November 2005

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.

Call for CTMA Project Ideas

We are now soliciting project ideas for the CTMA program for possible funding in 2006.  A new, on-line process has been developed for submitting one-page descriptions of your project idea.  Go to http://ctmaideas.ncms.org.  We are looking for projects that have the highest value to the Department of Defense and to private industry.  Fill out each category, and leave blank if unknown.  The DoD is joining in the early evaluation of project ideas, which should quicken the process to approval.

SAVE THE DATE

2006 CTMA Symposium

“History in the Making”

March 27 - 30, Williamsburg, VA

 

  • •Plenary Session with key military along with private industry to identify critical problems at manufacturing and repair facilities

  • •Series of workshops relating to manufacturing and repair
  • •CTMA project presentations
  • •Brainstorming session for new project ideas•
  • •New ideas for projects will be presented
  • •Meet new contacts and build relationships at receptions
  • •Table top displays for new technologies

    Registration will begin in January 2006.  Stayed tuned to this newsletter for updates.

Funding Available for Environmental Research and Development

The Department of Defense (DoD), through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), will be funding environmental research and development in its core thrust area of Weapons Systems and Platforms.  The objective of this effort it to identify, develop, and transition environmental technologies that relate directly to defense mission accomplishment through advanced alternative environmentally benign technologies and materials that reduce, control, or eliminate the waste and emissions associated with the manufacturing, maintenance, and use of DoD weapons systems and platforms.  SERDP intends to fund multiple projects within the Weapons Systems and Platforms thrust area involving the following work:

  1. Combustion Science to Reduce PM Emissions for Military Platforms

  2. Environmentally Benign Approaches for the Repair of Composites for Military Applications

  3. Biosynthesis of Energetic Compounds 

  4. Advanced Military Aircraft Noise Reduction

Projects will be selected through a competitive selection process.  Pre-proposals from the non-federal sector are due by Thursday, January 5, 2006; and from the federal sector by Thursday, March 16, 2006. Detailed instructions for federal and private sector proposers are available on the SERDP website: http://www.serdp.org/funding/index.cfm.

We welcome the following new member companies into NCMS:

Cabot Corporation (www.cabot-corp.com)

Cabot has expertise in (1) Making and handling fine particles, such as carbons, mixed oxides, refractory metals and aerosols; (2) Modifying the surfaces of very fine particles, such as silicas, color pigments and catalysts; and (3) Designing particle-media composites for specific properties, such as color, dispersion stability, charge generation, electrochemical behavior and insulation. 

MTI Micro Fuel Cells Inc. (www.mtimicrofuelcells.com)

MTI develops and manufactures advanced cord-free rechargeable power pack technology for portable electronics.

 

NCMS to Participate in 2005 Defense Manufacturing Conference

NCMS will participate in the 2005 Defense Manufacturing Conference (DMC 2005) which will be held 28 November - 1 December 2005 in Orlando, Florida. The conference is sponsored by the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel and is hosted by the Office of Naval Research.

This year's theme, "Manufacturing in the Changing DoD Environment", considers the demanding roles of today's warfighter from conventional conflicts to anti-terrorism to humanitarian relief, and the manufacturing community's response to this changing environment.  The DMC has become a premier national forum for presenting and discussing initiatives aimed at addressing enhanced defense manufacturing capabilities, system and subsystem affordability, sustainment efficiency, as well as assuring domestic technology transfer.

The conference brings together leaders from government, industry and academia to exchange perspectives and information about the DoD Manufacturing Technology Program, industrial base initiatives, and related DoD initiatives. The conference agenda is structured to include both the big picture context for defense manufacturing in plenary sessions as well as detailed technical presentations in focused technical sessions. The latter sessions will include metals, electronics, and composites processing, lean manufacturing, energetics and munitions, missile defense, Title III, and others. 

NCMS President & CEO Richard Pearson and Vice President Dr. Chuck Ryan will be on hand to answer your questions about NCMS (booth 813).

For more information please contact:

Dr. Chuck Ryan, Vice President of Technology at (734) 995-4905, chuckr@ncms.org
 

Participants needed on New Project Ideas (click on topics to see descriptions), if you are interested, contact the project manager listed.

1 Durable Non-Skid Coating for Carriers
2 Fault and Arc Location Tester (FALT)
3 Laser Stripping of Helicopter Blades, Phase II
4 Emission Reduction from Chromium Plating Tanks
5 Rapid Manufacturing Process & Material Insertion
6 SIEMAT® Acoustic Thermography

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 2005
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences