primary image intensifier tube inspections. The image intensifier tubes are the main optical component in night vision devices. AIMS-II is a self-contained, temperature controlled, test set capable of calibration and operation in normal light levels and has a footprint of 4½’ x 6’ x 6’ (h x w x d). AIMS-II represents:

• Increase in test performance and capabilities
• Reduction in test time and operator labor
• Reduction in space and darkroom requirements.

The AIMS-II system has been delivered to Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD), which is now testing Army image intensifier tubes (MX-10130) that have been returned from the field and potentially eliminate unnecessary demilitarization of image intensifier tubes.

This CTMA project included development efforts by The Pennsylvania State University through its Electro-Optics Center (Penn State EOC), which enabled the upgrade of this unit to accommodate the MX-10130 tube type and led to the accelerated upgrade of an existing prototype-to-production AIMS-II test set to support the Army’s (TYAD) tube testing mission.

Customers and/or end users will be U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps depots, image intensifier tube manufacturers ITT Technologies and L-3 (Northrop Grumman Electro Optical Systems), as well as other entities that utilize image intensifier tubes in their products.

The NCMS Program Manager is Doyle Maleche, doylem@ncms.org, 360-782-1370.

Equipment Available:

A completed CTMA program has surplus equipment available to DoD facilities or NCMS members.

• A Model 283 Potentiostat/Galvanostat, and a Model 5210 Lock-In Amplifier. They are supported by new Windows 7 software. They have <50 hours total usage on them.
• A complete corrosion and AC Impedance System for studying capacitance, polarization resistance, Tafel Plots, Cyclic Voltammetry, etc.  This is a complete benchtop corrosion R & D system.
• two Philips X-Ray Diffraction Systems, one that is in working condition and one for parts.

If you are interested in more information, please contact Chuck Ryan at chuckr@ncms.org.

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.

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:

InTheWorks, Inc. (www.intheworks.com)

InTheWorks, Inc. (ITW) is a clean tech start-up company focusing on developing and licensing technology that will set standards in marine emissions reduction. The premiere offering is a patent-pending catalytic converter that has achieved groundbreaking results for gasoline marine engines, eliminating most of the harmful emissions and with added benefits to enhance the boating experience. The technology was developed on high performance engines and is unrivalled by any currently available exhaust systems.

Edison Welding Institute (EWI) (www.ewi.org)

Since the early 1980s, EWI has helped manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, defense, energy and chemical, government, heavy manufacturing, and electronics industries improve their productivity, time to market, and profitability through innovative materials joining and allied technologies.

Picometrix, LLC  (www.picometrix.com)

High speed optoelectronics, high speed optical receivers and terahertz inspection and metrology systems.

Battelle (www.battelle.org)

Battelle is the world’s largest, independent research and development organization, working to advance scientific discovery and application.

Eastern Michigan University (www.emich.edu)

Constitutionally incorporated Michigan institution of higher education providing an array of academic programs to more than 23,000 graduate and undergraduate students.

Registration now open: 2011 CTMA Symposium

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

The Symposium will focus on the rapid response to the needs of the warfighter and will include DoD experts on warfighter needs, depot commanders outlining their current needs, project showcases/presentations, as well as highlighting other DoD-sponsored programs.  The working agenda can be found at http://www.ncms.org/2011CTMA/agenda.htm.

Two CTMA projects win awards at the Defense Manufacturing Conference

Winner Collaborative Team Small Business Category-

Modernization of Metal Electroplating with No-Mask Conforming Anodes

NCMS managed this innovative R&D project working with Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD), Naval Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) Southwest, Advanced Tooling Corporation (ATC), and CAI Resources to reduce the cost and environmental impact of the electroplating process.

The project team created a completely unique approach to a technological process that had otherwise gone largely unchanged for nearly a century. The project’s No Mask Conforming Anodes resulted in amazing reductions in process time and $990,000 in immediate savings from the two most recent pilots.  The process also all but eliminates toxic hazardous waste resulting from masking materials common in previous methods. Reusable, sustainable, and highly efficient, No Mask Conforming Anodes promise to revolutionize the world of electroplating.

The team estimates that if this technology were deployed across the Department of Defense (DOD), a savings of over $50,000,000 could result over the next three years alone, with an overall process time improvement of 35-50%, all translating into improved readiness for the warfighter and reliability of platforms.  Limited deployment has already generated an additional $7,280,000 in savings.

Please visit http://www.ncms.org/NoMaskShowcase/Player.html to view two videos on this exciting new innovation

Winner Collaborative Team Large Business Category-

Automated Robotic Blade Stripping System (ARBSS)

NCMS brought together the Keyport Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Naval Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) East, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, General Lasertronics Corporation, Sikorsky Aircraft Company, and Michigan based Koops, Inc. to create an innovative solution for the refurbishment of helicopter blades.

FRC East refurbishes up to 150 helicopter rotor blades each month. First, workers must remove the topcoat of paint using air-driven orbital sanders. The slow, error-prone process demands hours of tedious labor in a sweltering, hazardous environment. Personnel must wear protection equipment to avoid toxic dust inhalation. Stress injuries, fatigue, and lost time are significant problems. Hand sanding the paint off a blade is a skillfull art, but can still result in many damaged blades.

Determined to improve this process with advanced laser and vision systems, the  ARBSS team developed a proven automated robotic laser paint stripping technology that strips helicopter blades 75% faster than traditional methods, with practically zero error. This process is expected to save $900,000 annually, eliminates the generation of secondary hazardous waste, and provides an unprecedented level of safety and comfort for the maintainers.

These two winning projects brings the total number of DMC awards to 9 for the CTMA program.  Congratulations to each of the teams.

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.

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:

Southwest Research Institute (www.swri.org)

Independent, non-profit, applied research and development organization dedicated to technology development and transfer for a wide variety of engineering and scientific disciplines.

Save the Date: 2011 CTMA Symposium

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

The Symposium will focus on the rapid response to the needs of the warfighter and will include DoD experts on warfighter needs, depot commanders outlining their current needs, project showcases/presentations, as well as highlighting other DoD-sponsored programs.  An early draft agenda can be found at http://www.ncms.org/2011CTMA/agenda.htm.  Registration will begin soon.

Funding Available for Environmental Research and Development

The DoD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is seeking to fund environmental research and development in the Weapons Systems and Platforms program area.  SERDP invests across the broad spectrum of basic and applied research, as well as advanced development.  The development and application of innovative environmental technologies will reduce the costs, environmental risks, and time required to resolve environmental problems while, at the same time, enhancing and sustaining military readiness.  The Weapons Systems and Platforms program area supports the development of innovative technologies that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials in its production and maintenance processes, reduce hazardous waste streams, and better understand and mitigate emissions and other environmental impacts that result from its operations. SERDP is requesting proposals that respond to the following four focused Statements of Need (SON) in Weapons Systems and Platforms:

• Chemical Agent Resistant Powder Topcoats
• Scale-Up and Formulation of Green Insensitive Secondary Explosives
• Waste to Energy Converters for Overseas Contingency Operations
• Reliability of Tin-Whisker-Mitigating Conformal Coatings

Proposals responding to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 SONs will be selected through a competitive process.  Pre-proposals from the non-federal sector are due by Thursday, January 6, 2011.  Proposals from the federal sector are due by Thursday, March 10, 2011. The SONs and detailed instructions for federal and private sector proposers are available on the SERDP web site at

www.serdp-estcp.org/Funding-Opportunities/SERDP-Solicitations.

If you are at the DoD Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition in Tampa this week, come visit us at booth #327.

Non-CTMA project opportunities:

NCMS is currently defining projects in the following areas:

1. Pilot Development of an Electric Vehicle to Grid Infrastructure that includes on-site renewable energy (wind, solar, fuel cell)
   • Demonstration for fleet vehicles
2. Advanced Modeling and Simulation of Vehicle to Grid interactions to optimize the widespread consumer usage of recharging stations.
3. Green Manufacturing of Ammonia for use as a fuel for combustion engines
   • Including on-site manufacturing and cost reduction.
4. Optimized Engine Design and Demonstration of Ammonia fuel in Fleet and Agricultural Vehicles
   • Development of conversion kits for vehicles and power generation equipment

If there is an interest from corporations or military facilities, or if you want further information, contact Chuck Ryan, chuckr@ncms.org, (734)995-4905.

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.

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:

Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems (www.cwcembedded.com)

Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems provides rugged, integrated solutions that are qualified for military platforms.  These solutions typically include system engineering trade studies and application support, with a combination of custom board design and third party COTS content, along with customer provided electronics.  Product and service expertise includes:  Motion Control, Network Centric Computing, Rate Sensor Assemblies, Vehicle Management Computers, High Speed Data Recording & Rugged Storage, Enclosure/Chassis, Backplanes and Electronic Manufacturing Services.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Division of Technology Resources and Engineering (R&D) (www.baxter.com)

Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide.

University of Massachusetts Lowell (http://www.uml.edu)

Educational Institution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

The Marlin Group, LLC

Logistics modernization consulting to DoD (primarily USMC) services & agencies.

Save the Date: 2011 CTMA Symposium

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

The Symposium will focus on rapid response to the needs of the warfighter and will include DoD experts on warfighter requirements, depot commanders outlining their current needs, project showcases/presentations, as well as highlighting other DoD-sponsored technology programs.

Recently Approved CTMA Project: Robotic Automated Coating Removal System (RACRS)

DoD Participants:  Navy Fleet Readiness Center East; Warner Robins Air Logistics Center; Corpus Christi Army Depot

A new DoD program, the Sustainment Logistics Technology Program, was recently created to enable game-changing technologies to be quickly developed and deployed into the DoD maintenance facilities.  The first SLTP project builds off a recently completed CTMA project that developed and deployed an automated rotor blade stripping system (ARBSS) for CH-53 blades.  The project was conducted in gated phases that first confirmed the approach on a small scale, designed a full-scale system that was built and tested at NUWC-Keyport, and finally deployed at the Fleet Readiness Center – East (FRC-E) in late 2009.  The system is currently used in production.

The DoD inventory contains:

• Over 5,000 helicopters (including about 2,360 H-60s and about 240 H-53s)
  • Estimate 1,770 blades require paint stripping annually
• About 100 V-22 tiltrotors (to grow to over 450)
  • Estimated repaintings/year:  5 first year, increasing as inventory and age increase

Virtually all major helicopters and tiltrotors have composite main rotor blades that are also hand-sanded, or at best, impact blasted to remove the paint.  In such cases, there is an increased risk of damage to the blade because of the lack of control of the coating removal process.  In addition, hazardous waste can be greatly reduced through the use of a laser stripping system, saving an addition $100K per year.

Currently, the removal of paint from a V-22 consumes 372 hours of labor, so that this step of the repair process only allows throughput of a single aircraft per month.  Depot workload for the V-22 is expected to increase ten-fold over the current maintenance workload.  This increase will also mean that FRC-E will need to hire over 100 new workers to handle the coating removal workload.  In addition, the current process relies upon manual sanding to remove the coatings.  Hand-sanding requires relatively skillful artisans so as to not damage the wire mesh lightning protector just underneath the outer coatings.

Proposed Solution

In order to increase the depot throughput of V-22 aircraft, an automated and less labor intensive system must be developed and deployed.  Using the ARBSS system as a base, the overall project will first develop and deploy enhanced ARBSS versions that will be more robust, able to achieve faster stripping rates, and can be easily reconfigured to handle a variety of blades and propellers.  The project will then extend the technology in scale to design and deploy a RACRS to a V-22 fuselage with reconfigurability to other similarly sized vertical lift vehicles.  In addition to the primary coating removal via the use of lasers, the project will develop reconfigurable robotic systems that would include automated robotic head path planning, sensing, and control to minimize the use of labor in the coating removal process.

The RACRS program is currently envisioned in three segments:

1. The development of an ARBSS+ system that will enhance the current installed system at FRC-E into a unit that is more reliable, has a higher stripping rate, and can handle both H-53 and H-60 helicopter blades.  (planned Year 1 dependent on funding)
2. The development of a stationary RACRS flexible work cell that is the design basis for a full RACRS and whose delivered capability will include the ability to strip H-60 blades.  (planned Year 1 dependent on funding)
3. The development of a portable RACRS capable of stripping an entire V-22 fuselage, minus the propellers.  (planned Year 2 dependent on funding)
4. Phase I of the project will develop the engineering approach and design of the enhanced ARBSS system.  In addition, Phase I will begin to define the operational space for the development and deployment of the RACR system for the V-22 aircraft.

The overall RACRS program will produce the following deliverables:

1. ARBSS+ unit fully operational and in production at FRC-E
2. Development and deployment of a RACRS Stationary Work Cell
3. Development and deployment of a full V-22 RACRS.

The NCMS Program Manager for RACRS Phase 1 is Chuck Ryan, chuckr@ncms.org, 734-995-4905

DoD Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition: Tampa, Nov. 15-18 http://www.sae.org/events/dod/

Plan to join us at the Maintenance Symposium.  In the Great Ideas Competition, three (of six total) CTMA projects are being judged including:

• Automated Rotor Blade Stripping System
• Deformation Resistance Welding
• Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell

In addition, we plan on being repeat champions for the best large booth competition.  This year the NCMS/CTMA booth (#327) will feature four project teams:

• Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell
• Rapid Manufacturing and Repair
• Laser Stripping of H-53 Helicopter Blades
• Automated Process and Inspection Guide

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.

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 company into NCMS:

GM Powertrain – Transmission Manufacturing Engineering (www.gm.com/vehicles/innovation/powertrain-technology/transmissions )

As the world’s largest supplier of automatic transmissions, GM Powertrain is able to offer a wide range of smooth-shifting, reliable and efficient transmissions for cars and trucks.

You Can Still Plan to Join Us at the:

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD)

Automated Intensifier Measurement System (AIMS)

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

This CTMA project has developed and deployed, with TYAD, automated test equipment for night vision tubes which has the ability to replace the outdated manual test equipment presently used by government and industry. This capability will reduce cycle time for returned night vision devices and significantly reduce costs by increasing the reuse of image intensifier tubes.

If you are interested in attending this ceremony and demonstration, send an email to Debbie Lilu at debral@ncms.org.

Defense Manufacturing Symposium: Tampa, Nov. 15-18 http://www.sae.org/events/dod/

Plan to join us at the Maintenance Symposium.  In the Great Ideas Competition, three (of six total) CTMA projects are being judged including:

• Automated Rotor Blade Stripping System
• Deformation Resistance Welding
• Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell

In addition, we plan on being repeat champions for the best large booth competition.  This year the NCMS/CTMA booth (#327) will feature four project teams:

• Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell
• Rapid Manufacturing and Repair
• Laser Stripping of H-53 Helicopter Blades
• Automated Process and Inspection Guide

Kudos to the CTMA project: Volumetric Accuracy for Large Machine Tools (VALMT), winner of the 2010 R&D 100 Award.

VALMT, which pioneered an innovative process in volumetric error compensation for large machine tools, is the fifth R&D 100 Award NCMS has received. Widely recognized as the “Oscars of Innovation,” the annual R&D 100 Awards honor excellence in high technology products.

VALMT will save ship and aircraft manufacturers millions of dollars.  Machine tool calibrations used to take an entire week. VALMT allows the same process to be performed in a day. The benefits of this technology aren’t just time savings; it will allow for more accurate parts, reducing or eliminating expensive re-work during assembly.

The CTMA project teamed private industry (Automated Precision Inc., The Boeing Corporation, Siemens Energy and Automation, and MAG Cincinnati Machine, LLC) and the Department of Defense (Warner Robins Air Force Logistics Center, Naval Foundry and Propeller Center, Fleet Readiness Center East, and the Anniston Army Depot) , quickly developing the groundbreaking technology affordably, and with less risk than alternative “go it alone” R&D methods.

Winners of the R&D 100 Awards are selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine. The publication and its online portal serve research scientists, engineers, and other technical staff members at high tech industrial companies and public and private laboratories around the world.  In addition to the award, Northrop-Grumman recently selected VALMT to improve accuracies on their large-volume machine tools used for production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The NCMS contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Save the Date: 2011 CTMA Symposium

April 4-6

Quantico, VA

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.

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:

Parker SCITech Group, LLC (www.parkerscitech.com) Parker SCITech Group is a consulting organization focused on systems engineering, information assurance and program management for manufacturing and engineering organizations.General Lasertronics Corporation (www.lasertronics.com) General Lasertronics designs and manufactures semi-custom laser-based coatings removal, surface treatment and cleaning systems for military, commercial aircraft and nuclear decontamination applications.

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD)

Automated Intensifier Measurement System (AIMS)

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

This CTMA project has developed and deployed, with TYAD, automated test equipment for night vision tubes which has the ability to replace the outdated manual test equipment presently used by government and industry. This capability will reduce cycle time for returned night vision devices and significantly reduce costs by increasing the reuse of image intensifier tubes. Some 10,000 tubes are returned annually from the field and are demilitarized (destroyed) due to a lack of retest verification. However, image intensifier tubes “classified for demil” in the field have subsequently successfully passed MIL-specs during reevaluations. This automated equipment will be capable of rapidly performing all optical A-tests as required by government and industry for image intensifier tubes.

Implementation of this automated test capability will provide better test repeatability, reproducibility, and improve cycle time versus the present manual test equipment.

If you are interested in attending this ceremony and demonstration, send an email to Debbie Lilu at debral@ncms.org.

Recently Completed CTMA Project: Legacy Lifecycle Management

DoD Participants:  Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC); Defense Logistics Agency (DLA); Letterkenny Army Depot (LEAD); Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) East

This CTMA project had two primary objectives:

1. Develop and demonstrate technologies to assist ballooning and first article inspection (FAI) processes on 2D raster image drawings which would bring at least some of the CTMA PLM for Six Sigma benefits to the DoD world of legacy parts.
2. Demonstrate a web-enabled, secure collaboration environment for sharing International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) restricted data with suppliers.

To assist ballooning processes, the project team developed intelligent Optical Character Recog­nition (OCR) technology with a dictionary that includes General Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) symbols as well as both machine generated and handwritten alpha-numeric symbols. Artificial intelligence built into the OCR technology allows it to “learn” with use so that recognition accuracy improves over time. A key feature of the solution is that it divides the drawing into zones, separating drawing from title and notes blocks, which enables the use of specialized dictionaries for each zone, also improving recognition accuracy.

To demonstrate a secure supplier collaboration environment, the project team leveraged learn­ing from the Transatlantic Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP) which had already defined the requirements and architecture for a web-enabled system. Team partner Rolls-Royce was also a member of the TSCP and therefore had access to information not publically available. The foundation on which secure collaboration rests is a digital certificate system that requires State Department registration for companies that will receive restricted data (suppliers) plus a digital certificate from Certipath that can be used to validate both individual identity and company authorization to work with restricted data.

The NCMS contact is  Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

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.

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:

One Network Enterprises, Inc. (www.onenework.com)

One Network Enterprises provides planning, execution, and business intelligence applications built on a federated cloud computing platform. Committed to embrace, not replace, existing technology, One Network enables companies to achieve unprecedented visibility and collaboration that supports synchronized end-to-end business processes, improved insight, and better decision-making.

SenGenuity (www.sengenuity.com)

SenGenuity’s mission is to bring to market highly differentiated sensor solutions based on Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) and Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) technologies.

Navy Maintenance and Repair Project Partnership (NMRPP)

Using Navy funds MIPR’ed through the CTMA Cooperative agreement, the NMRPP program is specifically focusing upon technology needs at the shipyards.  Three projects are currently being formed:

Reduction and Control of Emissions During Metal Cutting Operations

This project will include 3 phases:

• Identify internal/external shipboard cutting strategies/methods most effective for various shipboard locations; define tools, standards and processes to support cutting for disposal of an Aircraft Carrier in an environmentally safe way of comparable productivity; as applicable, develop computer models to demonstrate feasibility and performance of proposed concepts; establish goals and metrics to analyze feasibility; document findings and recommendations.
• Finalize design concept(s) selected in Phase I, complete R&D to develop working cutting solution, fabricate prototype to evaluate developed cutting strategies;  validate design concept using laboratory testing; develop testing procedures to measure effectiveness and develop plan for installation/testing onboard ship in drydock; demonstrate technology of the cutting system, including maintenance and performance, in contractor’s facility.
• Develop testing procedures to measure effectiveness of system; develop plan for installation/testing onboard ship in drydock; provide detailed plan for software certification and validation as required.

Catapult Laser Alignment Position Measurement Automation

The phases of this project include:

• Identification of potential technology improvements for laser alignment measurement/cost effective automated metrology technologies, with documented benefits/possible gaps.  Baseline minimum improvements desired include movable alignment fixture that simultaneously measures fourteen catapult component positions for electronic record, via mounting laser displacement sensors on a rigid fixture.  Potential for development of a laser system that establishes a reference plane using three of four catapult reference end points, and auto centers to each end point during measurement.
• Finalize design concept of Phase I, complete R&D to develop a working automated measurement solution, fabricate a prototype to evaluate developed measurement strategies.
• Demonstrate the technology of the proposed automated measurement system.

New Technology Metal Deposition Repair for Navy Ship/Submarine Components

NUWC Keyport, NCMS, and Project Partners will implement existing metal deposition technologies to develop repair processes for high value Fleet components in support of PSNS&IMF.  NUWC Keyport has identified a number of shipyard repair applications in need of improved repair processes.  Scope of project will be to perform component selection/ROI analysis, repair process development, metallurgical analysis and obtain NAVSEA certification approval for up to three Fleet components.  Specific deliverable will be NAVSEA approved repair processes which enable components to be reissued to the Fleet.

The NCMS Program Manager for NMRPP is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Recently Approved CTMA Project: Corrosion Resistant Solid State Thin-Walled Component Joining for Maintenance and Repair ApplicationsDoD Participants:  U. S. Army – PM Tactical Vehicles (TACOM); U.S. Army –TARDEC; U.S. Marine Corps – PEO Land Systems; U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command – Director Ground Transportation & Engineering Systems; U.S. Marine Corps – CG LOGCOM

The DoD continues to seek new welding and joining technologies to decrease repair cycles while increasing weld quality for a wide variety of components.  This project is specifically targeting one of the more challenging classes of weld repair and fabrication – thin-walled components.  Thin-walled components often require the use of the highest skilled welding artisans within the depot infrastructure due to the intricate nature of avoiding burn through and component thermal warping.  To avoid this, thin-walled components (common in nearly every military platform) are often over-engineered or buttressed with thicker metal reinforcements to handle the thermal load of conventional MIG and TIG joining.  These countermeasures add significant unwanted weight to the platform and also increase the corrosion prone weld filler regions that results from conventional welding.  This project seeks to develop and test a new solid state joining method that does not melt the materials to be joined thus increasing dimensional accuracy, corrosion resistance, and weld cycle time.

The new state-of-the-art technology to be explored in this project stems from the use of a novel manufacturing method called Deformation Resistance Welding (DRW), which can be utilized to join a wide variety of thin-walled components common to virtually every DoD platform.  Further, the DRW technology can be readily retrofitted into any depot facility for rapid utilization as the fundamental technology is based upon the well-known principles of resistance spot welding yet applied to large components of many shapes and sizes.

The NCMS Program Manager is Chuck Ryan, chuckr@ncms.org, 734-995-4905.

Recently Approved CTMA Project: Improved Stealth and Lower Cost Operations for U.S. Naval Ships using High-Performance Cordage Deck Edge Netting

DoD Participants:  Naval Surface Warfare Center – Carderock Division;  Naval Sea Systems Command

At present, the U.S. Navy uses two styles of deck edge netting:  metallic cord netting that is durable however is very heavy and difficult to repair shipboard as well as add to a ship’s radar cross section.  The other netting that is used is nylon netting that is lightweight and has no radar signature.  However, the nylon nets typically get replaced every 18 to 24 months due to UV degradation, shrinkage and abrasion. QinteQ North America, Technology Solutions Group developed a cordage net that is lightweight, has no radar signature with a Navy tested life of five years. This netting is machine-made and finished to custom sizes and promises reduced lifecycle cost.

The primary objective for this project is to extend the use of High-Performance Cordage Deck Edge Netting (HPC DEN) in lieu of nylon strap netting by installing developmental square HPC DEN Spectra/polyester cordage aboard a U.S. Navy test fleet that will be determined.  The number of nets is dependent upon the vessel that will be available for the net installation.

The estimated cost savings are based on the assumption that a ship set currently costs $30K to $40K for eighteen to twenty-four months of life in addition to testing costs at the twelve month interval.  The new HPC DEN cordage has a life expectancy of six years at a cost of $40K which would provide a projected cost savings of $80K.

The estimated readiness benefit is based on the elimination of two to three other maintenance requirements and adding one month to ship readiness.  The assumption is the new netting is projected to last four years longer that the current netting   If one year equates to one week, one month would be added to ship readiness.

The NCMS Program Manager 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.

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:

Accio Energy, Inc. (www.accioenergy.com)

Accio Energy is making distributed wind energy systems scalable, reliable, ad affordable with Aerovoltaic energy systems that directly convert wind energy to electricity without any moving parts.  Accio Energy Aerovoltaic energy systems offer the low cost of big windmills with the modularity and flexibility of solar.  It’s a new director in wind energy.

Pratt & Miller Engineering and Fabrication, Inc. (www.prattmiller.com)

Providing clients with leading-edge engineering and low-volume manufacturing solutions, Pratt & Miller is a world-class engineering company and a respected industry leader in automotive, commercial, military, and aerospace industries.  Their range of design, engineering, manufacturing, and vehicle program management capabilities are among the most sophisticated in the world.

StandardAero Redesign Services, Inc. (www.standardaero.com)

StandardAero is one of the largest independent Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul businesses in the world, providing comprehensive services to commercial, military, business aviation, helicopters and industrial operators.  StandardAero is ISO 9001-2000 Quality System certified as well as FAA/Transport Canada certified.

Gravikor, Inc. (www.gravikor.com)

Gravikor is a global leader in the development and implementation of state-of-the-art spaceframe and structural weight reduction technologies to the military and security markets.

Milspray Military Technologies (www.milspray.com)

Milspray is an accomplished defense company specializing in high performance and special purpose military coatings, RESET services and the manufacturing of systems and products geared for military readiness sustainability and environmental considerations.

PDQ Precision Inc. (www.pdqprecision.com)

PDQ Precision manufactures and distributes the Mini-Max Cleaning and Waste Management equipment and technology.  This system is used to clean such items as electronics, weapons, fiber optics, food service and medical products, etc., in complete safety to the user, environment, and the item being serviced. It contains waste to solid entrapment, and eliminates the waste water stream!

Seica Inc. (www.seica.com)

Seica is a global supplier of automatic test equipment and selective soldering systems.  They offer completely automated, laser-based selective soldering solutions, as well as a complete line of test solutions, which include bed of nails and flying probe testers.  These have the ability to perform manufacturing defect analysis, in-circuit tests, functional tests and optical tests of loaded boards, second and third level electronic modules and printed circuit boards.

SpaceForm Welding Solutions Inc. (www.spaceformtech.com)

SpaceForm Welding Solutions is an advanced welding technology company set up to commercialize the patented Deformation Resistance and Super-Mig Welding processes as a way to cut costs and improve production throughput.

NCMS Technology Showcase at the Marine Corps Maintenance Center (MCA)receives lots of local interest The latest NCMS/CTMA Technology Showcase was held 8,9 June at the Maintenance Center in Albany, Georgia.  With over 20 companies participating in the Showcase, and tremendous involvement from the command and staff at MCA, the event garnered attention from the local media in Albany.  Click or paste the links below to get a flavor of the Showcase.

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=12623394

http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/video.aspx?list=194939

http://www.albanyherald.com/news/headlines/95921444.html

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=12613317

http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=467888

http://www.topix.com/military/marine-corps-logistics-base-albany/2010/06/mca-hosts-technology-showcase

We are targeting the next Technology Showcase to be at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in late September or early October.  Then we plan to go to FRC-SW (North Island) early next year. Stay tuned for details.

Recently Completed CTMA Project: Modernization of Nickel Electroplating

DoD Participants:  Corpus Christi Army Depot; Fleet Readiness Center Southwest

Electroplating is an essential process used at Department of Defense (DoD) depots during overhaul of aircraft, ships, tanks, small arms, and other weapons. It is primarily used for corrosion protection and resizing of worn parts. Electroplating is expensive to perform in terms of labor, materials, energy and environmental costs.

This CTMA project was the latest in a series of four projects involving implementation of revolutionary commercial electroplating methods that resulted in improved product quality and major cost savings at military depots. The initial three projects successfully applied approaches to hard chrome plating, while this CTMA project successfully extended the concept to nickel electroplating.

During the project, innovative masking and nickel electroplating methods were designed and tested on aircraft parts requiring refurbishment by the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) and the Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) Southwest. These methods had been used by project part­ners in recent commercial plating applications but had not been used by military depots. The innovations included:

• No-mask fixtures – The no-mask concept, which was implemented during previous CTMA hard chrome plating projects, was relatively new to nickel electroplating. No-mask fixtures were custom-designed to particular parts and they replaced generic masking methods such as use of wax and tapes. No-mask anodes provide numerous advantages, including significant cycle time and labor cost reductions as well as reduced generation of hazardous waste.
• Conforming anodes – When used in place of conventional tank anodes during nickel electroplating, conforming nickel anodes improve the uniformity of deposit, increase plating speed and significantly reduce the overall plating time.
• Out-of-tank plating – Out-of-tank plating refers to the practice of electroplating internal surfaces of parts without sub­merging the parts into a plating tank. This is achieved by placing a part on a surface near a plating tank and continuously pumping plating solution though custom tooling connected to internal bores or cavities of the part that serve as small plating cells. Out-of-tank plating avoids the need to mask the entire part and minimizes the danger of hydrogen embrittlement associated with exposing metal parts to acid solutions. Again, this method proved to save time, costs and environmental waste.

At each location, depot engineering staff selected a part for project consideration that was difficult or impossible to effectively plate using conventional means. The project involved several stages of prototype tooling design, fabrication and testing.

Overall, implementation of these advanced plating methods provides a number of key advantages over conventional practices:

• Eliminates labor intensive masking and demasking steps
• Minimizes formation of “trees” (nodules of nickel or chromium, usually electrodeposited on edges of parts)
• Provides more uniform deposits
• Reduces plating times
• Reduces subsequent machining time
• Reduces dangers associated with hydrogen embrittlement
• Uses less energy
• Creates less hazardous waste.

The part selected by CCAD (AH-64 Blade Tip Cap) did not have an approved repair process prior to the project and used parts were discarded as scrap metal. Therefore, an opportunity existed for immediate savings.

The part selected by FRC Southwest (Rotodome Gearbox Housing) had an existing repair pro­cess, however, that method was expensive and time consuming to perform and often resulted in rejected parts and rework.

At the conclusion of the project, a final set of production tooling was supplied to CCAD and FRC Southwest and employee training was performed.

Based on the success of prototype tooling tests, CCAD is conducting a demonstration/validation project and is expecting to fully implement the process for the selected part during CY 2010. FRC Southwest is continuing tests of the equipment and is also expected to implement the technology during CY 2010.

The projected savings that follow are for the two components included in this project only:

CCAD

• Net savings of $717, 600 over three years.
• Continuous supply of critical blade tip caps (currently blades are discarded as non-repairable).

FRC Southwest

• Net savings of $890,880 over three years.
• 45% faster turnaround time for plating/machining repair process.

Earlier project phases showed similar savings for hard chrome plated components. A calculation based on the number of DoD facilities refurbishing plated parts times the number of unique plated parts could result in over $50M in savings over three years coupled with an even more important benefit of getting our weapon systems back into the field quicker.

The NCMS contact is  Bill Chenevert, billc@ncms.org, 734-995-7989.

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.

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 company into NCMS:

The POM Group, Inc. (www.pomgroup.com)

The POM Group, Inc. is a full service provider of technologies and services for Rapid Product Development.  POM specializes in the design and build of Direct Metal Deposition (DMD™) additive manufacturing systems which provide solutions for our clients in the Automotive, Aerospace, Mining, Oil & Gas and Nuclear and Defense industries.

Participate in our fourth Technology Showcase

at the Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Albany, GA

June 8-9, 2010

Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany Maintenance Center, Albany, Georgia.

Register at https://www.ncms.org/SSL/2010MCLB/registration.htm

A block of rooms are reserved at the Hilton Garden Inn Albany.  Please go to the NCMS website for additional information regarding accommodations.  Please reserve your rooms early.  The room block will be released Friday, 21 May.

This is an exclusive opportunity for NCMS members to display technologies for managers, engineers, and artisans at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany Maintenance Center, Albany, Georgia.   The Albany Maintenance Center has provided a technology needs list that highlights many opportunity areas for industry.  For those that are interested in obtaining more information regarding their mission, functions, products, services and forward ops please refer to this website http://www.logcom.usmc.mil/maintctr/

The Maintenance Center is interested in learning more about:

• Reverse Engineering capabilities
• Corrosion Prevention technologies
• Training
• Data management
• Fluid analysis for field and FARM applications
• Automation Technologies
• Technologies to reduce water usage
• Technologies to reduce or reuse waste streams
• Technologies that will reduce energy usage or provide renewable capabilities.
• Embedded technologies/predictive maintenance capabilities
• Advanced surface repair equipment
• Lasers
• Upgraded CNC equipment
• Plant equipment management tools (CFAMs)
• Heat treating capabilities.
• Hardening (Case), carburization, artificial aging of aluminum, stress relief/stabilization, annealing, etc.

For more information regarding this exciting opportunity please contact Ms. Debbie Lilu at debral@ncms.org or call 734-995-7038.

NCMS Technology Showcase Brings Industry Innovation to FRC East On 28 – 29 April, FRC East hosted a Technology Showcase sponsored by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) through its Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities program (CTMA). The showcase brings leading technology companies into the Department of Defense (DoD) facilities to see first hand the challenges faced by the maintenance community in order to identify innovative commercial solutions. The Technology Showcase opened with NCMS member companies first touring the FRC East maintenance facilities. Next on the agenda were table top displays, strategically located throughout the depot to ensure easy access for all base personnel to see the technologies.. The table top displays provided industry representatives a unique opportunity to learn about challenges faced directly by the maintainers. The first day concluded with a networking event at the “The Pitt.” The final day was dedicated to one-on-one industry presentations with base personnel on solutions with immediate potential for deployment. The Technology Showcase is a powerful example of how the CTMA Program fast tracks innovative technical solutions from private industry directly into the hands of DoD personnel to increase systems availability while reducing cost. NCMS members displaying technology included DIT-MCO International, Aging Aircraft Consulting, LLC, Superior Controls, iMAST/ARL (Penn State), Stratasys, Eclypse International, Adapt Laser Systems, Automated Precision, Inc., Aerowing, Imaginestics, LLC, Spatial Integrated Systems, Inc., Spectro Inc., GSA Service Company, POM Group, REI Systems, Inc., and Pendaran Inc., Three CTMA projects have been identified to immediately meet FRC East needs:

• Wiring Shop Modernization – upgrade the capability to build and test wiring harnesses, currently very labor and time intensive.
• Automated Robotic Blade Stripping System (ARBSS) – Provide a reliability upgrade and training. In addition, assess the challenges for wider deployment of automated paint stripping technology.
• Large Area Inspection of Composite Parts- evaluate and identify improved methods for detecting damage to composite aircraft components.

Recently Completed CTMA Project: Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) Sense & Respond Support System – Phase III

DoD Participants:  U.S. Army (TACOM); Program Manager – Light Armored Vehicles (PM-LAV);  U.S. Navy – Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane; U.S. Marine Corps –   Camp Pendleton’s LAV Company School of Infantry (West)

There are currently three different approaches to logistics and supply chain management being utilized in the commercial world and throughout the DoD. The three approaches are: mass-based logistics, just-in-time logistics, and portions of Sense & Respond logistics. The U.S. Marine Corps is seeking to rapidly advance from a mass-based logistics approach to a Sense & Respond logistics approach. Testimonial for this fact is demonstrated in a number of Marine Corps future warfare concepts such as Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS), Seabasing, Joint Vision 2010, and Sea Power 21.

LAV III was the third phase of the PM-LAV strategy to embrace Logistics Modernization and build on knowledge gained during the LAV Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) Life Cycle Logistics Support Tool CTMA project. Asset health monitoring and the required support infrastructure were refined to enable scalable and web-based access to the end user. Sense & Respond saw the maturation of the Joint Asset Management Information Support System (JAMISS) as a tool designed to enable presentation of vehicle data in a coherent fashion in a scalable format for the end user. LAV III validated the “Best in Breed” selection of hardware, software and firmware designed to meet the PM’s requirements for a system designed around flexibility and reliability in the end-to-end Enterprise architecture environment.

One of the principal lessons learned during LAV I & II was that in order to achieve maximum benefit, there must be a sophisticated data support infrastructure in place. A system must be designed to capture the “right” data and then securely transmit the data throughout the Enterprise. For that reason, data movement, security and the ability to comply and operate in the DoD’s exceptionally restrictive Information Assurance (IA) architecture were viewed as essential functionalities for the system as a whole. Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 encrypted capabilities which conform to DoD approved wireless communication protocols were matured. The Local Maintenance Server (LMS) installed by NSWC Crane during LAV II at Camp Pendle­ton’s School of Infantry (West) continued to serve as a gateway for data moving to the Enterprise server at Crane, IN and into the Enterprise as a whole.

In order for data coming off of the vehicle platform to have value the data must be viewed as actionable by the appropriate stakeholder. The value or value proposition of actionable data is customer specific. Customers in the Enterprise range from the Marine who maintains the individual vehicle on the ramp up to and including the PM who has a holistic view of the fleet, each with a different view of what “actionable” means. Building on lessons from LAV II the PM and industry partners developed a list of key data items viewed as important to PM stakeholders up and down the chain of command. The agreed upon list of data para­meters was collected and reported throughout the course of LAV III. The collection of the “right” data was further validated against a comprehensive Reliability-Centered Main­tenance (RCM) analysis performed at the beginning of LAV III.

PM-LAV strongly believes the architecture implemented and further validated operationally during the LAV III project is designed to meet the operational needs of not only the LAV community but is scalable for all DoD ground vehicle fleets. The continued maturation of hardware, software and Enterprise functionali­ties in LAV III closely mirrors what PM-LAV seeks to implement across its entire vehicle fleet. Moving forward with the implementation of refined, web-based Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) applications, scalable common opera­tional pictures, Item Unique Identifier (IUID) technology and increasingly reliable, unobtru­sive hardware solutions is the envisioned goal. LAV III data formatting, encryption methodo­logies and vehicle network development meet commercial and DoD standards and are designed for implementation independently or in parallel with other Autonomics Logistics (AL) or GCSS-J developmental efforts. A visionary approach to data parsing and event triggers will yield maximum effectiveness in the highly restrictive, limited-tactical-bandwidth environment to gain maximum benefit of technology for users at all levels.

The LAV III project incorporated advanced commercial Sense & Respond logistics tools on the LAV-25, a complete legacy platform. The principals and hardware developed and proven during this project have a demonstrated cap­ability to transfer easily and economically to other legacy and state-of-the-art weapon systems platforms. The ability to leverage this technology across multiple platforms enables reproducible capabilities across the DoD. The benefits of this project include:

• An estimated 10% reduction in required maintainer man-hours realized through implementation of Sense & Respond principals. The project has consistently demonstrated the value of the JAMISS tool as a way to reduce maintenance man-hours.
• An estimated 30% man-hour savings in maintenance support operations by embracing IUID off-platform. The value of automatically having data “pushed” off-platform into the maintenance system means greater accuracy and less man-hours spent transcribing data from the platform to the maintenance system.
• Maintainers will accurately and efficiently monitor system health, predict equipment failure, diagnose malfunctions, request assistance, and order necessary parts on an LAV A2. The continued maturation of the LAV Sense & Response Support System (scan tool) designed to allow maintenance personnel to evaluate the health of the vehicle on the ramp at the maintenance depot.
• Remove-and-replace actions and no-evidence-of-failure rates will be reduced substantially, saving time, money and requiring fewer support personnel. The battery health monitor allows for identification of specific battery failures and system electrical component failures such as alternators and voltage regulators. Additional diagnostic items such as tracking fuel pump voltage allows for identification of fuel pump failure where it was not possible to identify a failure until the vehicle actually stalled from fuel starvation.
• Troubleshooting, diagnosis, and repair times will be reduced both at the depot and in the field to improve overall readiness rates. Greater accuracy of such items as total shots fired through the 25mm Bushmaster main gun enable maintenance personnel to send vehicles to Inspect and Repair Only as Necessary (IROAN) based on more accurate data which increases the life of the system (gun barrel and breech), reduces cost by extending the life of the barrel and increases availability.
•  Efficiencies derived from this project will reduce overall LAV lifecycle costs and improve operational availability. The ability to provide aggregated data and tracking of such items as battery life, accurate 25mm barrel life (shots fired), fuel pump usage, speed and miles driven all allow for reduced maintenance cycle time, cost avoidance, increased reliability and vehicle availability.
• Increase in LAV availability equal to the equivalent of 34 vehicles (LAV Company+) at no additional cost to the Marine Corps.
• Project savings in cost of operations of $10M per year in the LAV fleet.

The NCMS contact is  Debbie Lilu at debral@ncms.org. 734-995-7038.

2010 CTMA Symposium “Sustaining Technology Through the 21st Century”

The 11th Annual CTMA Working Symposium was held 22-24 March at Quantico. The Symposium included briefs from each of the services on their process for determining maintenance requirements, as well as project briefs from DoD sponsored programs involving sustainment.  Officials from each of the services discussed their maintenance technology requirements and their approach to new technologies.  In addition, project reviews for CTMA projects as well as projects from selected other DoD-sponsored programs highlighted new technologies targeted for implementation in the maintenance community.

Presentations will be made available to non-participants in July.

We would like to also thank the following companies for their sponsorship of the Symposium:

• Black & Rossi
• RW Appleton & Co.
• Claxton Logistics Services
• Centerline
• MDS PRAD
• Spectro

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.

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 company into NCMS:

Messier-Dowty, Inc. (www.messier-dowty.com)

Messier-Dowty is a designer and manufacturer of landing gear systems and components for commercial, regional and business aircraft applications as well as landing gear assemblies for military aircraft applications.  They also provide repair/overhaul and support for landing gear systems.

NCMS Members – Join us at the

Next Technology Showcase: Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point, NC):

28-29 April

This is an exclusive opportunity for NCMS members to display technologies for managers, engineers, and artisans at the Fleet Readiness Center East Maintenance Center in Cherry Point, North Carolina. The first day of the event will be for technology displays followed by a day of follow-up meetings with FRC personnel on potential applications.

FRC East is currently interested in the following technologies:

• Cleaning
• Data Collection Management
• Non-destructive Inspection
• Dimensional Measurement
• Stripping/coating Removal
• Coating/plating Technologies
• Direct Digital Manufacturing
• Surface Finishing
• Analysis
• Composites

Registration for this NCMS networking event is at https://www.ncms.org/SSL/2010FRCeast/registration.htm.

The NCMS coordinator for the Showcase is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Technology Showcase, Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Albany, GA on 8-9 June 2010.

Call for Project Ideas

The AMRDEC Engineering Directorate Manufacturing Science and Technology (MST) Division and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) have announced their FY10 Project Call. The NCDMM website (http://www.ncdmm.org/ncdmm_about_project_call.cfm) has additional information. This year’s project call is encouraging traditional manufacturing and machining projects as well as projects dealing with advanced materials process development for application to DoD weapon system development, production and sustainment efforts.  Projects are targeted at $50-100K with period of performance of 1 year or less.  Project submission date is May 21 to NCDMM.  

The NCDMM contact is Shawn Nesmith, shawn.nesmith@ncdmm.org, (724) 539-4772.  

Recently Completed CTMA Project: OptiCAM

DoD Participants:  Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC); Fleet Readiness Center East (FRC-E); Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS); Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNS); Portsmouth Navy Shipyard (PNS); Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNS); Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD); U.S. Coast Guard – Aircraft Repair & Supply Center; NAVAIR Pax River

Many current weapons systems are held in service beyond their originally intended lifetime. As these systems age, parts fail or wear to the point of rendering the system not mission capable. Depots, as the source of last resort, often find themselves needing to make replacements. All too often the technical data for a needed part is either missing or incomplete. For those cases, the depot must reverse engineer the part, constructing a Technical Data Package (TDP) sufficient to manufacture the part. Reverse engineering includes metrology to determine geometry and recovering manufacturing information on material properties, surface finish and so forth plus business information such as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) name, part number, etc.

When the Optical Generation of 3D Models for Computer-Aided Manufacturing (OptiCAM) project began in mid-2003, the principal 3D scanning technologies were manual measure­ments, laser scanning, and coordinate measuring machine (CMM) data with new technologies such as laser interferometry coming on but not yet ready for prime time. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for scanning needs. Selection of scanning technology depends on the size and reflectivity of the object to be scanned, scanning accuracy required, and the ultimate application of scan data. The greatest need at project launch was for a portable, rugged, low-cost accurate scanner that could handle parts of a size fitting in a one meter cube, and that was established as a project goal.

The project met or exceeded all goals.

Goal 1 – Portable, rugged and low cost but accurate scanner. Spatial Integrated Systems (SIS), Inc.’s prototype VZX scanner uses high-resolution digital video imaging with a parallax algorithm for calculating range. The scanner met or exceeded every design goal including:

Part Size: 20” x 10” x 13”

Part Weight: 28 lbs.

Operating temperature: 32°F to 122°F

Storage temperature: 14°F to 140°F

Power requirements: 110V

Interface requirements: Ethernet

Accuracy: 0.005”

Goal 2 – Easy transformation of “Cloud of Points” to 3D solid model. There were two aspects to this goal with the first being transformation from raw range data points to a 3D surface model and from there to a 3D solid model. Producing a full 3D scan requires capturing data from at least six views. Most systems require the use of stick-on targets and human intervention for accurate alignment (registration) of the views, but OptiCAM detects part features (edges, corners, etc.) and uses that information to perform registration without human intervention in most cases. Imageware™ software converts the registered cloud of points to a surface model. The surface model can be delivered as is to a variety of solid free form manufacturing machines to make a prototype part for function and fit tests. An experienced 3D modeler can relatively quickly transform the surface model to a solid by selecting features and joining them.

Goal 3 – Development of a complete Reverse Engineering environment. SIS, Inc. has launched a reverse engineering service accessible via the Internet at http://www.nc-aa.com/sites/osandbox/default.aspx. The site is a portal supporting secure file management and access to web services. Siemens PLM Software’s Teamcenter provides the portal software. In addition, all participating depots are to receive at their option a full suite of the Teamcenter software used by the project.

The technology is now available commercially, and is well positioned to save the Department of Defense (DoD) approximately $500K annually in reverse engineering cost reduction. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) in a July 2007 report summarized benefits that could be achieved by adding 3D data to the TDP of active legacy parts defined only by 2D data. The study found that for active complex legacy parts where OptiCAM is most ideally suited to economic development of 3D models, the potential annual savings of doing so would be $10,634,537.

DLA also found and quantified indirect benefits of such a program:

·   47% increased likelihood of receiving responses to Request for Quotation (RFQ)

–   More competition leads to lower prices to DLA

·   25% reduction in scrap and rework

–   Lower manufacturing costs lead to lower prices to DLA

·   83% increase in accurate costs estimates

–   Reduced “risk factor” included in costs leads to lower prices to DLA

·   66% increase in assurance that the data is complete and accurate

–   Reduced “risk factor” included in costs leads to lower prices to DLA

·   83% reduction in DLA technical support

–   Less DLA/time/resources/cost required and shorter lead times

·   Electronic data is reuseable for engineering changes/future production

–   Less engineering, less manufacturing costs lead to lower prices to DLA

·   92% higher degree of accuracy for the production data package and production planning

–   Reduces manufacturing time/costs, leads to lower prices to DLA.

The NCMS contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

2010 CTMA Symposium “Sustaining Technology Through the 21st Century”

The 11th Annual CTMA Working Symposium was held 22-24 March at Quantico. The Symposium included briefs from each of the services on their process for determining maintenance requirements, as well as project briefs from DoD sponsored programs involving sustainment.  Officials from each of the services discussed their maintenance technology requirements and their approach to new technologies.  In addition, project reviews for CTMA projects as well as projects from selected other DoD-sponsored programs highlighted new technologies targeted for implementation in the maintenance community.

Presentations will be made available to non-participants in July.

We would like to also thank the following companies for their sponsorship of the Symposium:

• Black & Rossi
• RW Appleton & Co.
• Claxton Logistics Services
• Centerline
• MDS PRAD
• Spectro

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.

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:

adapt laser systems, LLC (www.adapt-laser.com)

adapt laser systems offers innovative laser cleaning technology for industrial surface treatment, cleaning and paint removal applications.  Their laser technology removes contaminants, production residue and coatings without damaging the substrate.

George Washington University (www.ncac.gwu.edu)

George Washington University is a private, non-profit institution of higher education based in Washington, D.C.  The University provides education and training services, primarily for students at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and performs research, training, and other services under grants, contracts, and similar agreements with sponsoring organizations, primarily departments and agencies of the U.S. government.

Dr. Diesel Technologies (www.drddieseltech.com)

Dr. Diesel Technologies (DDTS) provides the latest diagnostic technologies to the heavy duty military vehicle community.  DDTS’ key products include Diagnostic Analyzes Test Set (DATS), Diagnostic software and rugged embedded PC’s.

Claxton Logistics Services, LLC (www.claxtonlogistics.com)

Claxton Logistics Services provides Logistics management consulting services.  In addition, Claxton provides maintenance support, logistics engineering support, and supply chain management development and implementation services to the Department of Defense and Industry.

Technical Objectives Professionals, LLC (TOP Inc.)

Technical Objectives Professionals, LLC is a veteran owned small business specializing in maintenance solutions.  Technical Objectives Professionals has worked closely with government and industry partners developing the future of today’s war fighter, bringing technology to the battle field, and bringing legacy vehicles into the modern arena of maintenance.  Providing maintenance solutions in every clime and place.

Kitsap Economic Development Alliance (www.kitsapeda.org)

Kitsap Development Alliance is a partnership of government and business, which attracts and retains primary businesses to Kitsap County and its individual communities, to ensure healthy growth.

Pendaran Inc. (www.pendaran.com)

Pendarin is a training and consulting firm specializing in real-time, effective implementation support for organizations striving to become lean.

Plasan Carbon Composites (www.plasancarbon.com)

Plasan Carbon Composites is a tier 1 supplier of automotive body panels to OEM’s.  All parts are carbon fiber based.  Plasan Carbon specializes in providing Class-A surface parts, and bonded assemblies.

Next Technology Showcase: Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point, NC):

28-29 April

This is an exclusive opportunity for NCMS members to display technologies for managers, engineers, and artisans at the Fleet Readiness Center East Maintenance Center in Cherry Point, North Carolina. The first day of the event will be for technology displays followed by a day of follow-up meetings with FRC personnel on potential applications.

FRC East is currently interested in the following technologies:

• Cleaning
• Data Collection Management
• Non-destructive Inspection
• Dimensional Measurement
• Stripping/coating Removal
• Coating/plating Technologies
• Direct Digital Manufacturing
• Surface Finishing
• Analysis
• Composites

Registration for this NCMS networking event is at https://www.ncms.org/SSL/2010FRCeast/registration.htm.

The NCMS coordinator for the Showcase is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Technology Showcase, Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Albany, GA on 8-9 June 2010.

Debra K. Tune, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Logistics, will be headlining the CTMA Symposium AgendaDebra K. Tune, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Logistics, and performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics, Washington, D.C. She is responsible for the management policy and oversight of logistics strategic planning for the Air Force, to include maintenance, supply chain and weapon system life cycle support. Mrs. Tune also overseas two other departments responsible for policy and oversight of installations, military construction, base closure and realignment, environment, energy, safety and occupational health issues.

Not too late to join us next week: 2010 CTMA Symposium “Achieve Technology Collaboration”, March 22-24, 2010, Quantico, VA https://www.ncms.org/SSL/Symposium2010/registration.htm

The 11th Annual CTMA Working Symposium will be held 22-24 March at Quantico. With the theme, “Requirements Driven Technology Insertion”, the Symposium will include briefs from each of the services on their process for determining maintenance requirements, as well as project briefs from DoD sponsored programs involving sustainment.  Officials from each of the services will discuss their maintenance technology requirements and their approach to new technologies.  In addition, project reviews for CTMA projects as well as projects from selected other DoD-sponsored programs will highlight new technologies targeted for implementation in the maintenance community.

The NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

We would like to also thank the following companies for their sponsorship of the networking breaks during the Symposium:

• Black & Rossi
• RW Appleton & Co.
• Claxton Logistics Services
• Centerline
• MDS PRAD
• Spectro

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.

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.

Maj. Gen. Nickolas G. Justice, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command will be headlining the CTMA Symposium Agenda As the Commanding General of RDECOM, Justice leads a worldwide organization of more than 17,000 scientists, engineers and other professionals who keep the Army on the cutting edge of technology through the operation of subordinate research and development centers and laboratories. His joint service experience includes a two year assignment at the Sixth Allied Tactical Air Force as Chief, Project Management for Command and Control Systems. During this assignment, he participated in Operation Desert Storm, as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, he served as Commander of the Information Management Task Force in Kuwait and Iraq.

REGISTER NOW: 2010 CTMA Symposium “Achieve Technology Collaboration”, March 22-24, 2010. https://www.ncms.org/SSL/Symposium2010/registration.htm

The 11th Annual CTMA Working Symposium will be held 22-24 March at Quantico. With the theme, “Requirements Driven Technology Insertion”, the Symposium will include briefs from each of the services on their process for determining maintenance requirements, as well as project briefs from DoD sponsored programs involving sustainment.  In addition to Maj. Gen. Justice, officials from each of the services will discuss their maintenance technology requirements and their approach to new technologies.  In addition, project reviews for CTMA projects as well as projects from selected other DoD-sponsored programs will highlight new technologies targeted for implementation in the maintenance community.

The NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

We would like to also thank the following companies for their sponsorship of the networking breaks during the Symposium:

• MDS-PRAD Technologies Corporation
• Black & Rossi
• RW Appleton & Co.
• Claxton Logistics Services

Next Technology Showcase: Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point, NC) – New Date: 28-29 April

Our third technology showcase is being held 28-29 April at the Fleet Readiness Center East.  This is a chance to bring your technologies to the attention of the managers, engineers, and artisans at the FRC maintenance center.  In addition to the open showcase, selected participants will also be able to brief FRC East engineers about their technology in closed meetings.  Registration for this NCMS networking event is at https://www.ncms.org/SSL/2010FRCeast/registration.htm.

The NCMS coordinator for the Showcase is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

Recent Project Completions: Optical Generation of 3D Models for Computer-Aided Manufacturing (OptiCAM)

With weapons systems held in service well beyond their originally intended lifetime, parts fail or wear to the point of rendering the system mission incapable. Depots often find themselves needing to make replacements. All too often the technical data for a needed part is either missing or incomplete. For those cases, the depot must reverse engineer the part, constructing a Technical Data Package (TDP) sufficient to manufacture the part.

This project achieved three goals:

Goal 1 – Portable, rugged and low cost but accurate scanner. Spatial Integrated Systems (SIS), Inc.’s VZX scanner uses high-resolution digital video imaging with a parallax algorithm for calculating range.

Goal 2 – Easy transformation of “Cloud of Points” to 3D solid model. There were two aspects to this goal with the first being transformation from raw range data points to a 3D surface model and from there to a 3D solid model. Producing a full 3D scan requires capturing data from at least six views. Most systems require the use of stick-on targets and human intervention for accurate alignment (registration) of the views, but OptiCAM detects part features (edges, corners, etc.) and uses that information to perform registration without human intervention in most cases. Imageware™ software converts the registered cloud of points to a surface model. The surface model can be delivered as is to a variety of solid free form manufacturing machines to make a prototype part for function and fit tests. An experienced 3D modeler can relatively quickly transform the surface model to a solid by selecting features and joining them.

Goal 3 – Development of a complete Reverse Engineering environment. As a result of this project, participant SIS, Inc. has launched a reverse engineering service accessible via the Internet at http://www.nc-aa.com/sites/osandbox/default.aspx. The site is a portal supporting secure file management and access to web services. Siemens PLM Software’s Teamcenter provides the portal software. In addition, all participating depots are to receive at their option a full suite of the Teamcenter software used by the project.

Surface models can now be quickly generated with 0.005″ accuracy for parts sized 20″x10″x13″ or less and will soon produce $500,000 annual savings to DoD in performing reverse engineering.

The NCMS contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

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.

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.

Plan to Participate: 2010 CTMA Symposium “Sustaining Technology Through the 21st Century… and Beyond”, March 22-24, 2010.

The 11th Annual CTMA Working Symposium will be held 22-24 March at Quantico. The Symposium will include briefs from each of the services on their process for determining maintenance requirements, as well as project briefs from DoD sponsored programs involving sustainment.

The NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

Next Technology Showcase: Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point, NC) – New Date: 28-29 April

Our third technology showcase is being held 28-29 April at the Fleet Readiness Center East.  This is a chance to bring your technologies to the attention of the managers, engineers, and artisans at the FRC maintenance center.  In addition to the open showcase, selected participants will also be able to brief FRC East engineers about their technology in closed meetings.

The NCMS coordinator for the Showcase is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

Recent Project Approvals:

Rapid Access to Readiness-Essential (RARE) Parts through Rapid Manufacturing & Repair (RM&R) Technologies DoD Participants: TRF Kings Bay; NUWC Keyport; NFPC Philadelphia; NAVAIR China Lake; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; FRC East; FRC Southeast; Anniston Army Depot; Tobyhanna Army Depot; OC-ALC. 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:

• Introduce DoD organic maintenance activities to the range and capabilities of additive technologies and the benefits that can be derived
• Introduce AM technologies as timely solutions to RARE part replacement (legacy parts, obsolete parts, parts no longer available due to diminishing manufacturing resources)
• Insert AM capabilities into the DoD organic maintenance base
• Facilitate the deployment of AM technologies, which now range from TRL/MRL 8 to 9 depending upon the part to be fabricated, throughout DoD organic maintenance base
• Advocate and instigate AM industry advancements and maturation to mature to TRL/MRL 9 to 10 respectively.

The NCMS contact is Connie Philips, conniep@ncms.org, 386-445-2785 . Sense and Respond Logistics: LAV IV DoD Participants: USMC, Light Armored Vehicle Training Company, School of Infantry (West) Camp Pendleton; USMC, PM-LAV; Marine Corps System Command; NSWC Crane; Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Albany This project continues to build off the successes of the first three phases of the project by expanding the scope and deployment within the Marine Corps, particularly:

• Examine accurate indicators to induct assets into depot maintenance so that time and money are not wasted on assets that can be repaired more efficiently in the field while ensuring that assets requiring depot level maintenance receive it.
• Explore the enormous capabilities that IUID marked items enable. In the Sense and Respond environment that has been developed in previous phases of this project we have built an infrastructure that is uniquely able to capture, use and understand the value of IUID.
• Two pilot projects at PMLAV and Distance Support, Crane in RCM analysis and IUID marking of vehicles and components. Benefits of this project include:
• Projected savings in cost maintenance of $32M per year in the LAV fleet
• Increase in Light Armored Vehicle availability of 5% which is equal to the equivalent of 40 vehicles (LAV Company +) at no additional cost to the Marine Corps. The cost to replace these vehicles would be ~ $60M.
• This project will enable maintainers to accurately and efficiently monitor system health, predict equipment failure, diagnose malfunctions, request assistance, and order necessary parts on LAV A2.
• The LAV Depot community will benefit by receiving vehicles for rework using condition based induction.
• The safety and sensor date collected during this effort can be returned to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to assist with possible platform design improvements.

The principals and hardware developed and proven during this project will transfer easily and economically to other legacy weapon systems, making the benefits reproducible across the Department of Defense. 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.

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.

CTMA Project Wins Defense Manufacturing Award at the DoD Defense Manufacturing Conference

The CTMA project “Volumetric Accuracy for Large Machine Tools (VALMT)” was recognized at the recent Defense Manufacturing Conference with a Defense Manufacturing Excellence Award, the seventh award of its kind given to NCMS/CTMA for its outstanding cooperative efforts on technology development between government, industry and academia.

The VALMT project pioneered an innovative process in establishing a new methodology in volumetric error compensation for large machine tools. The costs for current assembly practices of measuring and fitting are substantial; reducing the amount of reworking of machined parts during onsite vehicle assembly will save the Department of Defense (DOD) and the commercial aircraft industry millions of dollars. “This groundbreaking process will dramatically reduce assembly and fitting costs which represent up to 1% of the total cost per aircraft, ” said Sam Easley, Engineer/Scientist, Metallic Processes at The Boeing Company. “On large programs like the F-18 or the 700 aircraft series, we could save $100 million per year.”

“VALMT has the potential to save the U.S. Navy money and shave valuable time off of vessel construction costs, putting assets where they are most needed, with the warfighter.” said Faris Ibrahim, Mechanical Engineer of the Naval Foundry and Propeller Center.

The VALMT project teamed private industry (Automated Precision Inc., The Boeing Corporation, Siemens Energy and Automation and MAG Cincinnati Machine, LLC) and the DOD (U.S. Air Force Logistics Center, Naval Foundry and Propeller Center, U.S. Navy Fleet Readiness Center East, and the U.S. Army Anniston Depot) using the NCMS R&D collaborative process to quickly develop this groundbreaking technology.  “The success of the VALMT project rests heavily on the technical expertise and collaborative R&D experience of the NCMS and its partners,” stated Richard Curless, CTO at MAG Industrial.

The NCMS Program Manager is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Next Technology Showcase: Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point, NC)

Plan to participate in our third technology showcase to be held during the week of February 22 (exact date still being arranged).  This is a chance to bring your technologies to the attention of the managers, engineers, and artisans at the FRC maintenance center.  Further details will be available after the first of the new year.  The NCMS coordinator for the Showcase is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.  Send her an e-mail if you are interested in participating.

Potential CTMA Project seeking participants:

Lightweight Structure Fabrication Using Deformation Resistance Welding

Current DoD Participants: Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Albany; Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Barstow; Army Project Manager, Light Tactical Vehicles; Marine Corps Program Executive Officer, Land Systems

The DoD is facing severe challenges in their tactical ground combat equipment to provide added ballistic protection and survivability to the warfighters, but the added weight increases rollover events, and decreases vehicle performance such as fuel economy, speed, and acceleration.  In addition, vehicle suspension and engine wear are further taxed by the added weight.

This project will work with the PM-Tactical Vehicles to identify weight savings opportunities on the HMMWV applicable to currently fielded vehicles.  The project will:

1. Design an appropriate solution retrofit structure applicable to the deformation resistance welding (DRW) method for the HMMWV,
2. Fabricate the retrofit DRW subcomponent/frame,
3. Mount the subcomponent/frame onto the platform,
4. Validate the performance of the retrofitted platform,
5. Assess the technology as a repair manufacturing method for other systems such as pipe repair on ships.

The NCMS Contact is Chuck Ryan, chuckr@ncms.org, 734-995-4905.

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.

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.

NCMS Booth at DoD Maintenance Symposium Wins Award

At the recent DoD Maintenance Symposium, the NCMS/CTMA booth was voted best large booth by the Symposium participants.  Following a nautical theme, the booth showcased the CTMA program as well as four CTMA projects including Kinetic Spray Processing, Automated Process and Inspection Guide, Fast Field Fluid Analysis, and Electronic Performance Support Systems.  Thanks to Debbie Lilu for coordinating the booth effort.

Recently Completed CTMA Projects:

Test Program Set (TPS) Migration System

DoD Participants: Warner Robins Air Logistics Center; Fleet Readiness Center East; Tobyhanna Army Depot)

The Test Program Set (TPS) Migration System project was undertaken to provide lower migration costs, for depot Automated Test Systems (ATSs) and their support lifecycles, when equipment modernization is required.  The United States Air Force (USAF) repair depot at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (WR-ALC) is charged with maintenance and repair of a wide variety of weapon systems.  ATSs are employed to facilitate diagnosis and repair of failed and suspect weapon system components.  The depot is in a period of modernization due to a high number of its ATS equipment sets rapidly nearing the end of their usefulness.  These ATSs are being upgraded with modern supportable commercially equivalent test platforms that are developed to take the Air Force repair capability forward for another extensive period.  Hardware replacement costs for the ATSs are estimated to be in the area of $20M, holding aside associated non-recurring engineering (NRE).  Along with the ATS hardware there is a wide variety of existing test applications that run on the legacy equipment.  There is a huge NRE investment in these applications rivaling the hardware costs by orders of magnitude.  In order to maintain the investment in these applications, they must be ported and reintegrated to operate on the new equipment whenever possible to avoid cost burdens stemming from test application re­writes.  Some test applications are highly test platform specific and are tightly bound to the ATS that they are meant to operate.  Other test applications were written with technologies that help facilitate their migration to platforms that also support the employed technology.  The focus of this TPS Migration System effort was to employ commercial technologies to minimize costs by maintaining the NRE already invested in the legacy test applications.

Initially the project evaluated emerging technologies for migrating test applications when ATS are modernized or upgraded.  This capability analysis led to a more pragmatic focus on existing commercially available environments that held promise in resolving the cost issues with porting legacy applications to the new generation systems.  An existing off-the-shelf test application development environment was selected for its capability to be deployed on various personal computer controlled systems.  The development tool selected, called PAWS, is an Abbreviated Test Language for All Systems (ATLAS) test application development and runtime system. ATLAS is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for test application development.  The predominant quantities of test applications requiring migration to modern systems at the WR-ALC depot are currently written in the ATLAS language.  TPS Migration System demonstrated the ability to employ the commercially available PAWS technology, allowing test applications written in ATLAS to be retargeted on the modern platforms with minimized rework.  In conjunction with the test environment integration that was necessary and the test applications rehost that were performed, the TPS Migration System technical team also developed comprehensive test application rehost training for the WR-ALC development staff.  The resulting three-day training course provided explicit and detailed information for application developers performing rehosts.  All major pitfalls and difficulties that might occur were presented, analyzed, and resolved with extensive presentation and textual material (Appendix A) allowing the developers to anticipate and diffuse potential rehost barriers.

Potential Benefits

The technical team integrated the PAWS environment on a target platform supplied by the WR-ALC depot.  The WR-ALC personnel identified three representative test applications that they currently were running on a legacy Army Integrated Family of Test Equipment (IFTE).  After the PAWS integration was accomplished to sufficient level to accommodate the selected applications, two of the applications were ported to a simulated runtime and one application was fully integrated.  The fully integrated test application was demonstrated by the technical team to diagnose faults to the same level of determination as the legacy system had performed.  WR-ALC personnel viewing the demonstration indicated that the test programs had the same look and feel as the legacy system even though a completely different computer type and test platform system were being employed.  Moderate cost saving estimates for utilizing the system over application rewrite scenarios predict $78,000 cost avoidance per test application using the rehost environment.

In Phase II, the TPS Migration System technical team went on to provide the software and inte­gration to allow PAWS to be used on a new generation of test platforms being developed at the WR-ALC depot called Versatile Depot Avionic Test System (VDATS). The VDATS integration work allows migration users to employ PAWS without having to focus on development system integration details while dealing with actual application migration.  With an estimated tens of thousands of test applications requiring rehost to the new target environments the potential Department of Defense (DoD) savings is on the order of $1B.  Other DoD depots and repair sites needing to transition to newer test platforms and wanting to stay with the ATLAS language have exactly the same issues facing them for their weapons systems.  Use of the migration capabilities at those sites will produce similar cost avoidance.

The NCMS Contact is Lee Patch, leep@ncms.org, 734-995-4972.

 Rapid Manufacturing & Repair (RM&R) Technologies

DoD Participants:  TRF Kings Bay; NUWC Keyport; NFPC Philadelphia; NAVAIR China Lake; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; FRC East; Anniston Army Depot; Tobyhanna Army Depot; Oklahoma City ALC

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 computer-aided design (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 program are to:

• Introduce Department of Defense (DoD) organic maintenance activities to the range and capabilities of additive technologies and the benefits that can be derived
• Introduce AM technologies as timely solutions to rapid access to readiness-essential (RARE) part replacement (legacy parts, obsolete parts, parts no longer available due to diminishing manufacturing resources)
• Insert AM capabilities into the DoD organic maintenance base
• Facilitate the deployment of AM technologies, which now range from TRL/MRL 8 to 9 depending upon the part to be fabricated, throughout DoD organic maintenance base
• Advocate and instigate AM industry advancements and maturation to mature to TRL/MRL 9 to 10 respectively.

Thus far, over 40 parts have been fabricated or are in the process of being fabricated in this RM&R AM program.  Seventeen of these parts for which sufficient data are available to project cost and readiness benefits yielding:

• $2.03M in annual cost avoidance, averaging $119.4K per application, and up to 90% cost savings per part compared to acquisition costs
• 255 weeks time savings (10,200 hours based on 40 hour week), averaging 15 weeks (up to 80% time savings) per part based on acquisition time and delivery schedules.

Extending these part savings to the same weapons platform (same class of ship/sub, aircraft) yields $6.6M in cost avoidance based on a single use per system.  Extrapolating the part savings to similar weapons platforms (similar classes of ship/sub, aircraft) yields   $14.7M in cost avoidance based on a single use per system.

Extrapolating the part savings further across all analogous DoD weapons systems (ship/sub classes, aircraft platforms, etc.) yields  $99.7M in cost avoidance based on a single use per system.

The NCMS Contact is Connie Philips, conniep@ncms.org, 313-618-8760.

FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

DoD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is seeking to fund environmental research and development proposals.  SERDP is DoD’s environmental science and technology program, planned and executed in partnership with DOE and EPA.  The Program invests across the broad spectrum of basic and applied research, as well as exploratory development.  SERDP pursues solutions to DoD’s most intractable environmental problems.  Advances in the understanding and management of DoD’s resources support the long-term sustainability of training and testing ranges and facilities.  Innovative environmental technologies significantly reduce current and future environmental liabilities.

Proposals responding to focused Statements of Need (SON) in the following areas are requested:

• Environmental Restoration — innovative technologies for the detection, characterization, containment, and remediation of a wide range of contaminants in soil, sediments, and water.
• Munitions Management — advanced geophysical sensor and signal processing technologies for the detection, classification, and remediation of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and technologies for range clearance and reduced generation of UXO.
• Sustainable Infrastructure — research to advance DoD’s environmental management of its natural resources and to understand the impacts of climate change.
• Weapons Systems and Platforms — advanced alternative environmentally benign technologies and materials that reduce, control, or eliminate the waste and emissions associated with the manufacturing, maintenance, and use of DoD weapons systems and platforms.

Proposals responding to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 SONs will be selected through a competitive process.  Separate solicitations are available to federal and non-federal proposers.  The SONs and detailed instructions for federal and private sector proposers are available on the SERDP web site at www.serdp.org/funding.

The Core SERDP Solicitation provides funding in varying amounts for multi-year projects.  For the Core Solicitation, PRE-PROPOSALS FROM THE NON-FEDERAL SECTOR ARE DUE BY THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2010.  PROPOSALS FROM THE FEDERAL SECTOR ARE DUE BY THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010.

SERDP also will be funding environmental research and development through the SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) Solicitation.  The SEED Solicitation is designed to provide a limited amount of funding (not to exceed $150,000) for projects up to one year in duration to investigate innovative approaches that entail high technical risk and/or require supporting data to provide risk reduction or proof of concept.  ALL SEED PROPOSALS ARE DUE BY THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010.

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.

The Next Technology Showcase is being planned for February 2010, and a location still under negotiation.  Stay tuned for details.

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.

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.

Upcoming DoD Maintenance Symposium in Phoenix, October 26-29

Come visit us in Booth 333 where we are showcasing the CTMA program as well as four CTMA projects including Kinetic Spray Processing, Automated Process and Inspection Guide, Fast Field Fluid Analysis, and Electronic Performance Support Systems.  The last two projects listed, along with the CTMA project Centralized Fleet Asset Management System will compete at the Great Ideas Session on Monday afternoon at 2:15 pm.

A video produced by NCMS is also being featured at the Marine Corps booth (#425) highlighting the CTMA project “Sense and Respond”.  If you are interested in this video capability, stop by our booth and talk with Chuck or Debbie.

You are invited to the following NCMS/CTMA Events

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at the Fleet Readiness Center East (Cherry Point), Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The CTMA project, Laser Coating Removal of Composite Helicopter Blades, has successfully installed the paint stripping unit at Cherry Point, which is certified for production use.  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 ribbon-cutting will include remarks by RDML Tim Matthews (COMFRC/AIR), Col Scott Loch (Commander FRC East), CAPT Stephen E. Iwanowicz (Commander, NUWC Division Keyport) as well as testimonies from the artisans from the paint stripping shop. Following the ceremony, attendees are invited on a tour of the FRC East facilities in the afternoon.

The NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

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.

Recently Completed CTMA Projects:

Centralized Fleet Asset Management System (CFAMS) DoD Participants: Sierra Army Depot; Anniston Army Depot; Tobyhanna Army Depot; Red River Army Depot; Army Materiel Command G-6 The Centralized Fleet Asset Management System (CFAMS) is a wireless fleet management hardware and software solution designed to optimize depot operations (both re-manufacturing and supply), decrease maintenance cost, while improving equipment readiness, optimize fleet size, reduce vehicle and facility damage, and dramatically improve overall safety. The system accomplishes these functions through a highly effective integration of radio-frequency (RF) based industrialized computers installed on the vehicle with state-of-the-art software designed to collect literally thousands of discrete vehicle telemetry and operator utilization metrics. In essence, the CFAMS system allows the vehicle to operate independently, within management specified parameters, to automatically improve safe operations, while maximizing utilization. The software concurrently tracks operations and telemetry metrics, automatically generating up to 300 operations, or maintenance specific reports, as well as critical event alerts to ensure both audit trails are complete, and supervisors can take immediate action in case of emergencies. CFAMS was installed at Sierra Army Depot (SIAD), during the 2008-2009 pilot test, surpassing original expectations.

The actual per vehicle savings were nearly 20% higher than initial projections, resulting in a return on investment of approximately 12 months. This results in a net present value return, within five years, of the fully implemented CFAMS at SIAD of up to $4,682,135. CFAMS is also a key component of a progressive CBM program, and Lean Logistics initiatives to improve productivity and reduce costs. Because CFAMS automatically captures motion hours, as well as movement with load data, the system enables changing to motion, or condition-based preventative maintenance. Employing CBM facilitates not only results in fewer preventative maintenance cycles, but also:

• Reduces inventory levels for parts
• Reduces the potential for catastrophic component failure
• Expands overall industrial vehicle fleet readiness.

On the Lean Logistics side, the ability to track vehicle usage, as well as location, and discrete tasks such as travel with load, and route playback, facilitate task-level resource management analysis. Using this data for planning fleet reduction, fleet right-sizing, and/or accurate positioning, managers have the capability to apply the right number and type of vehicle assets at the right time and place in either the warehousing or production support environment. Overall, this allows the depot to essentially be more productive with both less equipment and dedicated operator personnel. CFAMS not only exceeded initial expectations in cost savings and features, but highlighted a critical need within the Department of Defense (DoD) to more effectively manage its industrial vehicle fleet and garner considerable savings never before imagined possible. More importantly, all of these cost avoidance savings were garnered while concurrently improving workplace safety and productivity. The NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.  

Tobyhanna Army Depot Technology Showcase was held in Mid-October

At the Tobyhanna Army Depot, 46 companies displayed their technologies to the managers, engineers, and artisans throughout the depot.  We expect several of the showcased technologies will be financially supported by the depot for transitioning into use, following the example of the Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Barstow and their technology showcase. We are currently working a venue for the next Showcase, which is tentatively scheduled for early February 2010.

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.

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 manufacturer’s 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 manufacturer’s 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:

• Introduce DoD organic maintenance activities to the range and capabilities of additive technologies and the benefits that can be derived
• Introduce AM technologies as timely solutions to RARE part replacement (legacy parts, obsolete parts, parts no longer available due to diminishing manufacturing resources)
• Insert AM capabilities into the DoD organic maintenance base
• Facilitate the deployment of AM technologies, which now range from TRL/MRL 8 to 9 depending upon the part to be fabricated, throughout DoD organic maintenance base
• Advocate and instigate AM industry advancements and maturation to mature to TRL/MRL 9 to 10 respectively.

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. TYAD’s 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.

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:

DIT-MCO International Inc. (www.ditmco.com)

DIT-MCO International’s proven automated product testing solutions for wired assemblies provide reliable service to industrial, commercial, and military customers.

Aging Aircraft Consulting, LLC (www.agingaircraftconsulting.com)

Aging Aircraft Consulting LLC (AACL) is a Full Life-Cycle Business Process Solutions company specializing in Engineering, Logistics, and Technology support services that address both strategic and tactical needs and objectives.

Altair Engineering, Inc. (www.altair.com)

With a 20-year-plus track record for innovative product design and development, advanced engineering software and grid computing technologies, Altair has more than 3,000 corporate clients representing the automotive, aerospace, government and defense, and consumer products verticals.

L&L Products, Inc. (www.llproducts.com)

L&L is a provider of engineered sealing and structural solutions for the worldwide automotive and aerospace industries.

R Systems NA, Inc. (www.rsystemsinc.com)

R Systems provides high-end computing resources for research.

Three CTMA Events Heating Up

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.. TYAD’s 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), Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (tentative date)

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.

CTMA Emerging Projects Seek Participants:IUID Marking of Legacy Parts NCMS seeks participants for a new forming project, IUID Markings for Legacy Parts. The project will demonstrate a system that can locate dataplates on raster images of 2D part drawings, determine a location for placing a 2D data matrix marking, create a pdf overlay of the new marking location, and create an AutoCAD Engineering Change Order for delivery to the cognizant engineering authority for action. Imaginestics is the technology provider. The Air Force is the primary sponsor but both Army and Navy entities will participate. As with all CTMA funded projects, additional participants are welcome but must bring something of value to the collaboration.

The NCMS Contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Photo-Chemical Paint Stripping

The Photo-Chemical-Green paint removal process is an effective and environmentally friendly method to remove coatings including CARC paint.  This technology has potential uses on a variety of metal and composite substrates.  Extensive testing in composites has demonstrated that paint can be successfully removed with the proper process parameters and controls. Operators would not need to use masks or HEPA filters for protection and the removed coating can be easily collected in a tray for safe disposal. Additionally, it was demonstrated that this green-technology reduces the exposure to hazardous materials, decreases the repair cycle time and increases parts availability with an estimated 50% increase in throughput.  Initial test runs achieved 97% coating removal on H-60 rotor blades.     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.

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:

Dassault Systemes Simulia Corp. (www.simulia.com)

Dassault Systemes provides development and marketing of finite element analysis software, services and support.

Engineered Performance Materials Company, LLC (www.epm-us.com)

EPM is a manufacturer of non-ferrous nano material for a wide variety of applications.

MAHLE Industries, Inc. (www.us.mahle.com)

MAHLE provides R&D of internal combustion powercell unit designs, in particular connecting rod assemblies.

Nimbis Services, Inc. (www.nimbisservices.com)

Nimbis acts as a clearinghouse for buyers and sellers of Digital Analysis Computing (DAC) services.  Nimbis provides pre-negotiated access to high performance computing services, software, and expertise from the leading computer time vendors, independent software vendors, and domain experts.

Ontonix LLC (www.ontonix-usa.com)

Ontonix is a software and services firm that develops OntoSpace™, the World’s first system which allows one to actually measure and manage the complexity of a business or a dynamic process.  OntoSpace™ is an unusual and first-of-a-kind system which helps view Business Intelligence from a radically innovative perspective.  Their technology not only shows how excessive complexity is the source of risk, it has enabled them to devise a new theory of risk.

Spectro Incorporated (www.spectroinc.com)

Spectro is a high technology company that specializes in instrumentation for machine condition monitoring based on oil and fuel analysis.  Their primary customers are industrial and military organizations as well as laboratories that provide oil analysis services.

Expedited Modernization Initiative Procedure (EMIP)

The CTMA program is working with EMIP to offer project teams another process for technology deployment more broadly within DoD.  According to their website, EMIP is designed to suggest improvements to the current and future fleet of tactical wheeled vehicles and other systems. EMIP seeks to identify industry’s investments in proven, advanced, commercial technologies at the component, and subsystem levels, at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7, or better.  Their goal is to educate Government representatives about these technologies and to share their findings within the Program Executive Office for Combat Support & Combat Service Support (PEO CS&CSS), other Program Executive Offices, and other Services.  EMIP provides both the Government and CTMA project teams another point of contact for addressing Industry’s interest in presenting new Technologies.

Two CTMA project teams, Automated Process and Inspection Guide, and 3FAST, recently presented to the EMIP program and we anticipate further DoD assistance in technology deployment.  The next EMIP meeting is in mid-October and two other CTMA project teams will be tapped to present at that time.

CTMA Project Completion: Integrating Sensors and Predictive Maintenance Systems with Performance Support Technology to Achieve Increased CH-53 Readiness and ReliabilityDoD Participants: PMA-261 (CH-53E Program Office); HMT 302 Marine Corps Air Station – New River, NC; Fleet Readiness Center East; Fleet Readiness Center Southeast This CTMA project was designed to combine and maximize the benefits of two complementary maintenance technologies: the Goodrich Integrated Mechanical Diagnostic System (IMDS) and an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) developed by REI Systems, Inc. The main goal of this project was to integrate the IMDS, a type of Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS), with an EPSS to provide CH-53E helicopter maintenance technicians with a seamless, end-to-end predictive, diagnostic and repair suite that will measurably increase the readiness and availability of the aircraft while potentially reducing or eliminating associated maintenance expenditures. The IMDS and EPSS were linked using a new open architecture Application Programming Interface (API) developed during this project. In March 2008, Marines at the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT) Marine Unit (MARUNIT) schoolhouse in New River, North Carolina, participated in a preliminary software beta test to measure the efficacy of the EPSS for CH-53E fuel system troubleshooting. This software beta test was executed to determine if past EPSS test results from other Navy and Marine Corps aviation communities could be matched or replicated on the CH-53E aircraft, currently the most expensive aircraft to maintain in the Navy/Marine Corps fleet. The main parameter tested during this beta test was work speed: the time required to troubleshoot a CH-53E fueling system fault or “gripe.” Because the test population consisted of graduating aviation technician students and their instructors (as opposed to fielded Marines with varying levels of work experience), troubleshooting accuracy was not measured during this beta test. (Instructors were well versed in common CH-53E faults and their students just received recent training on common CH-53E faults, so this beta test could not accurately measure the impact of the EPSS on fault isolation accuracy rates.) All participants followed the correct troubleshooting paths to identify the source of the gripes. A survey form was distributed to solicit remarks and suggestions from the participants.Benefits Based upon the project results and on results of similar tests on other platforms, the use of condition-based maintenance (CBM) technology demonstrates the potential to significantly reduce maintenance time and improve troubleshooting accuracy (fewer removals of good parts).  Currently, each CH-53E helicopter requires a staggering 400+ hours of maintenance for each flight-hour of operation. There are approximately 160 operational helicopters and CH-52 Program Office (PMA-261) spends roughly $512M per year on fleet maintenance. If only 3% reduction in maintenance costs was achieved through faster and more accurate troubleshooting this would represent a $15.3M annual cost avoidance, an extremely conservative estimate. Technology Transition Phase I of the project demonstrated technical feasibility of the EPSS by deploying the system on a small number of CH-53E platforms. Because of the success of this phase, PMA-261 has funded a broader deployment of this technology across the entire CH-53 platform. This deployment will further validate expected results. During this phase, other helicopter platforms will be pursued, including other services such as Corpus Christi Army Depot to participate as observers of the deployment and the results. It is then anticipated that deployment to Army helicopters would be advantageous. A third phase is anticipated, which would use the same methodologies as Phase II, but deploy the technology to aircraft platforms beyond helicopters. The NCMS contact is Lee Patch, leep@ncms.org, 734-995-4972.

Attention DoD Personnel

Do you have improvement funds that can be applied to technology transitioning or technology pilots at your facility? The CTMA program has a memorandum of understanding with the Army Contracting Center of Excellence to turn around MIPR’s within 30 days.  What this means is that we can get your funds obligated in about 45 days within the construct of the CTMA program.  Plus, in many cases, CTMA funds will be used to further leverage the technology transitioning effort.  This is the last opportunity to take advantage of this opportunity for FY’09 by working with the NCMS program management staff or through Chuck Ryan at chuckr@ncms.org.

SAVE THE DATE- C3A Conference: September 28-30, 2009: New Orleans, LA

High Performance Computing — was once reserved for national laboratories, universities, and government. But HPC is leaving the lab, invading business and manufacturing, as affordable high-speed computing becomes available to organizations of any size. Imagine access to tools that simulate your activities on a massive scale, taking the guesswork out of product design, manufacturing processes, business activities, prototyping, risk assessment, and much more. HPC is going to revolutionize the way business gets done and products get made. Come join us for an eye-opening conference that will introduce you to the potential of the HPC invasion, and how you can use it to compete in entirely new ways.

For more information please visit http://www.ncms.org/c3a

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.

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:

Morris Technologies, Inc. (www.morristech.com) Morris Technologies is an innovative comprehensive and collaborate product development company that specializes in short run parts.

Superior Controls, Inc. (www.superiorcontrols.net) Superior Controls is a dynamically growing manufacturing and information technology company. They are a global provider of industrial automation and control solutions, factory information systems, asset management systems, conveyance systems and specialized capital equipment including dimensional gauging systems, in-process verification systems and powertrain test machines.

Exclusive NCMS Member Opportunity: Technology Showcase:  Last Chance

Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base/Barstow, California- Wednesday, June 24, 2009

NCMS is holding an exclusive technology event for its member at the Barstow Marine Corp Logistics Base.

The Technology Showcase will feature table top displays highlighting project technologies located throughout the base to maximize access for military personnel.

A networking reception will immediately follow the Technology Showcase to promote further discussion between Marine Corps personnel and participants.

Please visit http://www.ncms.org/09Barstow/

or contact Debbie Lilu at debral@ncms.org (734) 995-7038 for additional information.

CTMA Project Completion: Durable, Non-Skid Coating for Carriers DoD Partners: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; NAVSEA 04; PEO Aircraft Carriers

Flight deck non-skid coatings on aircraft carrier (CVN) and amphibious assault (LHA/LHD) platforms must withstand extreme service conditions, including impact, abrasion, exposure to organic fuels and lubricants, as well as frequent cleaning. The function of non-skid coatings is two-fold:

1. Protect the substrate from corrosion
2. Provide traction for foot and vehicular traffic on flight decks, hangar bays, ramps and passageways.

The objective of this project was to develop an extended durability non-skid coating for use on CVN flight decks and LHA/LHD ships. Coatings were developed that met or substantially exceeded all MIL-PRF-24667B(SH) requirements for Type I (High-Durability) non-skid coatings. Additionally, the project participants developed a coating that substantially exceeded the MIL-PRF-24667B(SH) requirements for Type V (Extended Durability) non-skid coatings in the following tests:

• Resistance to Wear
• Resistance to Impact
• Resistance to Accelerated Aging by Light and Water
• VOC
• Flash Point
• Resistance to Chemical Solutions
  • Grease in accordance with DOD-G-24508
  • JP5 jet fuel in accordance with MIL-DTL-5624
  • Hydraulic fluid in accordance with MIL-PRF-83282
  • Aircraft engine turboshaft lubricating oil in accordance with MIL-PRF-23699
  • Detergent in accordance with MIL-D-16791, 0.5% solution in synthetic sea water in accordance with ASTM D1141
  • Aqueous firefighting foam in accordance with MIL-F-24385, 10% solution in synthetic sea water in accordance with ASTM D1141
  • Deicing-defrosting fluids in accordance with SAE AMS1424. Candidate coatings will now proceed with shipboard testing and demonstration in 2-3Q 2009.

Benefits: The Resistance to Wear, Resistance to Impact and Resistance to Accelerated Aging by Light and Water test results indicate that the developed coating is between 5-10 times more durable than is required for Type I coatings. As a result, the successful application of this coating will:

• Increased readiness time
• Longer repair frequency cycle
• Long-term cost reduction for repair
• Improved personnel and equipment safety
• Improved flight operations
• Reduction in aircraft “bumps and crunches.”

Current repair techniques require non-skid coatings be applied with each deployment. With the CTMA coating lasting through two deployments, the Navy will save approximately $5M for a fleet of 12 aircraft carriers compared to use of current non-skid formulations which require approximately 80% of non-skid coating to be replaced every deployment cycle. Other military applications for this coating that could be implemented are:

• AM2 landing mats for Marine Corps expeditionary units
• Topside surfaces of ground vehicles (tanks, amphibious, etc.)

The NCMS contact is Steve Hale, steveh@ncms.org, 734-995-2195.

Attention DoD Personnel

Do you have improvement funds that can be applied to technology transitioning or technology pilots at your facility? The CTMA program is working on a memorandum of understanding with the Army Contracting Center of Excellence to turn around MIPR’s within 30 days.  What this means is that we can get your funds obligated in about 45 days within the construct of the CTMA program.  Plus, in many cases, CTMA funds will be used to further leverage the technology transitioning effort.  Take advantage of this opportunity by working with the NCMS program management staff or through Chuck Ryan at chuckr@ncms.org.

SAVE THE DATE- C3A Conference: September 28-30, 2009: New Orleans, LA

High Performance Computing — was once reserved for national laboratories, universities, and government. But HPC is leaving the lab, invading business and manufacturing, as affordable high-speed computing becomes available to organizations of any size. Imagine access to tools that simulate your activities on a massive scale, taking the guesswork out of product design, manufacturing processes, business activities, prototyping, risk assessment, and much more. HPC is going to revolutionize the way business gets done and products get made. Come join us for an eye-opening conference that will introduce you to the potential of the HPC invasion, and how you can use it to compete in entirely new ways.

For more information please visit http://www.ncms.org/c3a

Note of personal thanks to all your cards, notes, and prayers following my recent heart bypass surgery.  They have certainly helped in my healing process.

Chuck

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.

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.

Exclusive NCMS Member Opportunity: Technology Showcase

Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base/Barstow, California- Wednesday, June 24, 2009

NCMS is holding an exclusive technology event for its member at the Barstow Marine Corp Logistics Base.

The Technology Showcase will feature table top displays highlighting CTMA project technologies located throughout the base to maximize access for military personnel.

A networking reception will immediately follow the Technology Showcase to promote further discussion between Marine Corps personnel and participants.

Please visit http://www.ncms.org/09Barstow/

or contact Debbie Lilu at debral@ncms.org (734) 995-7038 for additional information.

Attention DoD Personnel

Do you have improvement funds that can be applied to technology transitioning or technology pilots at your facility? The CTMA program is working on a memorandum of understanding with the Army Contracting Center of Excellence to turn around MIPR’s within 30 days.  What this means is that we can get your funds obligated in about 45 days within the construct of the CTMA program.  Plus, in many cases, CTMA funds will be used to further leverage the technology transitioning effort.  Take advantage of this opportunity by working with the NCMS program management staff or through Chuck Ryan at chuckr@ncms.org.

SAVE THE DATE- C3A Conference: September 28-30, 2009: New Orleans, LA

High Performance Computing — was once reserved for national laboratories, universities, and government. But HPC is leaving the lab, invading business and manufacturing, as affordable high-speed computing becomes available to organizations of any size. Imagine access to tools that simulate your activities on a massive scale, taking the guesswork out of product design, manufacturing processes, business activities, prototyping, risk assessment, and much more. HPC is going to revolutionize the way business gets done and products get made. Come join us for an eye-opening conference that will introduce you to the potential of the HPC invasion, and how you can use it to compete in entirely new ways.

For more information please visit http://www.ncms.org/c3a

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.

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.

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Thanks to all who participated in our 2009 CTMA Symposium – “Motoring through Technology Transitioning”

What happened?

• we shared lessons learned from technology transfer experiences within the DoD maintenance facilities
• we formulated an initial action plan to obtain more funding for the CTMA program
• we heard from the commanding general at TACOM about issues they are facing at their facilities
• we received direct information from three Depot commanders about needs they face in the maintenance and repair of weapon systems
• we had 15 CTMA project reviews, updating their status and plans for transitioning the technology broadly within DoD
• we had 22 tabletop displays highlighting project activities and promoting networking between the participants
• we witnessed the enthusiasm of an emerging engineering workforce with a demonstration by the high school robotics team, the Foley Freeze
• we toured the state-of-the-art Ford truck manufacturing plant

The presentations are already available to those who participated in the Symposium and will be made available to everyone sometime this summer.

Attention DoD Personnel

Do you have improvement funds that can be applied to technology transitioning or technology pilots at your facility? The CTMA program is working on a memorandum of understanding with the Army Contracting Center of Excellence to turn around MIPR’s within 30 days.  What this means is that we can get your funds obligated in about 45 days within the construct of the CTMA program.  Plus, in many cases, CTMA funds will be used to further leverage the technology transitioning effort.  Take advantage of this opportunity by working with the NCMS program management staff or through Chuck Ryan at chuckr@ncms.org.

CTMA Project Approval: Enhanced Wiring Integrity Systems, Phase II

DoD Participants: WR-ALC – Planned Depot Maintenance (PDM) Line; FRC Southeast; FRC Southwest; OC-ALC – B-1 SPO/Depot; Ellsworth AFB – B-1 28th Bomb Wing; Dyess AFB – B-1 7th Bomb Wing; Langley AFB – F-15 Maintenance; FRC East The U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) routinely performs overhauls, modifications, scheduled maintenance and unscheduled maintenance at various sites throughout the world. The speed with which these tasks are accomplished is critical with regard to the scheduling of military exercises and ultimately our national security. The time required to perform these tasks is a direct relationship to the overall operational cost performance of the particular military or commercial organizations. The amount of man-hours expended annually for troubleshooting and repairing wiring systems varies with each platform and task but there is increasing pressure to reduce cost and increase the readiness of the military hardware. The original Phase I of the EWIS project demonstrated the potential that can be realized by effective wire testing and maintenance. EWIS resulted in success at each of the partner sites over the last several years. As the demand on military aircraft increases and the life of aircraft are extended, the need to effectively implement wiring integrity programs to maintain the health of these aircraft also increases. Quick identification of the faulty wire path and location of the fault will assist greatly in providing increased mission readiness. EWIS I was centered on a reactive maintenance posture that is practiced at all maintenance levels. EWIS I effectively incorporated the use of the EWIS technology in the established reactive maintenance environment.

EWIS II targets implementation of new methods of electrical inspection to help foster a proactive posture. Multiple test protocols and other prognostic test approaches will be implemented in EWIS II for feasibility in the DoD maintenance community.

The objectives of the EWIS II project are to:

• Provide selected project partners with the training to implement the EWIS technology into their respective maintenance environments.
• Build on the accomplishments of EWIS I and extend training and methodologies from a reactive to proactive environment.
• Establish proper inspection testing methodology for effective data collection and analysis to launch an effective wiring health monitoring program.
• Through the health monitoring program gain greater insight and understanding into the degeneration of aircraft wiring.
• Provide the necessary hardware and enhanced software tools to designated project partners.

The long-term goals of the program are to:

• Reduce the cost of wiring maintenance on high failure aircraft systems through the integration of aircraft wiring maintenance into the scheduled maintenance cycles.
• Reduce the number of unscheduled wiring maintenance events.
• Improve the mission readiness of the participating platforms.

EWIS II includes a handheld device, which can reduce troubleshooting time by identifying the location of wiring failures within six inches. The ROI benefit is expected to increase by approximately 20% of the above estimates as a result (i.e. 20-60% total increase of ROI for each depot). Each participating DoD site will identify and monitor their benefit metrics and results which will be documented in the project’s final technical report.

Additional anticipated benefits from the insertion of the EWIS technologies include but are not limited to:

• Improved reliability of the wiring and electrical system and the increased mission availability of the platform.
• Open-ended hardware and flexible software architecture capable of accepting technology enhancements and linking to existing maintenance database types.
• Detection of degenerative conditions that could lead to a wiring failure and condition-based monitoring of wiring and electrical distribution system integrity.
• Reduction in man-hours required when troubleshooting and repairing platform-wiring discrepancies.
• Accurate tracking of maintenance actions, failures, location data.
• Reduction of operational wiring related safety incidents (arching, fire, etc.)
• User training which enables use of the EWIS II products in an proactive maintenance approach versus the current reaction response.
• EWIS II sites can develop their own TPS units, enabling the users to automate manual testing and inspection processes.

The NCMS Contact is Lee Patch, leep@ncms.org, 734-995-4972.  

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.

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.

•

Last Chance to Register for the

2009 CTMA Symposium – “Motoring through Technology Transitioning”

Monday, 30 March – Thursday, 2 April

at the MGM Grand Detroit, Detroit, Michigan

Register: https://www.ncms.org/SSL/Symposium2009/registration.htm

Agenda: https://www.ncms.org/09CTMASymposium/agenda.htm

If you are trying to insert new technologies into the DoD Maintenance System, this Symposium is for you.

CFAMS Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony hosted by the Sierra Army Depot

The CTMA project, Centralized Fleet Automated Management Systems, (CFAMS), has been demonstrated at the Sierra Army Depot (SIAD), and SIAD hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on February 25, 2009, as a formal introduction of CFAMS to other DoD facilities. The event was attended by representatives from the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Reutilization Marketing Service, the Lead Army Material Command Integration Support Office at Redstone Army Arsenal, the Logistics Innovation Agency, NORAD/NORTHCOM, the Air Force Joint Depot Maintenance Activity Group, the Fleet Support Division Marine Corps Logistics Command, the Canadian Operational Support Command, and the U.S. Army Depots at Anniston, Red River and Tobyhanna. The ceremony included demonstrations of CFAMS software, hardware and integration with passive RFID systems for inventory management. Speakers and presenters included Greg Kilchenstein of the Office of the Secretary of Defense; George Ray, Garrison Manager at SIAD; Chuck Ryan, Vice President of Technology for the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences; and Ken Ehrman, the President and Chief Operating Officer of I.D. Systems, Inc. “Maintenance is a significant expense for the DoD and a critical factor in sustaining materiel readiness for our nation’s armed forces,” noted Ehrman. “We are honored and pleased that I.D. Systems’ wireless vehicle management technology has demonstrated an ability to have a positive influence on the DoD’s material handling operations. We look forward to introducing CFAMS to many more DoD facilities.” SIAD is part of the U. S. Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), under the U. S. Army Materiel Command. SIAD’s mission is to provide worldwide logistics support for the U.S. Army, including receipt, storage, repair, shipping, maintenance, and fabrication of assets. As a Center of Industrial Technical Excellence focused on “lean manufacturing” process improvements, the depot continuously seeks out new ways to improve on its mission execution. The NCMS Contact for this effort is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

New CTMA Project Opportunity – Automated Intensifier Measurement System (AIMS)

The objective of this CTMA effort is to provide the Army with automated test equipment which has the ability to replace the outdated manual test equipment presently used by government and industry. This capability will reduce cycle time for returned night vision devices and significantly reduce costs to the Department of Defense by decreasing destruction of good image intensifier tubes.

Some 10,000 tubes are returned annually from the field and are demilitarized (destroyed) due to a lack of retest verification. However, image intensifier tubes “classified for demil” in the field have subsequently successfully passed MIL-specs during reevaluations. This automated equipment will be capable of rapidly performing all optical A-tests as required by government and industry for image intensifier tubes.

Implementation of an automated test capability will provide better test repeatability, reproducibility, and improve cycle time versus the present manual test equipment. Potential customers and/or end users will be U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps depots, as well as image intensifier tube manufacturers.

For additional information contact the NCMS Program Manager, Lee Patch, leep@ncms.org, 734-995-4972.

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.

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.

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If you have an interest in the transitioning of technology into practice in the DoD maintenance and repair facilities, then register now for the

2009 CTMA Symposium – “Motoring through Technology Transitioning”

Monday, 30 March – Thursday, 2 April

at the MGM Grand Detroit, Detroit, Michigan

Register: https://www.ncms.org/SSL/Symposium2009/registration.htm

Agenda: https://www.ncms.org/09CTMASymposium/agenda.htm

The focus for this year’s symposium will be technology transition, what are the hurdles and how projects can more quickly be put into practice at the DoD facilities.  Featuring real experiences from both a DoD and Industry perspective, we will try to outline a how-to guide for attendees.  Confirmed speakers include:

• Major General Scott West, U.S. Army’s TACOM Life Cycle Management Command Chief
• Dr. Kathryn Stevens, Director, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
• Mr. John Johns, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Maintenance Policy & Programs)
• Mr. Richard Jarman, President & CEO, NCMS
• Colonel Ron Alberto, Commanding Officer, Tobyhanna Army Depot
• Captain Tim Matthews, Commanding Officer, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast
• Colonel Dale Johnson, Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Barstow, CA
• Dr. Raj Iyer, TACOM LCMC Data Czar Director, Product Data & Data Management

With the focus on technology transitioning, we will have panel and open discussions identifying issues hampering transitioning of new technologies, and a roadmapping session addressing approaches to reduce these hurdles.  Individual project teams will also share their working experience with transitioning technology to the DoD.  So plan to join us and participate in the Symposium.

We will also feature a winning team from the 2008 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.  The goal of the program is to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technology.

The Hotel block is expiring soon, so please move quickly to secure your hotel room.

NCMS Starts Lightweight Materials Program

In addition to the CTMA program, NCMS has other programs for the express purpose of developing and implementing new technology.  The most recent program is sponsored by the US Department of Energy where the objective is to reduce the costs and time needed to develop new lightweight materials for high volume automotive applications.  The driving force is to greatly improve fuel mileage without compromising safety, performance, and comfort.  New lightweight materials need to be developed and processed into component parts, which currently takes 10 years and 10′s of million of dollars.  The program aims to cut the time and cost in half using tools associated with high performance computing.

With the available funding, the following four projects are being developed:

Ultra-Lightweight Sandwich Composite Constructions for Autobody Applications: Explore and investigate ultra lightweight but strong sandwich composites made from aluminum foam cores and carbon fiber based thermoplastic composite facings.Low Cost Resin System for Lightweight PMC Components: Reduce process cycle time and costs the composite part fabrication that rely on resin infusion (e.g. RTM, SRIM, VARTM). Have the material system well characterized and incorporated into numerical process modeling tools to bind the process window and ensure high production yield. The numerical analyses would be validated with element tests and optimized with statistical variations in material properties and process conditions.Lightweight Material Usage Optimization for Multi-Mode Safety, NVH, and Durability Performance Using High Performance Computing (HPC): Evaluate a new method of accessing significant amounts of HPC resources while performing many applicable steps of the overall development process in parallel. Team with world class hardware and software vendors to develop and implement a remote HPC model. The project will be a full vehicle, public domain model of a typical four door automobile. This vehicle will be analyzed for both traditional (steel) and hybrid (steel and lightweight CBS®) solutions. Multiple safety modes, along with basic static and dynamic stiffness configurations will be used to create a holistic set of performance targetsAutomotive Component Manufacture in Titanium: A group of existing part designs will be considered for replacement in titanium with a major US vehicle manufacturer, and cost justification performed based on expected material and processing cost models. Material selection will be undertaken with a primary titanium supplier, with the focus on low-cost grades that meet functional requirements at lower mass.

Project teams have been formed in each of these areas, but if you are interested in participating on a cost-share basis, or would like more information, contact the NCMS program manager, Steve Hale, steveh@ncms.org, 734-995-2195.

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.

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.

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Register Now for the 2009 CTMA Symposium – “Motoring through Technology Transitioning”

Monday, 30 March – Thursday, 2 April

at the MGM Grand Detroit, Detroit, Michigan

Register: https://www.ncms.org/SSL/Symposium2009/registration.htm

Agenda: https://www.ncms.org/09CTMASymposium/agenda.htm

The focus for this year’s symposium will be technology transition, what are the hurdles and how projects can more quickly be put into practice at the DoD facilities.  Featuring real experiences from both a DoD and Industry perspective, we will try to outline a how-to guide for attendees.  Confirmed speakers include:

• Major General Scott West, U.S. Army’s TACOM Life Cycle Management Command Chief
• Mr. John Johns, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Maintenance Policy & Programs)
• Mr. Richard Jarman, President & CEO, NCMS
• Colonel Ron Alberto, Commanding Officer, Tobyhanna Army Depot
• Captain Tim Matthews, Commanding Officer, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast
• Dr. Raj Iyer, TACOM LCMC Data Czar Director, Product Data & Data Management

With the focus on technology transitioning, we will have panel and open discussions identifying issues hampering transitioning of new technologies, and a roadmapping session addressing approaches to reduce these hurdles.  Individual project teams will also share their working experience with transitioning technology to the DoD.  So plan to join us and participate in the Symposium.

We will also feature a winning team from the 2008 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.  The goal of the program is to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technology.

Invitation to Ribbon Cutting for CTMA project at the Sierra Army Depot

The CTMA project “Centralized Fleet Automated Management System”, (CFAMS) has  recently completed a successful pilot at Sierra Army Depot (SIAD).  On Wednesday, February 25,  SIAD will host a Ribbon Cutting and Demonstration of CFAMS.  The Ribbon Cutting is being held by the CTMA program in conjunction with the Army Materiel Command and is being hosted by LTC Lee H. Schiller, Jr., Commander, Sierra Army Depot.  The Ribbon Cutting and Demonstration will be held from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25th .

CFAMS is a vehicle management system that is “best practices” of the commercial sector now being applied to DoD. In industrial/distribution center settings it is used in 32 Ford plants, every Target distribution center, widely-used by WalMart, and by Daimler Chrysler, Nissan, Alcoa, John Deere, Caterpillar, and is being implemented by Mercedes-Benz.  It is used in over 110 major postal service locations.   The implementation of CFAMS at Sierra has been a successful public/private partnership.

Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, California is located approximately an hour’s drive from Reno, Nevada. Below is the link to the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno where we have often stayed.  NCMS has reserved a block of hotel rooms, which can be booked until Feb. 3 at $49 for a standard room per night, $80 for a Summit (tower) room per night (plus tax).  The Group Name is “Sierra Army Depot Ribbon Cutting”.

http://www.grandsierraresort.com

We invite those interested to attend the Sierra Army Depot Ribbon Cutting and Demonstration .  For further information, the NCMS contact is Debbie Lilu, debral@ncms.org, 734-995-7038.

Funding Available for Environmental Technology Demonstration and Validation

DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), supports the demonstration and validation of environmental technologies that address priority DoD environmental requirements. The goal of ESTCP is to transition mature environmental science and technology projects through the demonstration and validation phase, thereby enabling promising technologies to receive regulatory and DoD end-user acceptance and to be fielded and commercialized more effectively and more rapidly.

ESTCP is seeking innovative environmental technology demonstrations as candidates for funding beginning in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010.  This solicitation requests pre-proposals via Calls for Proposals to DoD organizations and Federal (Non-DoD) organizations, and via a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Private Sector organizations. Pre-proposals are due on March 5, 2009.

Detailed instructions for DoD, Non-DoD Federal, and BAA proposers are available on the ESTCP web site: http://www.estcp.org/opportunities.  DoD organizations (Service and Defense Agencies) may submit pre-proposals for demonstrations of innovative environmental technologies in the following topic areas:

• Environmental Restoration — proposals in this topic area should address the reduction of the Department’s current liabilities and prevention of future liabilities through the demonstration of technologies or tools for the cost-effective management and remediation of chemical contaminants in soil, sediments, and ground and surface water. Areas of interest include: characterization and monitoring, treatment, containment, optimization, exposure and bioavailability, and risk assessment.
• Munitions Management — proposals in this topic area should address the reduction of the Department’s current liabilities under the Military Munitions Response Program due to unexploded ordnance (UXO) and discarded military munitions or the sustainability of the current testing and training ranges through active range clearance and reducing the generation of UXO. Areas of high priority include: detection and discrimination and underwater site characterization.
• Sustainable Infrastructure — proposals in this topic area should support the sustainability of training and testing areas, as well as the installation infrastructure that supports these areas and the infrastructure associated with deployed forces. Areas of interest include: natural resources (e.g., ecosystem-based management; land management and watershed protection; and maritime sustainability), facilities and energy (e.g., noise; facility waste; air and water quality; and energy), and cultural resources.
• Weapons Systems and Platforms — proposals in this area should address the current and future environmental liabilities associated with DoD weapons systems and platforms. This includes the design, construction, maintenance, repair, and operations of weapons systems and platforms.  Areas of interest include: manufacturing and maintenance (e.g., alternative materials; alternative processes; and monitoring and control of emissions), green energetics (e.g., green materials; alternative manufacturing processes; and monitoring and control of emissions), emissions (e.g., diesel and turbine engines; weapons and munitions; and ships), and greenhouse gases (e.g., weapons systems operations).

The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and Non-DoD Federal Call for Proposals (CFP) are seeking pre-proposals for environmental technologies in the following topic areas only:

• Remediation of Contaminated Groundwater
• In Situ Management of Contaminated Sediments
• Characterization, Control, and Treatment of Range Contamination
• Military Munitions Detection, Discrimination, and Remediation
• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for DoD Installations

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.