Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment (TMDE) – Phase III
NCMS Project #: 140821
Problem: Maintenance and sustainment support efforts in commercial industries are heavily reliant on Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment (TMDE). TMDE is a collection of tools and test equipment used by technicians and mechanics across the public sector and within the Department of Defense (DoD). Given the breadth of TMDE within industry and military alike, there are many opportunities for improvement.
While the recently completed Capabilities Based Assessments (CBA) did an excellent job identifying and recommending improvements relative to TMDE, further TMDE actions are needed to assure maintenance and sustainment support needs are addressed. For example, two of the primary categories of TMDE, Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) and General Purpose Tools and Test Equipment (GPTTE) require further study in light of the evolving need of both industry and the military to have remote TMDE capability (and not depend wholly on centralized TMDE).
Benefit: Phase III will benefit industry by thoroughly analyzing TMDE capabilities on an enterprise level and suggesting improvements that could have benefit to those commercial entities, all of which have TMDE systems in place. It will provide DoD with cost-informed alternatives to support TMDE, particularly for the ATE and GPTTE categories of TMDE as well as implementation across a broader user community.
Solution/Approach: This collaborative initiative is Phase III of a multi-phase effort each with its own required tasks. In general, Phase III will include a comprehensive breakdown of TMDE Family of Systems (FoS) CBA into multiple ATE and GPTTS capabilities in order to support modernization efforts for current requirements in the operating forces. The analysis will include DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF) Operational Views. DoDAF has broad applicability across the public and private sectors and represents one of the more well-known methods used to provide a visualization infrastructure for stakeholders to understand, visualize and assimilate a broad scope interrelated systems. The documents generated during this phase will be nested within the TMDE CBA and ICD and test equipment capabilities will be done in parallel.
Impact on Warfighter:
- Reduce maintenance burden
- Improve maintenance response
- Reduce number of spare and consumable parts needed
- Increase availability of assets
- Reduce operating and overhead costs
- Improve readiness
DOD Participation:
- U.S. Marine Crops Capabilities Development and Integration (LID)
- U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command (TMDE team lead)
- U.S. Marine Corps I&L (LPC)
Industry Participation:
- Whitney, Bradley and Brown
- PORTAC Consulting, LLC
- NCMS
Benefit Area(s):
- Cost savings
- Repair turn-around time
- Obsolescence management and continued maintenance capability
- Improved readiness
Focus Area:
- CBM+