ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. - The depot recently signed a new direct sales contract with BAE Systems to overhaul 20 6V53T Glow Plug Engines and X200-4A transmissions.
The $811,650 contract was signed in late October. Work is now going quickly in the Nichols Industrial Complex to complete the engines, which use a glow plug instead of a traditional spark plug, and transmissions before the Dec. 23 deadline.
"This was an extremely short-fused contract, so everyone had to work together because BAE requires these engines back before Christmas," said Rick Little, a depot contract specialist.
The engine and transmission overhauls should add about 6,800 man hours the depot workload, according to Carol Funderburg of the depot's Business Management Office.
The engines and transmissions are taken through the depot's full process of cleaning, machining, testing and painting before being returned to BAE.
Keith Smith, process optimization manager for the Powertrain Systems Value Stream, said he assisted in getting this contract in part because of the prospective workload for the future that relationships like this can bring.
"We have been in this partnership with BAE for more than 10 years and are still working together because of the depot's outstanding quality and employees. This is a good, professional relationship," said Smith.
Direct sales partnerships like this one enable the depot to work for a private defense contractor, performing jobs the installation is already set up for at a lower cost for the contractor.
BAE will install each engine and transmission into a M113-A3 Armored Personnel Carrier for the Army National Guard. After the parts are installed in their respective vehicles, they will return to the depot for testing on the installation's 1.1-mile test track.
"Our M113 family of vehicles partnership has benefitted the Army, our community and, most importantly, our customer, in this case our citizen Soldiers," said Robert Houston, vice president and site executive for Anniston BAE Systems.
Social Sharing