Driving Innovation to Support the Warfighter: Additive Manufacturing Initiatives Within the Defense Logistics Agency

Abstract

The spotlight is on for additive manufacturing (AM) in the commercial sector, but it is also intense for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which hopes to capitalize on the promise of innovation to improve readiness and support to the military. As it tracks AM through the Gartner Hype Cycle, which depicts phases that innovations move through from the initial Innovation Trigger through the Plateau of Productivity, is DLA headed down the trough of disillusionment or up the slope of enlightenment to a productive plateau for AM investments? (See Figure 1.) The productive plateau is where mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined and the technology's broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1029460

Entities

People

  • Kelly Morris

Organizations

  • Defense Logistics Agency

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Computer-Aided Design
  • Department Of Defense
  • Digital Information
  • Engineering
  • Fabrication
  • Lead Time
  • Logistics
  • Manufacturing
  • Materials
  • Models
  • Spare Parts
  • Standards
  • Supply Chain
  • Three Dimensional

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Economics
  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.