[This article was first published in Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin, which was then called Army Logistician, volume 2, number 2 (March–April 1970), pages 14–15, 31.]
THE CURRENT CONCEPT of performing maintenance as far forward as possible has been coming under increasing scrutiny over the past few years. The validity of this concept must be examined in light of the widening gap between the skill level of maintenance personnel and the complexity of equipment entering our inventory.
Recent experiences in the Republic of Vietnam indicate that to achieve the necessary operational readiness of equipment it is necessary to augment organic maintenance by some form of contact maintenance and pinpoint supply support. It quickly became apparent that our concept of maintenance and assignment of maintenance effort at organizational, direct support, and general support levels was not working as originally envisioned. The Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army staff has initiated a program called MAINTENANCE SUPPORT POSITIVE (MS+) to assess and attempt to rectify this problem. This study has revealed that there is a need to revise, modify, or conceive a new concept of maintenance and supply support for the Army in the field.
MAINTENANCE SUPPORT POSITIVE is taking a hard look at the total maintenance concept to see how and where maintenance tasks can best be accomplished in order to provide timely, economical, and efficient support. MS+ is a specific attempt to bridge the widening gap between hardware complexity and available skills.
The objectives of MS+ are to:
- Review maintenance functions in the modern Army of 1970–80.
- Insure maintenance through replacement of components, modules, or micromodules to the maximum, within the state of the art.
- Ease maintenance tasks at the organizational level.
- Increase equipment availability through closer monitoring of repair concepts and procedures.
- Devise more economical methods of performing maintenance tasks.
- Effect better use of maintenance resources.
- Further inventory in motion, improve repair parts supply, and maintain fewer supplies on the ground in fewer locations while providing a more responsive pipeline.
The keystone of the Army maintenance system is the maintenance allocation chart which shows whether a carburetor should be changed or repaired by organizational, direct support, general support, or depot maintenance personnel. The category to which a maintenance task is assigned will directly impact on military occupational specialty structure, school training, career programs, supply requirements, tool sets, test equipment, facilities required, and the resultant allowable downtime of equipment.
The Directorate of Maintenance, ODCSLOG, DA, is looking into a new approach to maintenance allocation. At the same time, the supply side of ODCSLOG is evaluating the concept of inventory in motion—fewer supplies on the ground and a more responsive pipeline.
Today it appears that MS+ is leading to a reorientation of maintenance functions to the rear. The program is placing maximum emphasis on direct exchange and echeloning of maintenance to the rear in order to relieve frontline units of as much maintenance as possible. To achieve this objective, necessary changes in concepts, philosophy, procedures, and instructions related to supply, maintenance, maintenance training, authorization documents, product improvement, and research and development of new items of materiel must be accomplished. As currently established the program will be phased in two parts. Phase I focuses on maximum improvement in maintenance procedures within existing capabilities. Phase II will be a longer term program to insure that future equipment design is compatible with the Army's new maintenance concept.
The Army is making positive moves to improve its readiness condition in the most economical and practical way possible. Currently, a Chief of Staff Memorandum that is designed to insure all agencies are aware of the importance and impact of MS+ is being staffed within Department of the Army key elements. The maintenance guidance currently being explored is as follows:
Organizational maintenance will perform scheduled maintenance services to include cleaning, minor adjustments, and replacement of parts and assemblies which are possible with limited common or special tools and training.
Direct support maintenance will repair end items by replacement of components and assemblies by use of repair kits, piece-part replacement, and associated adjustment, tests, and calibration actions. Repair of direct exchange items in support of organizational maintenance will be held to a minimum.
General support maintenance will be responsible for repair and return to the supply system. General support maintenance will repair identified direct exchange items in support of direct support maintenance.
Depot maintenance work to be performed at the depot level is not changed under this program.
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It is anticipated that MAINTENANCE SUPPORT POSITIVE will result in significant reductions in prescribed load list, authorized stockage list, and theater stockage list items. Similar reductions are expected to be possible in the numbers of highly trained maintenance technicians in organizational and direct support units. This will permit the optimum use of available skills at the general support level of maintenance. Operational readiness of equipment should improve through the rapid replacement of defective items. As improved fault-isolation equipment becomes available, proper diagnosis of malfunctions will be increased with attendant reduction in the unnecessary replacement of parts and assemblies.
The projected completion date of Phase I has been established as January 1971.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul F. Anderson is Acting Chief, Maintenance Engineering Division, Directorate of Maintenance, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Department of the Army. He was chief of the AH-1G (Huey Cobra) New Equipment Training Team that deployed the first attack helicopter to Vietnam in 1968. Later he was the S-4, 1st Aviation Brigade. Prior to being assigned to the DA staff, he was commanding officer of the 214th Combat Aviation Battalion.
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