CRANE, Ind. - Crane Army Ammunition Activity won both the fiscal 2008 Department of Defense Value Engineering Achievement Award and the Army Materiel Command Installation Award for its joint, Army-Navy work on the decoy flare rebuild project.
In the project, engineers developed a new method to rework private industry manufactured MJU-32/B and 38/B decoy flares which had previously proven defective during testing.
According to Crane Army Supervisory Program Manager Mark Benstin, the Navy's flare design agent at Crane determined the failure was due to oxidized igniter magnesium. Crane Army suggested reworking the flares by replacing the igniter and foil wrap (the flares would otherwise be scrapped). The cost for doing this was estimated to be roughly $30 per unit versus $60 or so for a new unit. Based on the test results, the Navy's countermeasure item manager wanted to pursue reworking. Crane Army developed a rework process. Private industry utilized Crane Army's rework process to successfully correct defective flares.
Benstin also said Crane Army reworked approximately 50,000 flares to date, and are funded to rework another 50,000 units. He said, "Overall this program will save the government between $10 to $15 million throughout the program's life. It will also help reduce hexane emissions, which is a hazardous air pollutant."
According to DoD, value engineering is a systematic process of function analysis to identify actions that reduce cost, increase quality, and improve mission capabilities across the entire spectrum of DoD systems, processes, and organizations. The Department of Defense Value Engineering Program continues to be an incentive for government and our industry partners to improve the joint value proposition by promoting innovation and creativity.
The award represents Crane Army's commitment toward continuous improvement. CAAA Value Engineering Program Manager Deb Byers said, ""When people think of continuous improvement they tend to only think of Lean Six Sigma, but value engineering is another important area where a command can see cost savings and avoidance. This award recognizes the hard work of so many people at Crane to ensure we are doing things the best way possible."
CAAA was established in Oct. 1977 and is a tenant of the Navy Region Midwest, Naval Support Activity Crane. The Army activity maintains ordnance professionals and infrastructure to receive, store, ship, produce, renovate and demilitarize conventional ammunition, missiles and related components.
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