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The Weapon System
"Common Ship" is not a weapon system at all, but rather a multi-system,
multi-ship program with goals that parallel those of the USD (AT&L)
R-TOC program. "Common Ship" focuses on maintenance problem areas that
are common to ships throughout the fleet rather than those associated
only with one particular ship, class or type. The maintenance problems
addressed include high-maintenance, low-reliability equipment, excessive
work requirements that drive up maintenance costs, analysis of
preventive maintenance practices for redundancy, relevance and adequacy,
and identification of high-cost maintenance areas. The process in place
to act as Fleet advocate in identifying and resolving these problem
areas is the Capital Investment for Labor Program (CIFL) which, since it
cuts across several ship classes, is referred to as "Common Ship." The
program has also developed a tracking database, which maintains information
on budgets, installations in specific ships, metrics, and reports, and
is working with NAVSEA and the Navy programs to ensure that initiatives are
migrated to new ship designs.
Production Status, Population, and Planned Life
"Common Ship" is unique among the R-TOC Pilot Programs in that it is not a singular weapon system with its own support structure. Rather, "Common Ship" is a continuous process that examines new maintenance problems and looks for new technologies to solve those problems in order to reduce Sailor maintenance man-hours while improving reliability and maintainability of shipboard equipment.
Prime contractor: Not applicable.
Office of Primary Responsibility: Assistant for Maintenance Process Improvement, NAVSEA 05N
R-TOC Focus Areas: (From USD (AT&L) memorandum dated May 10, 1999)
1. Reduced demand from weapon systems via reliability and maintainability improvements
- The "Common Ship" program involves 26 initiatives with the goal of determining what technologies and products in the marketplace can improve reliability and/or maintainability of shipboard systems.
- Use of trained corrosion control specialists to conduct preservation tasks formerly conducted by ship's force, improves corrosion control and frees up sailors for training and other duties
- Installation of high durability coatings and coverings in high traffic areas, reducing sailor workload preserving and maintaining decks
- Stainless sanitary space systems reduce maintenance burden
- Redesigned hinges on watertight doors extends life and reduces maintenance
- Installation of COTS seals on pumps increases service life, reduces leakage and maintenance
- Improved fuel fill control system reduces spills, shortens refueling time
- Automated oil analysis reduces requirement for manual testing and provides real time assessment
2. Reduced supply chain response times, leading to reduced spares, system support footprint, and depot needs
- As technologies or products prove effective and are identified for introduction in the Fleet, the logistics support element is coordinated with concerned parties to determine the most effective and responsive support strategy.
3. Competitive sourcing of product support, leading to streamlining and overhead reductions
- In the 26 "Common Ship" initiatives, off-the-shelf items are frequently obtained from several manufacturers to promote competition. Items are then tested on board ship and evaluated.
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