October 2004

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 subject line.

Help set the agenda for over $30 million worth of CTMA projects.

Mark you calendars for the 2005 CTMA Symposium.

April 18 - 21 at the Tacoma Sheraton, Tacoma, Washington.

Stay tuned to this newsletter for further details.

CTMA project extension approved: Opticam/I-POMX

The Opticam Project addresses needs for robust reverse engineering technology integrated with manufacturing applications. The project team is developing a system that uses precision video cameras to scan objects and produce range data using a parallax scheme. Multiple views are captured which are then registered automatically by the system to produce a 3-D image. The 3-D image is then imported into Unigraphics for use by design and manufacturing engineering applications.

One of the key achievements in OptiCam to date is the area of image registration.  SIS software can, with minimal user intervention, align a series of point clouds into an alignment form that makes sense.  What that means is that images captured from several positions in a sphere around an object can be aligned, with little user intervention, to form a 3D surface.  Registration in older scanning technologies is mostly manual and therefore labor intensive.

Probably the greatest achievement was in the reduction of image tolerances.  The planned first year tolerance target was 0.250 in.  The team actually achieved 0.020 in.  The ultimate project goal is 0.005 in.  In the extended project, the team will:

  • Work on further improving scan accuracy (tolerances)
  • Investigate alternative data storage models such as splines and nurbs
  • Create a system design and integration plan
  • Develop performance metrics to enable comparison of current scanning methodologies.

The I-POMX (Integrated Point of Maintenance Execution) thrust is demonstrating the use of wireless tablet PCs to interact with maintenance technicians and engineers in real time in an environment that demands mobility.

At the end of the first pilot, the I-POMX system that is installed and working at OC-ALC consists of:

  • A server containing Teamcenter™ Enterprise, Digital Ink™, an Oracle database and “middle tier” software from @Hand

  • A limited number of Acer tablet PCs for clients

  • User interface software for the clients.

Teamcenter™ Enterprise provides the data management functionality, including workflow control rules and functions.  Digital Ink™ provides the forms authoring and publishing functions.  The user interface, added at the very end of the pilot, provides navigation and data entry/retrieval functions.  The “middle tier” software provided after the pilot provides off-line data storage and synchronization so traditional laptops can be used in tether-free mode and synchronized on re-connect.

The I-POMX extension is focused on improving data accessibility and integrity completed in the pilot.  During this project phase, UGS will develop, implement, and demonstrate tools that will enable repair technicians, engineers, planners, and maintenance personnel to create and access required component information during the engine repair process.  Specifically, the implementation and demonstration will address the non-conforming material report process within the engine repair area of OC-ALC. 

NCMS project manager is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Project Participants Requested: Depainting using Laser Light

 

A high-powered, high-productivity laser has been developed with enough power to depaint metal and composite surfaces at a productivity rate of 200 square feet per hour of paint 5 mils thick. A breakthrough in cooling technology has permitted powerful lasers to be small enough to be portable at the jobsite.  All waste remaining from the volatilized aged paint film is simply drawn back into a canister for disposal or recycling into other paints.  The process therefore is “dustless”.

 

A successful working prototype has been in operation for a year, and prototype internal components have has passed wear and durability test requirements indicating a life of five to ten years expected for the units.  The laser delivery system can be manually operated as a hand held pistol/shroud arrangement, or attached to robotic systems.  Optical physics makes possible a variety of “wands” suited for differing end uses.

 

The process is believed to be capable of lowering the average costs incurred in the depainting process by 50%, along with the more intangible advantages of lower manpower requirements, greater safety and environmental friendliness.

 

We are seeking companies willing to provide in-kind in the form of cash for completion of the first few production units.  A total of at least $800,000 of in-kind is needed.

 

Further information can be obtained from the NCMS Project Manager, Steve Hale, steveh@ncms.org, 734-995-2195.

 

Congratulations to Letterkenny Army Depot for returning $2.5 million in lean savings

Colonel William A. Guinn, Letterkenny Commander presented a ceremonial check for $2.5 million to Mr. John R. Chapman, Executive Director, Integrated Materiel Management Center (IMMC), and Mr. Michael Hartwell, Associate Director for Missiles, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL.  The check represented savings resulting from implementation of Lean Manufacturing techniques.  As the Center of Excellence for Air Defense and Tactical Missiles, Letterkenny uses cross-training and flexible management to focus on customer needs.  Letterkenny was tasked with “resetting” PATRIOT and Avenger missile systems to “fully mission capable” status.  Since the PATRIOT and Avenger assets are part of the operational Army fleets, a key to the program’s success was meeting the Soldier’s turnaround time.  Letterkenny determined the best way to meet these requirements was through the utilization of Lean Manufacturing processes and techniques.  Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, PA is the Center of Technical Excellence for Air Defense and Tactical Missile systems and employs approximately 2,000 military, civilian and contract employees on its 17,500-acre site.  They are also the latest DoD facility to join the CTMA program.

Nominations being sought for The Defense Manufacturing Excellence Award - 2004

Since 1995, the National Center for Advanced Technologies (NCAT), acting as the agent for the Associations and Societies involved in the Multi-Association Industry Affordability Task Force, has sought to recognize an individual and small working groups/teams in the defense manufacturing community for making outstanding contributions to furthering manufacturing science and technology in the United States for the past fiscal year (Oct 2003 - Sep 2004).  Through the Defense Manufacturing Excellence Award, these Associations and Professional Societies acknowledge and recognize contributions of those scientists, designers, engineers, and/or managers involved in defense manufacturing who have sought to:

     (1) Conduct research into ways and means to increase the producibility, affordability, or technical superiority of the nation’s defense systems and/or

     (2) Develop or practice ways and means to increase the producibility, affordability, or technical superiority of the nation’s defense systems.

There are three award categories:

  • Individual category nominations may be either for (1) a specific achievement in defense manufacturing which culminated during the past year or (2) a sustained record of performance and distinguished contributions in the defense manufacturing arena over a longer period. 

  • Small team/group from large (over 500 employees) companies should be for a specific achievement in the field of defense manufacturing which culminated during the past year.

  • Small team/group from small business (less that 500 employees) companies should be for a specific achievement in the field of defense manufacturing which culminated during the past year.  The small business should have performed the majority of the work.

Nominations should be typed and should include the following information:

  • Nominator’s name, mailing address, and electronic communications contact information (phone, fax, and e-mail)

  • Nominator’s title and organization/affiliation (company or association)

  • Nominee’s name and title, institutional or company affiliation, and address.  For team categories please include the name of the project here.

  • Category: Specify whether the nomination is for the individual or one of the small team/group categories (large or small business).  If for the team/group categories, all of the members’ names should be included as nominees (exactly as they would appear in the Award Program, should the team/group be selected).

  • A summary of the action(s): the basis for the nomination (approximately 100-150 words).  This will form the basis for the “citation” to be published in the Award program distributed at the presentation ceremony should the nominee win.  Hint:  It also “grabs” the attention of the members of the Award Committee who will be evaluating the nomination.

  • A separate longer statement, not to exceed two, single spaced pages (12 point “Times New Roman” or similar font preferred), with one inch margins, providing additional details of the basis for the nomination in terms of the technical/managerial challenges overcome, significance of the accomplishment, financial or technical performance savings/payoff, etc.  This will form the basis for the comparative evaluation by the Award Committee of the award nominees and selection of the award recipient(s). 

  • A resume of the nominee and a brief biography for each nominee.  In the case of the team award (optional), a brief description for each of the team members and a biography/resume for the team leader(s) are appropriate.

Completed nominations should be submitted to Chuck Ryan at NCMS, chuckr@ncms.org. 

The deadline for award nomination submissions is October 26, 2004.  All nominating materials become the property of NCAT. 

New Project Ideas (click on topics to see descriptions), if you are interested, contact the project manager listed.  We are going to start to gear up new project ideas for submittal in April or May of next year.  Many of these ideas will come from the 2004 CTMA Symposium.  Make sure you look at the Symposium results on the CTMA website (http://ctma.ncms.org) and let us know where you are interested.  We will only work on those projects with the highest level of interest.

1 High Speed Laser Depainting
2 Fuel Tank Desealing and Resealing
3 Inspection and Repair Preparation Cell for Radomes (IRPC)
4 Heat Transfer Classification for Production Tooling and Composite Repairs
5 Friction Stir Welding
6 Kinetic Spray Metal Deposition Technologies for Corrosion Protection
7 On-Board Wiring Diagnostics Tester

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.


Copyright 2004
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences