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05302003

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R-TOC Best Practices: R&M Improvements

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Government-Industry Partnership to Improve Engine Reliability
Pilot Program: Abrams Tank System

Initiative: The Abrams Tank System has developed several innovative government-industry partnerships to improve R&M. The first of these is the Partnership for Reduced O&S Costs, Engine (PROSE) initiative to rebuild the existing AGT 1500 tank engine. PM Abrams, the Army Tank and Automotive Command (TACOM) (Anniston Army Depot), and Honeywell have implemented this partnership in order to reduce the number of players, provide management focus, and help incorporate best commercial practices and performance specifications. Under PROSE, Honeywell is responsible for program/project management and project engineering, customer support, supply chain management, field service engineering, and quality assurance. TACOM has responsibilities for repair and overhaul, testing, failure analysis, and sustainment management.

Benefits: The PROSE process is expected to improve reliability by 30%. The potential benefits of deploying a new engine (which is now under development) are much more dramatic - the Army could achieve a 4-5 fold improvement in reliability, hopefully a 35% reduction in fuel consumption, a 42% reduction in the number of parts, and a 15-20% improvement in vehicle mobility. Life cycle engine O&S costs are projected to drop from 16 billion dollars over 30 years with the current engine to 3 billion dollars with the new engine.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Government-Industry Partnership for Tank Overhaul
Pilot Program: Abrams

Initiative: The Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) is an innovative partnership between Anniston Army Depot (ANAD) and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) to rebuild M1A1 tanks (the oldest Abrams models) to original factory standards, applying all Maintenance Work Orders (MWOs). The tanks are disassembled and inspected at ANAD and are re-assembled by GDLS. Although the tanks are delivered in "like new" condition, they still operate with 1980s technology; however, the AIM also provides a cost-effective opportunity for selective upgrades. Upgrades being installed include revised turret and hull networks boxes, intercom, and a digital electronics control unit.

Benefits: The overhauled tanks are expected to result in 18% annual O&S cost savings while improving operational readiness. With full implementation, life cycle O&S savings could exceed $2B.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Design for Reduced O&S
Pilot Program: LPD-17

Initiative: The LPD-17, a new class of amphibious ship, is reducing TOC upfront in the design process by designing and producing a ship which requires fewer people, less maintenance, and still provides for enhanced ship operations. The program intends to accomplish these cost avoidances through acquisition focus on life cycle, Fleet involvement, and specific investments. The program office and the coalition of shipbuilders responsible for design and production have identified the principal O&S cost drivers and the following ³Top 10 O&S Cost Avoidance Items²:

  • Manning Reduction
  • Advanced Enclosed Mast Sensor
  • Total Ship Training System
  • Coatings
  • Corrosion Control
  • Ship's Service Diesel Generator
  • Asynchronous Transfer Mode Switch
  • Stratica Deck Tiles
  • Medium Vs High Pressure Air System
  • Synthetic Decking.

The opportunity to design in improvements allows the LPD-17 to reduce O&S costs, reduce manning levels and sailor workload, and improve quality of life while achieving equal or better performance.

Benefits: An anticipated $18M per ship investment in O&S cost reductions is expected to achieve $4.3B reduction in projected O&S costs. The program expects to achieve the break-even point on its investments by CY2008 and will have achieved a 3X return by CY2014.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Design for Producibility
Pilot Program: Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle

Initiative: A variety of producibility initiatives have been implemented to reduce production costs, reduce weight, reduce oil and fuel consumption, or improve the producibility of parts. Specific actions include production readiness reviews of critical vendors; development of an integrated bill of materials; early use of production fixtures; and manufacturing/assembly planning (critical process identification, subcontractor cost reviews, manufacturing design changes).

Examples of specific producibility initiatives include 1) an evaluation of engine producibility and O&S cost drivers to determine design simplifications or enhancements (e.g., turbocharger venting system, exhaust gas manifold, sensor box, fuel injectors, pistons, and piston rings) that will reduce costs and 2) replacement of castings with forgings in propulsor inlet housings to reduce weight and cost and improve strength properties.

Benefits: Benefits of the producibility studies will include reduced unit production costs, reduced O&S costs, and weight savings.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Use of Commercial Processes and Technologies to Reduce O&S and Improve R&M
Pilot Programs: Common Ship, CVN-68 carriers, Aegis cruisers, LPD-17

Initiative: Aegis Cruisers, CVN-68 Carriers, and Common Ship are all adopting commercial technologies, products, and processes to reduce ownership costs and improve crew quality of life. Examples include use of commercial preservation teams and installing commercial kitchen equipment, seals, and fuel fill indicators.

  • Commercial food preparation equipment will reduce costs and improve food quality (Aegis cruisers and LPD-17)
  • Contractor corrosion control specialists will not only replace sailor workload in routine chipping and painting tasks, but the use of trained professionals will also improve corrosion control, reduce corrosion, and reduce the frequency of repainting. (Common Ship)
  • COTS mechanical seals will double service life, reduce fluid leakage (Common Ship)
  • Other COTS installations, such as fuel fill control system, automated oil analysis, and magnetic couplings will reduce maintenance requirements, extend equipment lifem reduce O&S costs, and reduce fuel and oil waste (Common Ship).
  • Adoption of commercial tank level indicators, multi-jack fastener, remote monitoring TV cameras, smart card, surge suppressors, Golar 500 incinerator, stratica tile to replace conventional decking, wireless LAN, and other technologies will improve parts durability, reduce the frequency and complexity of maintenance actions, and reduce O&S costs (LPD-17).

Benefits: Benefits include reduced maintenance workload for sailors, far less frequent repairs and replacements, and reduced O&S costs. All of these initiatives also allow the Navy to capitalize on commercial R&D.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) Electronics
Pilot Program: C/KC-135 and others

Initiative: The C/KC-135 has adopted a number of initiatives to replace obsolete electronics with COTS electronics, backed by a no-fault manufacturer¹s warranty. PACER CRAG is a cockpit upgrade which replaces the compass and radar and adds global positioning system (GPS) capabilities. This upgrade eliminates the navigator for most missions and replaces 40 depot level reparables (DLRs) with 19 COTS DLRs. The Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) initiative, which installs precision altitude measuring equipment, replaces nine DLRs with four COTS DLRs, backed by a 10-year no fault warranty. Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) provides satellite-based communication, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management capabilities.

Other applications of COTS electronics include installation of a COTS solid state recorder and use of commercial spray cool technology (EA-6B) and operational acceptance of COTS processing capability (Cheyenne Mountain Complex).

Benefits: Besides reducing O&S costs, these initiatives have a number of operational benefits, including enhanced use of GPS capabilities, compliance with new regulations and flight procedures.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Spray Cool Technology for COTS Electronics
Pilot Program: Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle and EA-6B

Initiative: The AAAV program office is attempting to insert non-militarized COTS circuit card assemblies (CCAs) into the AAAV. The use of these technologies promises considerable savings in acquisition and life cycle costs, but will also create a variety of operational challenges, including heat build-up in a hermetically sealed enclosure. The AAAV program office is developing a spray cool technology to attenuate the thermal extremes that would otherwise occur.

The technology has been tested and validated and is now being implemented on the Systems Development and Demonstration (SDD) model AAAVs. Further testing and maturation of the technology will continue.

EA-6B is conducting similar experiments. The EA-6B spray cool system has three elements:

  • Heat extraction: a thin dielectric liquid film is sprayed onto electronics with miniature atomizer arrays and evaporates to extract heat, maintaining devices at constant temperature
  • Heat rejection. The vapor then travels to the heat exchanger for local or remote heat rejection and phase change back to liquid.
  • Pump/reservoir. The liquid returns to spray chamber using an n+1 redundant pump and filtration system.

This creates an ³isolated, benign Œcommercial grade¹ environment within a harsh environmental platform.²

Benefits: The initial tests of the technology in the AAAV are being funded through an SBIR arrangement. Significant cost savings, in excess of $350M, can be achieved by avoiding the need for expensive and unique CCAs. The technology can potentially be transferred to other applications.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Redesign/Recapitalization
Pilot Program: Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck

Initiative: The recapitalization initiative involves both rebuild and upgrade of selected components. Cost drivers leading to the greatest degree of non-mission capable (NMC) status were identified. The rebuild option includes restoring the truck to ³zero mile² standards with original technologies by rebuilding major assemblies; reconditioning and replacing selected components; and replacing brake components, hoses, tires, batteries and electrical harnesses. Upgrading the system involves all these steps plus adding a new electronically controlled engine and electronically controlled transmission; crew safety improvements; and increased corrosion protection. Interactive electronic tech manuals (IETMs) being provided as part of this initiative will also improve maintenance and reduce the logistics footprint.

Benefits: The impacts of the Extended Service Program are to: improve OR rates; reduce O&S costs; help meet new regulatory standards; and improve safety. The electronically controlled engine and transmission provide for both performance improvements (improved range and reliability) and O&S cost reductions (improved diagnostics, reduced fuel consumption, reduced maintenance).

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Use of Value Engineering Change Proposals (VECPs)
Pilot Program: Apache

Initiative: The Apache¹s O&S IPT is made up of representatives of the program office, the user, the Army staff, and the contractor. It examines O&S cost at all levels of maintenance, considering impact both on cost and readiness. Organizations represented on the IPT have proposed a wide range of improvements to this system, among which are five VECPs submitted by the contractor and approved by the contracting officer. These VECPs involved projects to:

  • Abrasively clean Main Rotor Blade spars, in order to reduce main rotor blade spar debonding
  • Improve material of Primary Nozzle, to reduce cracking which forces removal of the nozzles
  • Incorporate improved oil pump in the Nose Gearbox, to reduce removals of the nose gearbox and reduce scrap rate of the oil pump
  • Incorporate a protective boot in the Flight Control Actuators to reduce removals of these subsystems
  • Apply an environmental barrier sealant to Penta Prism surfaces to prevent coating delamination; the component improvement prevents optical anomalies, obstructions, and loss of transmission.

Benefits: A total of five VECPs were approved and funded, at a total cost of $1.24M. In addition to reliability and performance improvements, estimated O&S cost savings exceed $5.1M. Under the terms of the VECP agreement, the contractor proposing and implementing the VECP shares in the cost savings achieved by implementing the recommended improvement.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Replacement of Aging Engines and Engine Parts
Pilot Program: C-5

Initiative: Two separate initiatives are upgrading or replacing aging components or subsystems in the C-5. The High Pressure Turbine (HPT) project is a $178M acquisition category (ACAT) III project to replace HPT hardware with new technology and material. It will double turbine life, a key O&S cost driver and readiness degrader on the current engine. The Reliability Enhancements and Re-engining (RERP) project is a much more expensive and longterm project to replace the existing engines (with a GE CF6-80) and perform other reliability enhancements to the airframe, avionics, landing gear and other subsystems.

Benefits: The HPT reduces overall engine removals by 15% and reduces HPT overhauls by 50%. RERP will reduce TOC by $8.1B, ensure the aircraft¹s operational life to 2040, and increase fleet availability. The new engines also are compliant with new noise reduction requirements and permit the aircraft to get to altitude faster.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Data Link Pod Engineering Change Proposal (ECP)
Pilot Program: SLAM-ER

Initiative: The AN/AWW-13 data link pod is a significant readiness degrader for the SLAM-ER. Before replacement, the failure rate was projected at >200 per year. Only limited pod assets are available on each aircraft carrier or at each forward site, and pod failures require intermediate level repair. The program office developed an engineering change proposal (ECP) to correct this defect. The ECP replaced a BIT radio frequency (RF) signal mixer circuit board in order to remove the card from the forward antenna signal path.

Benefits: Benefits include an annual (FY02) cost avoidance of $11.2M in Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) working capital fund spares procurement and repair costs, reduced fleet maintenance workload, and a reduction in pod failures from >200 per year to <15 per year.

Area: R&M Improvements
Best Practice: Falcon Flex Avionics Initiatives
Pilot Program: F-16

Initiative: Principal sustainment issues for a fielded system such as the F-16 include diminishing manufacturing sources (DMS), reliability, and aging issues. The program office and supply chain manager (SCM) have generally found that there are severe limits on funding for upfront engineering and fixes; even if they solve DMS problems and improve reliability, box and system level redesigns are seldom affordable.

The PM and the SCM (OO-ALC) developed the Falcon Flex program to improve reliability and reduce O&S cost. The Falcon Flex approach is to use performance specifications (vs ³build to print² approaches and form, fit, function, interface (F3I) procurement on unstable, rapidly changing technologies. The initial focus is on DMS ³long poles,² low reliability items, and large/expensive spares buys; the longterm objective is to create a top-down analysis capable of identifying the best candidates for improvement. Under F3I, configuration control is raised from the chip/card level to the circuit card/SRU/LRU level. The contractor controls the configuration below the interface level and is free to insert technology, resolve DMS problems, and take actions to improve reliability.

Falcon Flex has 17 ongoing initiatives. A principal focus is to identify the cost drivers (at the piece part level). Cost driver visibility allows the SCM to be proactive and facilitates affordable solutions. Once specific cost drivers are identified, costs are compared and ranked, causes are identified, and solutions are formulated and prioritized.

Benefits: Falcon Flex initiatives have reduced F-16 O&S costs while also improving reliability. Examples are two early Falcon Flex initiatives, for redesigns of two of the top three O&S cost drivers of the APG-68 radar system programmable single processor (PSP). The PSP memory card replacement project replaced a $14K component which had a 500 MTBF and a $3K repair cost with a $6K throw-away component with a 40,000 hour MTBF. Similarly, the power supply replacement for the same unit replaced a $70K component with a 500 hour MTBF and $6K repair cost with a $8K throw-away unit with 10,000 hour MTBF.