A Lean Sustainment Enterprise Model for Military Systems
Abstract
As existing weapon systems age and the costs and cycle times on the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of these systems increases, various organizations within the U.S. Department of Defense are conducting independent studies to help the system become more efficient. Current research efforts on maintenance repair and overhaul operations focus on individual elements of this "sustainment" system. However, to more effectively solve the sustainment problem, research should be conducted on the whole enterprise, from raw material suppliers to final product delivery. To accomplish this objective, the authors developed a new "lean" framework for military systems sustainment. The goal of this model is to minimize non value-added activities throughout the entire enterprise. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the lean philosophy, follows with a characterization and analysis of the current military sustainment system, and then proposes a new lean sustainment enterprise model for how sustainment should be structured. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief description of an initiative (the U.S. Navy and Air Force Cartridge Actuated Device/Propellant Actuated Device [CAD/PAD] program) that has some elements of the proposed lean sustainment model. This example is used to illustrate that the proposed model is realistic, and that it can be implemented.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA487889
Entities
People
- Dennis Mathaisel
- Mario Agripino
- Tim Cathcart
Organizations
- Naval Undersea Warfare Center