Network Centric Manufacturing Delivers Quantifiable Results for the U.S. Army
The Challenge
Ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused a shortage of critical replacement parts in the U.S. Army’s legacy weapons systems. Among the causes of the weapons shortage were the limitations of traditional, inefficient supply chains to coordinate multiple suppliers, as well as the lack of advanced technical manufacturing data. Both of these inefficiencies made it difficult, time consuming and costly to find the right suppliers and manufacture quality parts quickly.
The Army needed a faster, highly efficient manufacturing supply chain that could ensure the precise, rapid production of legacy parts to meet both current and future demand. Together with DSN Innovations, the Army developed a pilot project, funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense ManTech program, to address these challenges and ultimately support the Warfighter.
Developing the Solution
Today’s traditional supply chains cannot react quickly to disruptions or changes in demand. In addition, the lack of visibility into the manufacturing supply chain processes further delays problem resolution, leading to delayed schedules.
DSN Innovations helped the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) leverage the principles of “Network Centric Manufacturing” (see sidebar on next page) to deliver an agile, robust supplier network that accelerated production and reduced costs. There are three major components to this solution:
- Creation of an Advanced Technical Data Package
- Use of a Network Centric Manufacturing Infrastructure
- Driving Change—Overcoming Organizational and Cultural Barriers
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