Optimizing Through People

OPTIMIZING THROUGH PEOPLE



U.S. Army CECOM is focusing on concepts in total lifecycle management through the development and integration of robust supply chain management systems and practices.

by Christian Sheehy, MLF Editor

With the challenges of fielding a sustainable wartime force comes the challenge of providing the assets necessary to maximize the performance of that force. More than five years into a real world proving ground that is Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S. Army’s war logistics effort is returning time and again to its most proven and reliable tool: people.

With the advent of the Army’s Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) in 1985, the Army began tapping more readily into a growing pool of skilled labor to assist in accomplishing its logistics efforts. Though not implemented until after Operation Desert Storm, the program’s initial phase LOGCAP I, an umbrella concept to obtain a wide range of support under one contract, grew out of previous commercial contract support for a wide range of Army logistics operations.

A U.S. Army initiative for peacetime planning for the use of civilian contractors in wartime and other contingencies, a primary thrust of LOGCAP was the augmentation of key maintenance and overhaul activities in a more organized, efficient way. Use of contractors in a theater of operations allows the release of military units for other missions or to fill support shortfalls. This program provides the Army with additional means to adequately support current and programmed forces.

DIVISION TO BRIGADE

Leading a large portion of the Army’s post deployment reset effort is its Communications and Electronics Command Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) Logistics Readiness Center (LRC) in Fort Monmouth, N.J. With a staff of nearly 2,000 Army civilian and military personnel, CECOM’s lead LRC provides and maintains key logistics equipment for Army assets around the world on a daily basis. As Army logistics transformation has seen a shift from division-oriented logistics modularity to brigade-oriented, CECOM has seen a switch from wholesale purchasing on a monthly timeframe to unit commodity retail buying on a more frequent, caseby- case basis.

“There has been a diminished reliance on coding and more on commodity at the unit level,” said an LRC official. “The shear volume of materiel being moved to the warfighter has led the Army to establish a closer association between unit and commodity, relying more on an established relationship between buyer and seller.”

In early 2007, the Army officially turned to a brigade-focused view of logistics through the creation of a logistics operations cell (LOC) within CECOM LCMC at Ft. Monmouth. As a single point of operations for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) decisions at CECOM LCMC, the LOC is responsible for the planning, sourcing and execution operations of the Army within the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) cycle process.

With the conversion from divisionlevel to brigade-level operations modularity, Army logistics activities in its reset effort shifted away from a dependence on national stock numbers (NSNs) in determining materiel destinations. Working more closely with actual depot units, suppliers developed methods of association in helping to identify where and when specific assets were expected. Tracking by NSN, still necessary, became less recognition-based and more unitcommodity driven in a single system type architecture.

Central to CECOM’s global readiness efforts are its Logistics Assistance Representatives (LARs) which are responsible for providing technical support for forward operating base depots. At the field unit level, LARs track each brigade from parts to questions through a time sensitive communication link prioritized according to post-deployment reset objectives.

Army logistics operations in deployed locations have shown LARs activities to be vital to CECOM efforts. In cases when units arrive without their stock of tools and repairs, LARs arrange the transfer of assets from units that arrived with proper support equipment. “LARs are more than just field repair people,” said Larry Cropp, deputy director of the LRC Readiness Directorate. “They help make soldiers self-sustaining.” Training is ongoing with the aid of an ongoing LAR presence at 46 Army field locations.

SUSTAINING THE MISSION

Raytheon Company, a global missile and defense systems corporation, has been working with the Army to help the service with its logistics sustainment objectives. One of these objectives is in the area of conditioned-based maintenance and is part of the Army’s Common Logistics Operating Environment (CLOE) initiative. Called Conditioned Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+), the initiative builds upon the foundation of the previous CLOE Logistics Architecture Development and CLOE Operational Evaluation initiatives.

“CBM+ effort seeks to leverage these ongoing efforts to holistically address all of the systems that make effective use of platform data onboard, at the platform, or levels above it,” said James Kennon, director, mission support and netted logistics for Network Centric Systems. “All of these capabilities must be integrated and functioning to achieve the desired effect, which is predicting and pre-empting equipment failure to maintain combat readiness.”

The Common Logistics Operating Environment Proof of Enablers (PoE) demonstrations in 2004 for ground vehicles and in 2006 for helicopters laid a foundation for CBM+ through the application of technology enablers that collect and transmit CBM+ data from the platform.

“These PoEs provide an opportunity to change the way we fight, maintain, and sustain our forces,” said the LRC official. “They provide a road map to incrementally develop CBM+ capabilities across the logistics enterprise (on, at, and above the platform) in a nonproprietary manner, using an overarching Army concept, a unifying architecture, and common data standards. Common data standards are important to effectively manage the volume of data available from multiple sensors and other sources. To fully exploit the platform data, open and common standards are required, along with an ontology and taxonomy for characterizing that data. The U.S. Army Logistics Support Activity is currently developing this ontology.”

“The focus of this effort is the development of a CBM+ Policy that will guide the integrated development of Army CBM+ capabilities,” said Kennon. “The foundation for this effort is the CBM+ Roadmap [published in December 2007] that provides an overview of the elements that drive transformation of Army logistics and maintenance to CBM+. Follow-on to this plan is the production of a CBM+ Implementation Strategy and Implementation Plan which will “provide the initial and broad, high-level strategy for implementing CBM+ throughout the Army.

As the DoD becomes more network centric in its operability, as can be seen through the evolution of the Army’s Future Combat Systems program in building platforms “from the ground up,” CBM+ is becoming an integral part of the system-of-systems design and sustainment process. “The Army is addressing the need for whole life systems sustainment in optimizing the performance of its equipment from cradle to grave,” said LRC.

One method the services are using to monitor performance over lifetime is through the use of line replaceable unit (LRU) manipulation to maximize data output in predicting system failures and “remaining useful life” (RUL). The AN/TSQ-179 Joint STARS Common Ground Station designed to detect, locate and track moving and stationary ground equipment targets. The Common Ground Station (CGS) is supportable using standard Army logistics at unit level where 90 percent of all faults are isolated to the LRU, principally by the operator using built-in test or direct observation.

“Going beyond platform analysis which only diagnoses repairs as they need to be made, LRU manipulation provides data for predictive decision making in determining whether performance patterns are optimal or not,” said Jim Westphalen, program manager, mission support and netted logistics for Network Centric Systems.

RAPID RESPONDERS

Northrop Grumman Technical Services, a division of Northrop Grumman, has had involvement in Army CECOM’s Rapid Response (CR2) program starting in 2004. The program was to address the development, upgrade, maintenance and support a broad range of new and existing platforms and systems, including aircraft, wheeled vehicles, watercraft, spacecraft, electronic systems, shelters, ground support equipment, support structures and the soldier, including hardware and software systems.

Under CR2, Northrop Grumman augments the Army’s workforce at depots such as Tobyhanna Army Depot. The program is in place for every one to two years and can be extended by the government picking up the option years.

“We started with two technicians to augment Army CECOM’s depot employees on the TPS-75,” said Mark Kapral, program manager, Rapid Response Program, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pa. “From that, Northrop Grumman Technical Services support grew to 50 technicians with various systems being supported including the TFS-75 and TPQ-36/37 Firefinder radar systems, air traffic control and landing systems, and communications security systems.”

“Our niche in the life cycle compendium within the Army presently resides in the electronics arena of depot-level maintenance,” said David Apt, director of communications, Northrop Grumman Technical Services.

The contract at Fort Irwin National Training Center provides maintenance for upwards of 3,000 wheeled and track vehicles used to support the Army’s heavy brigade combat teams prior to deployment into theater. At Fort Eustis, NGTS provides aviation maintenance, training and support, along with depot and general support level vehicle maintenance. Additionally, Northrop Grumman does installation supply and transportation services,” Apt added.

“We are more in the sustainment of the actual equipment,” said Kapral. “As an example, the Firefinder equipment at Tobyhanna is fairly old and there will be a replacement for the TPQ-36 Fire Finder radar system in the next couple years called the Enhanced TPQ-36 (EPQ-36). The EPQ- 36 Firefinder radar system is used to locate the source of inbound artillery for purposes of pinpointing counter fire,” said Kapral.

Field-level maintenance is performed every 3-5 years and depot-level maintenance every 10-15 years. The life cycle of systems is reevaluated based on environmental and usage conditions and circumstances to determine how best to prolong a system’s remaining useful life. “We’re helping with the overall maintenance of the legacy communication/electronics systems that are coming back in need of repair with very short turnaround cycle times,” said Kapral.

INDEFINITE FIELDING

In July 2008, the U.S. Air Force awarded NGTS and various other defense contractors an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract field team (CFT) contract worth as much as $10 billion to provide depot and organizational level inspection, maintenance, modification and repair at operational government locations worldwide. The program supports Air Force requirements at each of the air logistics centers (ALCs), Air Combat Command (ACC), Air Mobility Command (AMC), Air Force Reserves (AFRES) and Air National Guard (ANG). The CFT program provides a rapid deployment capability to field necessary skilled technicians on site anywhere in the free world to support war readiness and posture planning needs.

Northrop Grumman Technical Services helps provide the military services with skilled labor in optimizing the life of its logistics communications and electronics systems. “Assisting the Army, and other service branches for that matter, with making the switch from time and material-based task order execution to performance-based execution is a key function of Northrop Grumman personnel worldwide,” said Jim Putnam, program manager, IDIQ contractor field team. “Performance-based theory in the augmentation of people-driven efforts at the field level is relatively new to the military services. We fill in where the Army has the need for skilled personnel to support a clearly-defined logistics mission,” Putnam added.

LIFE CYCLE AND PBL

As the services work the acquisition process of new equipment, an original equipment manufacturer is, with the customer, responsible for initial design and development from low-rate to full-rate production and fielding.

Key in supporting these platforms are planned services and sustainment activities involving maintenance, modifications and repair throughout platform’s service life. “When you’re dealing with specific PBL requirements on a particular platform, you establish a supply chain that keeps the platform moving through its life cycle from fullrate production, fielding, through ultimately phase out,” said Apt. This is where we are helping the Army optimize platform performance and, hence, enhance the quality and length of service life.” The DoD is moving toward a contracting environment driven by the need for greater joint cooperation across the services. “We will likely see greater consensus as to how best to implement and execute services within a PBL which will ultimately dictate how alternative business models will be constructed and executed,” said Apt.

“The challenge for the military in dealing with PBLs is the potential span and breadth of this type of contract,” said Putnam. “The more you move them out and the more objectives you encompass, the more complex they become. A greater focus at the services level as to actual needs, both present and predicted, will help provide better definition for the overall scope and, hence profitability of a PBL, from both customer and contractor perspectives,” he added. ♦