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February 2001 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 will give you selected highlights of ongoing projects, serve as a forum for promoting new project ideas, and share 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. Recently Approved Project Next Generation Inspection System U.S. manufacturing firms and DoD Depots are under increasing pressure to cut operation and sustainment costs by 20% while improving quality, shortening turn around times, and processing smaller lot sizes. Key to meeting these objectives is reducing the time required for current inspection practices while achieving increased accuracy in measurements. Several NCMS industrial members faced with similar business environments - including Ford, General Motors and a number of technology suppliers - organized two collaborative efforts, Next Generation Inspection System (NGIS) I and II, to develop new and improved technologies to support machine inspection. The project targeted the need to provide dimensional measurement and on-the-fly scanning of surfaces at high speed, both in a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and on-machine environment with multiple, interchangeable sensors. This project, NGIS III, targets implementation of the new technology that resulted from the previous industrial collaborations into a pilot program at the Cherry Point Naval Aviation Depot. The industry led pilot will demonstrate significant cost and thru-put savings applicable to other DoD maintenance activities supporting aircraft engines. The Philadelphia Detachment of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and NADEP North Island will also have an active project role. This effort is consistent with the current direction of the machine tool industry. The industry is moving toward on-machine part inspection with a gradual reduction of the use of CMMs on the shop floor. The idea of “accept the parts off the machine instead of the CMM” makes sense as machine tools are getting more and more precise and, very often, able to challenge the measurements from CMMs. In addition, the need for added set up and cycle time for CMM inspection is eliminated.For further information, contact Bill Waddell, (231) 264-9774. Program News Industry "Field Trip" to Ogden Air Logistics Center You are cordially invited to join us on Wednesday, March 14, at Hill AFB in Ogden, Utah. We will have a capabilities briefing and tour in the morning. The afternoon will feature functional experts from areas of mutual interest to the participants for developing partnering opportunities or capabilities. This initial trip is open to all NCMS members. For reservations and further information, contact Chuck Ryan, 734-995-4905. 2nd Annual CTMA Program Symposium In light of the successful Defense Maintenance Activity Technologies Day held last May in Orlando, Florida, the NCMS CTMA Program is holding a similar event this year. Plan to be in Hilton Head, South Carolina, on Tuesday, May 8, for the 2nd Annual CTMA Program Symposium. Held in conjunction with the NCMS Spring Conference, the symposium will include presentations showcasing active projects, identifying DoD needs, and promoting new ideas. In addition, there will be three focused workshops in telemaintenance, solid freeform fabrication, and laser shock peening. The workshops will bring together other programs within the DoD, as well as other federal agencies sponsoring projects in these three areas, to share information and to better coordinate our activities. The preliminary agenda on May 8 is:
If you wish to participate in the afternoon presentations or would like more information, contact Chuck Ryan. Government rates for hotel rooms have been arranged, but reservations need to be made by April 1. Contact Beth Bolog, 734-995-7962 for more information. To register for the event, sign up on the CTMA website, or call Beth directly. For those arriving on Monday night, you can also sign up for dinner and entertainment by the Capitol Steps. NCMS Updates Membership Structure NCMS recently upgraded its membership structure to better serve member needs. Organizations can now choose their level of involvement in NCMS based upon the activities and services in which they wish to be engaged. Currently, there are three member participation options: Government Services, Community Services, and the InfoTEST sector. The CTMA Program falls under Government Services sector. Participation in this sector provides the following benefits: 1.Unlimited Project Participation:
2.A Diverse Array of Networking Opportunities:
3.Communication and Information Dissemination:
For further information on the Government Services, contact Rebecca Racosky, 202-544-9244.For information on the other NCMS services, link to the NCMS website. Ongoing Project News High Density Chip-On-Board (HDCOB) Richard Foley, Electronics Engineer in the Maintenance Engineering Division of Tobyhanna Army Depot, is the new DoD Depot representative on the NCMS High Density Chip-On-Board project. Mr. Foley provides engineering support for the repair, testing and sustainment of airborne communications, airborne instrumentation, and navigational aids. The objective of the HDCOB project is to demonstrate production-ready assembly processes and materials for mixed technology packaging interconnects that will effectively meet the requirements of large area, high density commercial assemblies as well as the harsher environments imposed by military and space applications. Project participants include StorageTek (technical lead), Hamilton Sundstrand, Benchmark Electronics, Inc., Raytheon Systems Company, and Tobyhanna Army Depot. Contact Lee Patch, 734-995-4972 for further information. Calendar of Events Industry "Field Trip" to Ogden ALC, March 14, 2001Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG) JTEG, a forum for exchanging ideas and information between the DoD maintenance facilities, is next meeting on March 21 and 22 at the Coast Guard Facility in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. For further information, contact Steve Siens, (937) 656-2774 NCMS 2001 Conference To Focus on Game ChangersBusiness survival in the future depends not on luck, speculating about the economic climate, nor theorizing about technological advances. It may depend, however, on how we go about addressing and answering a key question that leading futurist Glen Hiemstra asks: “What future do we prefer?” In the fast-paced global environment, manufacturers will have to respond to the need for new products and technologies, such as hybrid automobiles and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Thus, the industry seeks an answer to the question: “What future do we need to build?” The NCMS 2001 Conference, being held May 6-8 at the Hilton Head Marriott Resort in Hilton Head, South Carolina, offers a “think tank” forum at which knowledgeable speakers and conference participants can interact to discuss the game changers that will come into play in building our preferred future. The purpose of this conference is to challenge our images of the future in an energized, exciting, and stimulating environment. Setting the stage for this environment will be keynote speaker Glen Hiemstra, whose work as a futurist is widely known and respected through his broad experience as an international speaker and consultant on future planning for enterprises. Mr. Hiemstra offers insight into surprising developments shaping the 21st Century, and then goes beyond that to the deeper challenge of understanding our new world and creating our preferred future. To discover more about the future, visit Futurist.com™ at www.futurist.com, “your portal to the future on the World Wide Web,” founded and hosted by Glen Hiemstra. For details about the NCMS 2001 Conference, watch for announcements to be posted on our Web site at www.ncms.org, in upcoming issues of the NCMS newsletter “NCMS at a Glance,” and in your mailbox. Project Idea Table: (click on topic to see its description) If you have interest in any of the projects listed below, contact Chuck Ryan at 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 the information in this newsletter does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the government; no official endorsement should be inferred. |
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Copyright 2001 |