{"id":31536,"date":"2018-11-13T13:09:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T18:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/is-the-navys-additive-manufacturing-strategy-bold-enough\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T13:09:13","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T18:09:13","slug":"is-the-navys-additive-manufacturing-strategy-bold-enough","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/is-the-navys-additive-manufacturing-strategy-bold-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Navy\u2019s Additive Manufacturing Strategy Bold Enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The success of the U.S. military will be defined not only by its capabilities, but also by its ability to rapidly scale and adapt its supply chain. Additive manufacturing (AM) has the ability to augment supply chains for defense organizations, solving problems that have plagued the military\u2019s supply and maintenance chain for decades. [1]<\/p>\n

Importance of Additive Manufacturing in Naval Supply Systems<\/em><\/p>\n

During extreme conditions such as deployments in remote locations, supply chain management is vital to the success of a mission. An asset touches several points along the military supply chain before landing in the end-user\u2019s hands. This consists of \u201cmillions of parts and thousands of geographically dispersed suppliers,\u201d creating a complex supply chain system [1]. Additive manufacturing in supply chains could skip these steps by enabling a CAD-to-ship solution, categorized as a supply chain evolution in Exhibit 1 (bottom right quadrant). A Deloitte study expounds on the impact of AM by providing three additional paths of AM for the DoD \u2013 Product Evolution, Service Model Evolution, Stasis, and Supply Chain Evolution (Exhibit 1) [1]. Further, an MIT study on AM helps explain when it becomes a viable solution, which is particularly important for complex parts and systems as well as customizable parts and systems. Both of which are common in the Department of the Navy (DON) supply chain [5].<\/p>\n

Exhibit 1<\/p>\n

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Source: 3D Opportunity in the Department of Defense, Deloitte<\/p>\n

Exhibit 2<\/p>\n

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Source: MIT Additive Manufacturing<\/p>\n

The DON is pursuing all four of the quandrants seen in Exhibit 1 to tackle some of the Navy\u2019s biggest problems, which include obsolescence, customization, and product lead-times [1]. For example, the Navy\u2019s F\/A-18 Super Hornet, regarded as a premiere aircraft vehicle, is slowly being phased out as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) replaces it. A typical F\/A-18 aircraft lifecycle is 6,000 flight hours, but its lifecycle is being prolonged to 10,000 flight hours after JSF production was delayed [6]. As the DON changes these assets\u2019 lifecycles, they must be prepared to deal with these logistical challenges, all of which can be solved with the introduction of AM.<\/p>\n

Short Term Solution<\/em><\/p>\n

Currently the DON has marketed the below solutions to the public, meaning these are the most viable solutions to be used fleet-wide.<\/p>\n