PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. -- The office of the Under Secretary of Defense awarded a Picatinny organization two 2015 Department of Defense Value Engineering Achievement Awards during a June 28 ceremony at the Pentagon.
The Program Executive Office Ammunition at Picatinny won the awards for implementing value engineering procedures that have saved the DOD more than $140 million combined.
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering Kristen Baldwin, on behalf of Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall, led the ceremony in the Pentagon auditorium to recognize exemplary value engineering accomplishments.
Value Engineering, or VE, is a DOD effort to systematically and creatively analyze the function of items or systems to ensure required functions are achieved at the lowest possible overall cost.
"This year's recipients of VE Achievement Awards have executed superior VE related efforts, providing more capability to the warfighter through cost savings or cost avoidances, quality improvements, and efficiencies to the department," stated Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall in a memo announcing the award winners June 7.
The VE awards program is an acknowledgment of exemplary achievements and encourages DOD employees to improve in-house and contractor productivity.
"PEO Ammo is committed to business transformation and building efficiencies into both new and existing business processes," said Jim Shields, Program Executive Officer Ammunition. "In partnership with the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, also located at Picatinny Arsenal, we have saved or avoided costs of more than $500 million since 2005. Congratulations to the entire Picatinny team on this outstanding achievement."
The DOD selected award winners in five categories: project, individual, team, organization, and special. PEO Ammo won in the Special and Program/Project categories.
SPECIAL AWARD
The "special" award is given to organizations that have developed innovative VE approaches or have expanded the benefits of VE. The PEO Ammo received the award based on three of their programs worked over the past three years. The total cost savings/avoidance gained by PEO Ammo across nine projects from FY13-15 is $113 million.
These three programs recognized are smaller projects, and so yielded less savings than some of our larger initiatives. However, they were recognized by the Department of Defense because they used unique approaches to find solutions to problems.
Elimination of Testing Requirement for the M18A1 Claymore Mine
Function analysis of the Transportation Vibration testing requirement for the M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine explored the continued need for extensive testing requirements for Claymore mines. By analyzing historical data, engineers were able to determine that some testing requirements for the Claymore were unnecessary and could be eliminated. This reduced the cost and time associated with the previous testing standard. The overall Value Engineering Savings: $49,000.
Clipped Bulk Pack for 5.56 mm pack out
This Value Engineering effort designed and developed the 5.56 mm ammunition Clipped Bulk Pack, an ammunition pack that holds 5.56 mm bullets, to gain significant savings over the current AB57 bandoleer-style pack. A bandoleer is a belt fitted with small pockets or loops for carrying cartridges. The Clipped Bulk Pack eliminates the need for bandoleers and provides for 60 additional rounds per M2A1 metal ammunition container. It is more robust, with longer shelf life than the existing fiberboard commercial pack. The overall Value Engineering Savings: $1.731 million.
Removing the Base Cover Assembly of 120 mm HE Projectile
120 mm High Explosive (HE) Mortar Projectiles previously required a base cover be welded to the aft, or back, of the projectile to avoid a catastrophic failure if there is a defect called a "pipe" in the body. This VE effort eliminated the base cover through an enhanced ultrasonic inspection process that will be able to detect the same "pipe" defect. The overall Value Engineering Savings: $277,000.
PROGRAM/PROJECT AWARD
The "program/project" award is given to civilian or military personnel who have generated VE savings on a particular project or item and have made a noteworthy contribution to the application of Value Engineering.
Re-use of the 155mm M483A1 shell bodies
The Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems won the "project" award for its work developing a process to re-use 155 mm M483A1 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) shell bodies in producing M1123 and M1124 Extended Range IR and VL Illuminating projectiles. This provides the U.S. Soldiers with extended range illumination and an additional 5km of range at a considerable reduced price.
The re-use of the 155mm M483A1 Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) shell bodies achieved a net three year savings of $32.197 million.
Related Links:
Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology)
Social Sharing