December 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 "Where Ideas Become Reality".

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

• Hotel Reservations are now being accepted; call 877-508-0149 and reference the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences

• Plan to join us in the opening reception on April 18 at the Washington State History Museum, featuring a special exhibit on 9/11

• Learn more about working with the CTMA program, including contracts and accounting at a pre-symposium workshop on the afternoon of April 18.

• On-line conference registration will be available in January.

Thanks Walt!

After many years of public service, with the last five leading the CTMA program, Walt Atchley will be leaving the Department of Defense for a job in the private sector.  Walt has been instrumental in the success of the CTMA program.   Through his vision and leadership, projects have been carried out at every DoD depot and we are starting to work with the intermediate and field level units as well.  It has been a true pleasure working with Walt and we wish him success in his new endeavors.

CTMA Project wins award at the Defense Manufacturing Conference in Las Vegas

Congratulations to the project team for “The Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) Life Cycle Logistics Support Tool”,  who were recently honored with the 2004 Defense Manufacturing Excellence Award.  This award is sponsored by the National Center for Advanced Technologies (NCAT) and recognizes outstanding contributions to further manufacturing technology in the US. 

The LAV project addresses needs of monitoring the performance of these weapon systems during use, and giving advanced warnings when a problem is detected so that the field commanders can act quickly in the use of that weapon system.  This will reduce the cost of field maintenance since problems can be solved before further damage is incurred as well as help save lives because maintenance can be more often performed in a secure location away from the battlefront.  The project team includes Delphi, Portal Dynamics, Cubic Systems, Rochester Institute of Technology, the Marine Corps Maintenance Centers at Albany and Barstow, Anniston Army Depot, and the LAV Program Manager.  The NCMS project manager is Mike Gnam, mikeg@ncms.org, 734-995-4971.

The technology deployed by this project was also demonstrated to the Marines at Camp Pendleton responsible for LAV maintenance, showing the new capabilities and seeking their feedback to further enhance the value of this project to the Marine Corps.

Project Participants Sought:  Initiative for an Improved Static Event Detector

Static electricity can create a wide variety of problems for electronic manufacturers, end users and depot repair facilities. Electro Static Discharge (ESD) can cause undetected damage to electronic components resulting in premature product degradation and component failure. Early detection of ESD, followed by prescriptive repair and control programs can minimize losses and extend the life expectancy of electronic modules and devices.

Weapons systems are subjected to hot, dry static inducing airflow during flights. Electronic modules within the system are static sensitive and there is strong evidence damage begins with undetected, environmentally induced degradation. The resulting failures have a drastic impact on the reliability of the weapon systems. No non-destructive way exists to either identify the extent of cumulative static damage or determine the cause.

This CTMA initiative will create an unpowered, resettable, reusable, static event detection device that will detect impending failures during the overhaul process. This will allow modules to be removed and replaced before the damage impacts performance in the field. The device will be modified to incorporate a variable threshold test circuit that correlates to a level of damage. An optical readout and communications system will be implemented to support real-time process monitoring and data collection.

Initial implementation will be at the Tobyhanna Army Depot on critical electronics modules exposed to static discharge. An end of project demonstration will validate that the device and optical communications system performs reliably and is capable of detecting static induced internal defects that currently go undetected. Ultimately, the device will be included as an integral part of a reliability enhancement program where it will be used to identify impending failures in modules during overhaul.

Currently the project team needs an additional military repair depot to participate in this program A commercial industrial user of this technology is also being sought

For more information contact Program Manager Lee Patch, leep@ncms.org, (734) 995-4972.
 

Project Participants Sought: Light Armored Vehicle Life Cycle Logistics Support Tool Phase II

For the past four years, the Program Manager’s Office – Light Armored Vehicle has devoted substantial time and resources to building a robust Integrated Data Environment (IDE) in response to a Department of Defense (DoD) mandate. Cognizant of the extraordinary benefits to be derived from integration, PM-LAV, along with its partners in industry and academia, has aggressively pursued the implementation and integration of Condition Based Maintenance (CBM), Autonomic Logistics (AL), Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETM), System Health Monitoring (SHM), and others into a single accessible environment. This concept has been validated in several high profile demonstrations.
 

In the next phase of this endeavor, PM-LAV intends to incorporate Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) as part of a comprehensive approach to:

1. Determine the most useful functions to monitor;

2. Establish the best methods to accomplish the task;

3. Measure data through an operational field test; and (4) analyze / validate results.

Expected tasks include:

1. Perform RCM analysis to confirm previous efforts and determine what functions need to be monitored; how frequently; and how accurately. Define parameters of success.

2. Explore the best methods to measure data. Develop, and field an overarching logistic administrative system that monitors logistical and mission status as well as system health. Identify and test, for demonstration purposes, a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) communication solution to permit transmission and dissemination of data to all stakeholders. Ensure that all capabilities are integrated into a single accessible environment, so that the data obtained paints a comprehensive picture. Explore the potential of embedded sensor technology both within select critical components and vehicle superstructure.

3. Measure the data by conducting a 12 month field trial of 15 to 30 commercially viable Light Armored Vehicle SHM kits to validate the utility of the equipment and methods, while building an information database permitting expanded incorporation of CBM. Kits consist of appropriate sensors, a robust data bus and the capability to communicate system health to the “Common Operating Picture.” Field a sufficient number of Portable Maintenance Devices (PMD) to support the sensor equipped vehicles. Capabilities of the PMD include remote and wireless interrogation of the vehicle, access to fully functional Class IV/V IETM, and “Tele-maintenance” technical support through call center usage.

4. Analyze results by performing a rigorous examination of all collected data. Measure success by comparing results against predetermined parameters. Ascertain the most effective equipment, resources, procedures and applications to determine the proper implementation and acquisition strategy to follow.

The project is seeking both industrial and military participants in this project.  If interested, contact Mike Gnam, mikeg@ncms.org, 734-995-4971.

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.

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