Oshkosh Defense entered into a public-private agreement with the U.S. Marine Corps’ equipment repair and maintenance unit in Albany, Georgia, to strengthen advanced manufacturing and digital manufacturing exchange, supporting the military branch’s vehicle platforms, the company announced March 2.
The partnership also includes support for materiel, or military equipment, gear and supplies, as well as kits and upgrades produced by Oshkosh Defense. Moreover, the OEM will provide technical data for the manufacture of approved parts at the Marine Depot Maintenance Command’s plant in Albany. “The effort supports faster repairs, reduces downtime, and enhances operational availability for critical military fleets,” according to the press release.
The deal facilitates additional integration between the Marine Corps Organic Industrial Base, which the military branch is working to modernize, and an industry partner responsible for fielded tactical vehicle systems, per the Marines press release.
The MDMC will provide additively manufactured parts to Oshkosh Defense for prototype and “experimental applications,” as well as approved production and fielded materiel replacement requirements, per the Marines’ press release.
Janet Keech, associate VP of aftermarket at Oshkosh Defense, described the digital manufacturing exchange, or DMX, as a digital supply chain. Instead of sending the physical part, all the part’s technical information is sent, Keech said in an interview with Manufacturing Dive.
“In this case, all of the technical data and how to manufacture that part is what becomes your supply chain, and that is sent to wherever the location is that you need to use that part, and it's printed right there,” Keech said.
Under the partnership agreement, the MDMC will provide additively manufactured parts to Oshkosh Defense for prototype and experimental applications, as well as for approved production and fielded materiel replacement requirements.
Through Oshkosh Defense’s participation as an OEM, the company will provide validated technical data that authorizes the manufacture of approved parts at the point of need using secure, “configuration-controlled” processes. This speeds up repairs, reduces downtime and improves operational availability for critical military fleets.
The Marines and OEM’s partnership goes back years, Pat Williams, Oshkosh Defense’s chief programs officer, said in an interview with Manufacturing Dive. Oshkosh Defense’s provides the Marines’ heavy tactical vehicles, including the logistics vehicle system replacement and the medium tactical vehicle replacement.
“Our nameplates [are] on every vehicle that's out there being driven by Marines, and we want those trucks to be effective and efficient,” Williams said. “We want to have uptime and operational readiness. Marines need to have gear and they need to have gear that works, and we want to partner with them to make sure that’s the case.”
Oshkosh is the original manufacturer and designer of much of the Marines’ fleet, as well as the owner of the technical data for individual components, Williams said. The company makes the data available to the MDMC for manufacturing.
“It’s not a secondhand source or a reverse-engineered source for that part, it’s our actual technical data that we buy and build to and have over the life of the fleet,” Williams said.
The partnership involves extending the “useful life” of some of its fleets, figuring out how to assist the Marines in sustaining the fleet and addressing the aging fleet issues in the field, Williams said.
“The ability to advance manufacture things forward is always going to be faster than the speed at which we can build it back here in the States and ship it overseas,” Williams said.
