Chapter IV. Technology Development Army Science and Technology Master Plan (ASTMP 1997)
Chapter IV. Technology Development T. Manufacturing Science and Technology
1. Scope
The Manufacturing Science and Technology (MS&T) area focuses on technologies that will enable the industrial base to produce reliable and affordable materiel for the soldier with enhanced performance parameters in a reduced cycle time. The technologies in MS&T include processing and fabrication, manufacturing engineering, production management, design engineering, enterprise integration, integrated product and process development, and flexible manufacturing systems capable of addressing both high and low volume dual-use production. The interrelationships between all these technologies are illustrated in Figure IV-T-1. MS&T addresses the needs of the soldier by deriving requirements from three thrusts: acquisition and sustainment driven needs, pervasive industrial base needs, and science and technology needs and opportunities. Potential projects based on these needs are prioritized according to their relevance to TRADOC Operational Capabilities Requirements (OCRs) and their significance to the successful attainment of Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) and Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) objectives.
Figure IV-T-1. Relationships Among Integrated Process Design Tools and Flexible Manufacturing Systems
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The MS&T Program focuses on three subareas:
- Advanced Processing of metals, composites, and electronics with emphasis on the development and validation of new manufacturing processes for defense-essential materials, components, and systems. Project technologies include validated process models, embedded sensors and adaptive control systems for composites and electronics manufacturing, improved composites airframe manufacturing for advanced helicopters, improved manufacturing and testing for advanced cooled and uncooled FLIR sensors, computer automated manufacturing for precision optics, manufacturing of advanced battery technology, flexible manufacturing for millimeter wave transceivers, flexible manufacturing of missile seekers and assemblies, and agile production control.
- Manufacturing Engineering Support Tools encompass manufacturing technologies such as computer-aided design, engineering, and manufacturing; artificial intelligence tools for a broad range of manufacturing processes; design and analysis tools for assessing product producibility and manufacturability; rapid prototyping; control and interface research for component modeling and system integration and information infrastructure; industrial base modeling and production allocation for management of coordinated supply chain and surge production. This subarea is focused on developing tools for early involvement of the manufacturing discipline in the requirements and design process of new technologies.
- Advanced Manufacturing Demonstrations for the application of world-class best manufacturing practices and procedures in a factory environment. These demonstrations are usually large scale, include the pertinent aspects of the enterprise, have specific goals, and are performed over a 2- to 4-year time period.
2. Rationale
Defense acquisition strategies reflect a significant reduction in weapon systems development and production programs. The emphasis within DoD and the Army continues to be on upgrading and modifying existing systems while continuing to support the underlying doctrine of developing technologically superior weapon systems. This environment requires new processing and fabrication technologies and new manufacturing philosophies (flexible, lean, agile) in order to economically produce a wide variety of products in lower volumes. Army MS&T must develop and transition the technologies required to make weapon systems affordable both during materiel production and over the system life cycle.
3. Technology Subareas
a. Advanced Processing
Goals and Time Frames
The Advanced Processing subarea focuses on processing science and technologies that will lead to the production of affordable components with consistent and reliable properties. Emphasis is on process maturation and the development of technologies that can be implemented to control manufacturing processes.
The Army is focusing on the following advanced processing technology efforts: development of manufacturing processes for 2nd Generation Infrared Focal Plane Arrays (IRFPAs)/Dewar/Cooler Assemblies (FY95-98) which provide technology capability for the Multisensor Aided Targeting Suite, Target Acquisition ATD, Hunter Sensor Suite ATD, and Rotorcraft Pilot's Associate ATD; development of automated testing (FY97) and development of manufacturing processes for Uncooled Infrared Technologies (FY97-00) which have the potential technology for insertion into the Generation II Soldier ATD and remote Sentry ATD; development of optical manufacturing processes for optics manufacturing for spherical lenses (FY98-05) which pervasively support a variety of ATDs that utilize optical components; demonstration of an Adaptive Process Controller for the Resin Transfer Molding process for airframe structures (FY96-99); fabrication of thick composite parts (FY97-99) and insitu sensors (Smartweave) which will impact the Composite Armored Vehicle (CAV) ATD.
Other pervasive efforts include demonstration of integrated workcells for missile and munitions seeker assemblies with associated process control systems (FY99); development of laser-based optical prototyping system for titanium parts (FY98); casting process for Beryllium Aluminum (FY97; development of micro electro-mechanical systems (FY98); development of processes associated with flexible continuous processing of propellants and explosives using a twin screw mixer/extruder (FY96-97); demonstration of advanced processing of solid thermoplastic elastomer gun propellants utilizing in-process rheology control (FY98); development of improved machining, grinding, and inspection processes for precision gears (FY97); development of processes to improve manufacturing of fiber-optic cables; development of coating systems for engine components; and development of advanced nonmetallic rechargeable battery with current application on SINCGARS radio.
Major Technical Challenges
The major technical challenges for improving processing and manufacturing technologies include increasing performance while decreasing size, weight, and life cycle cost.
Specific challenges:
- Implement in-process controls and improved manufacturing techniques that will reduce highly skilled labor, increase yields, and increase throughput for tri-Service 2nd Generation standard advanced IRFPAs/Dewars/Coolers assemblies.
- Improve testing and manufacturing techniques to reduce costs and increase throughput associated with large focal plane arrays.
- Develop an embedded sensor system to monitor the resin flow through a composite perform during the RTM process.
- Eliminate costly dies and molds for fabrication of prototype titanium components and reduce costs associated with precision machining of Beryllium Aluminum components and precision gears.
- Develop and implement reconfigurable workcells, multimissile tooling and test stations, material handling control, and process control techniques.
- Miniaturize electromechanical systems to reduce power requirements and weight of soldier portable systems.
- Control of the manufacturing process to facilitate real-time correction and reduce or eliminate post process inspection.
- Reverse engineering of legacy electronic systems to provide form, fit, and function for older weapon systems with today’s production technologies.
- Develop safe, cost-effective, high quality equipment and processes for manufacture of energetic materials—propellants/explosives/pyrotechnics.
- Develop flexible manufacturing capability for prismatic cell packaging which will allow low cost manufacturing of a variety of nonmetallic rechargeable battery configurations.
- Develop coating techniques for turbine blades and shrouds to improve performance and reduce life cycle cost of turbine engines.
b. Manufacturing Engineering Support Tools
Goals and Time Frames
Manufacturing Engineering Support Tools are essential to improve design, process analysis, prototyping, and inspection processes for manufacturing components and systems. Current Army efforts include developing production engineering tools which will assess product producibility and manufacturability based upon analysis of CAD drawings (FY96); integrating rapid prototyping system with production engineering tools to reduce product development time (FY98-00); developing advanced integrated manufacturing for missile seekers and munitions (FY96—Far-Term); and using Integrated Product Process Development (IPPD) to develop processing technology and producibility strategies during the earliest stages of production development. This latter activity is supportive of the EFOG-M ATD, and the PGMM, RFPI, and Precision/Rapid Counter-MRL ACTDs.
Major Technical Challenges
The major technical challenges for developing Manufacturing Engineering Support Tools include the development of design and analysis tools for assessing product producibility and manufacturability; developing rapid prototyping tools; and advancing manufacturing technologies such as CAD/CAM/CAE and inspection. Specific challenges include the following:
- Software environments capable of automatically transferring CAD drawings to machine shops and controlling the required equipment to produce a desired part.
- Cost Estimator Tools that provide economic analysis of fabricating a part based upon the output of a design analysis tool.
- Optimization of design vs. fabrication process to minimize cost and cycle time via the development of a virtual factory capable of modeling factory floor processes.
- Quality assessment and control through computer vision inspection.
- Order release mechanism for electronic assembly systems.
c. Advanced Manufacturing Demonstrations
Goals and Time Frames
The advanced manufacturing demonstrations incorporate best manufacturing practices and integrated product and process development to merge innovative concepts and manufacturing technology into a system-level approach to integrated manufacturing. Army MS&T is currently conducting an industrial base pilot demonstration using the Longbow Apache Fire Control–Mast Mounted Assembly as the demonstration article (FY95-97). A Battlefield Manufacturing Center (BMC) demonstration is being planned for completion in FY99. The BMC would communicate repair needs from a deployed position to manufacturing engineers located elsewhere; the engineers would model the repair using CAD/CAM systems and transmit the repair instructions to machines in the field. A planned demonstration pilot for millimeter wave missile seekers (FY97-FY99) will provide for affordable/flexible manufacturing and design of these missile components.
Major Technical Challenges
The results and observations of industrial pilots indicate that implementation of enhanced business practices combined with technology insertion can significantly reduce cost, increase product quality, and ultimately develop the capability to produce product in a lot size of one. The major challenges associated with advanced industrial practices include identifying, adapting, and implementing best manufacturing practices; identifying and implementing the appropriate tools for IPPD; and incorporating the changes into an enterprise’s culture.
4. Roadmap of Technology Objectives
The roadmap of technology objectives for Manufacturing Science and Technology is shown in Table IV-T-1.
Table IV-T-1. Technical Objectives for Manufacturing Science and Technology
