Wireless Command & Control System (WCCS) for Material Handling Equipment (MHE) Installation at Defense Logistics Agency
NCMS Project #: 140708
Problem: Despite a myriad of major service-sponsored maintenance initiatives focused on improving maintenance automation and readiness for tactical vehicle fleets, aircraft, vessels and combat vehicles, very little has changed regarding the business process associated with maintaining, managing and improving operational readiness of the industrial vehicle fleet. For example, there is typically significant, ongoing over-maintenance of these vehicles because maintenance schedules are based on straight calendar time or on hour meters that imprecisely reflect key time and seat time, rather than on actual motion time where most wear and tear occurs. Industrial fleet vehicles tend to be a non-controlled asset with no key control or operator accountability. These vehicles are potentially available to unlicensed and/or untrained operators who are most often responsible for lost work time accidents and/or costly damage to both the vehicle and cargo/inventory within a given facility.
Benefit: The efforts in this project will identify the enterprise requirements, acquisition, maintenance, and sustainment initiatives that directly support and complement the OSD-mandated supply chain and total ownership cost efficiencies. The benefits derived by the DoD from this effort will facilitate prudent investment decisions, cost documentation and efficiencies, and improve force readiness and ground equipment performance in line with DoD imperatives. This effort will help reduce the Service-level risk associated with the mix of forces, equipment, and support attainable within fiscal constraints.
Efforts will improve equipment accountability specifically across the DoD through validation of unit inventories via data mining and data cleansing in the Accountable Property System of Record (APSR) and accounting records. This project will identify and test process improvements evaluated through corrective action plans to maintain accurate records, both physical and electronic, to ensure data used for decisions is correct.
Solution/Approach: A variation of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) wireless fleet management hardware and software will be installed on 50 industrial trucks to be identified by Defense Logistics at a selected site. The purpose of this 60-day phase is to establish evaluation metrics relative to equipment maintenance costs, timelines and related procedures, in addition to studies for vehicle operator preventative maintenance, fleet availability, and fleet and operator productivity
Impact on Warfighter:
- Increased fleet operation readiness/availability
- Maintenance/repair cost reductions
- Labor cost reductions
- Operator productivity increases
- Decline in damage to vehicles, cargo and facility
- Improved vehicle locating and fleet optimization
DoD Participation:
- Defense Logistics Agency
- U.S. Army (Anniston)
- U.S. Army (Rock Island Arsenal)
- U.S. Air Force
- U.S. Marine Corps (Albany) observer
- U.S. Army (TACOM) observer
- U.S. Army Materiel Command observer
- U.S. Army (Red River) observer
Industry Participation:
- I.D. Systems, Inc.
- IBM
- NCMS
Technology Focus Area(s):
- Cost savings
- Maintenance management improvement
- Improved readiness