A lean sustainment enterprise model for military systems - Opinion

Acquisition Review Quarterly, Fall, 2002 by Mario Agripino, Tim Cathcart, Dennis Mathaisel

In 1998, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force began a unique management experiment -- a joint program to manage the sustainment of the Cartridge Actuated Device/Propellant Actuated Device (CAD/PAD). The CAD/PAD devices are explosive items used in aircraft escape systems and other applications. CAD/PADs all have defined service lives and must be replaced periodically. The joint program was born when visionary managers in the two Services saw the greater value of consolidating their previously separate activities and built the trust needed to overcome the risks of doing business in a new way. The key attributes of the program are:

* Operation as a joint integrated product team/competency aligned organization with the Service affiliation of team members transparent to users.

* Assumption of responsibility by the U.S. Navy, as lead Service, for an important factor (the escape system) in the operational readiness of aircraft in all Services.

* Employment of jointness in the sustainment phase of the life cycle, rather than the more traditional development phase.

* Use of best practices and continuous improvement with a strong emphasis on supporting the customer.

* Management of a commodity, rather than a weapon system.

* Creation as an initiative from the working level, rather than a directive from the top.

The Joint Program team consists of operating elements at the Indian Head Division, Naval Sea Systems Command, Hill Air Force Base in Utah, Rock Island Arsenal, and the Naval Inventory Control Point in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. A small, jointly-manned program office, reporting to the Conventional Strike Weapons Program Manager (PMA-201) within PEO (W), manages the program.

In April 2001, the Joint Program received the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award, given for great innovation and results in acquisition. The Award recognizes the Program's reengineering of the process for resupplying CADs and PADs to U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps users in the field. The old process was both labor and paper intensive, requiring up to four months from order to delivery. The reengineering team developed an "877" phone system that maintenance personnel use to order directly from the stock point at Indian Head, Maryland, a common practice in the commercial world. The telephone operator is able to validate need in real time using computerized maintenance records. Shipments are accomplished, in most cases, by an overnight commercial carrier, which allows for automated tracking. Actions by intermediate personnel have been greatly reduced and the average cycle time is reduced from 210 days to 7 days. (1)

Minimizing duplication, optimizing joint resources, and applying the best practices of each service have all resulted in numerous savings, estimated by the Program at $825,000 per year. Included in this figure are the savings from combined procurements of items that are common to two or more services, reducing the number of contract actions required and invoking economies of scale. Adoption of a Navy computer system for materiel planning will lead to more precise requirements determination and budget justification for Air Force needs. Under this system, the Navy has been able to defend successfully its annual request for procurement funds by predicting very accurately the readiness impact on specific aircraft of any reductions. The transfer of several former Air Force civilian personnel to the Navy will help preserve the technical and management capability to serve Air Force users. Personnel costs are included in the price of overhaul services for weapon systems and unit components.