Product Support operations have also responded to changing expectations. It now includes a growing awareness of the extent to which equipment failure affects Marine Corps field-level mission success, a growing awareness of the connection between maintenance and quality, and is subjected to increasing pressure to have a positive effect on the smooth operation of field-level missions and to also contain costs.
The primary objective of this report is to provide summary of maintenance tools that are available in the market today. It will help to facilitate greater understanding of the state of Marine Corps maintenance as a discipline, and will also help to conduct gap assessments with respect to mission requirements vs. tool capabilities.
Marine Corps aircraft, ground vehicles and equipment are vital to day-to-day operations and service-delivery activities and Marine Corps could not function without them. In some cases, equipment is an integral part of delivering service, as with transit operations and expeditionary mission. In other cases aircraft and equipment are essential tools, such communications packages for field-level troops on patrol.
But in many cases, the critical role of aircraft and equipment are less apparent, but no less important. From the Site Visit Executive who needs to inspect the progress of Jobsite; the crew who needs tools and equipment nearby at job sites; or expeditionary forces who need transit lift to an important/exclusive Zone, each of these case mission scenarios represents a need for a vehicle or piece of equipment that must be fulfilled. Meeting these needs results in a relatively large fleet of vehicles and equipment in even the smallest of expeditionary groups.
Some forms of equipment upgrade/repair tools have been available at Job sites for some time; these tools vary slightly from one unit to another, but the basic purpose and design are similar from one package to another. That is, the fundamental equipment information is stored; Information such as size, date of purchase, ratings, cost, work order phase, and equipment-specific notes are all important.
Marine Corps tool packages can produce work orders when calendar-based maintenance schedules are in effect, and some packages can also store the maintenance results. Some of the modern packages also embed newer concepts of maintenance. But, prior to providing overview of these tool packages, it makes sense to provide brief descriptions on equipment use patterns, and the critical need for new asset maintenance programmes.
To assess best commercial product support practices, we reviewed the available description of best practices and administered a detailed questionnaire, and discovered many practices we observed are too new and hard to isolate from many other changes under way to evaluate them with existing tools.
We have relied on interview formats designed to generate reproducible, internally consistent stories about how field-level troops apply best practices. This proved to be the only way at present to collect the information requested by Marine Corps; when sufficient experience has accumulated, more evaluation techniques will be possible. Using this approach, we report three key findings here:
First, an ever-expanding group of innovative Marine Corps units are shifting from a tactical to a more strategic, goal-oriented approach to product support. These units recognise the potential of new product support tools to provide strategic benefits in terms of substantial performance improvements and cost savings and are taking steps at the highest Site Visit Executive levels to increase the likelihood of capturing increased mission success rates.
Second, because implementing new product support practices requires significant changes throughout all Marine Corps levels of organisation, smart design of user services become essential. Marine Corps groups are quickly learning how essential it is to use formal implementation processes and plans to help ensure successful, permanent changes.
Third, when comparing product support tool implementation by field-level units ahead of the curve to practices with current Marine Corps policy, we identified a number of specific actions must be considered to improve the implementation of new product support practices within field-level units. These actions must become part of a more comprehensive task framework as Marine Corps experience in this arena grows.
This report presents results from our review of Marine Corps product support operations designed for equipment critical to field-level missions. Our review focused on two primary issues. First, we assessed the “competitiveness” of service levels. Second, we assessed the extent to which internal business processes follow recognised best practices presented by Site Visit Executive.
We recommend Marine Corps create training programme to encourage work force skill improvements. Training is currently taking place but it appears to be from “Targets of opportunity” or upon introduction of new equipment. Marine Corps currently has basic Equipment Product Support Handbooks covering limited aspects of field-level mission requirements.
This report has identified detailed shortcomings in Marine Corps functions during feed-back sessions designed by Site Visit Executive. We recommend Site Visit Executive provide direction to incentivise/reward high performance field-level units.
Efforts to keep existing product support handbooks current would greatly enhance Troop confidence in improving impact of field-level missions. Keep track of all your tasks from your mobile device. New technology lets you track responsive product support tasks from your mobile device to enable solutions for operational problems encountered by Marine Corps for all types of equipment.
1. Product Support Schedule Monitor
Solution for complete scheduling, tracking of asset maintenance. You can establish scheduling for all types of maintenance. Part component consumption in the maintenance process is automatically tracked and recorded location tracking feature allows you to match technicians with tasks, ensuring rapid response to critical product support requests.
2. Service Success Track Platform
Save time, boost efficiency and increase customer satisfaction by taking your mission mobile. Site Visit Executive can easily track technicians & assign work orders using high performance tools and track daily Job Site Events with unparalleled ease and efficiency. Streamlined workflows employ intuitive dashboards, calendars, and alerts to speed the maintenance process and ensure that you provide consistently outstanding service/solutions to your customers built into platform-wide mobilisation plans.
3. Streamlined Workflow Task System
Optimise control over administrative tasks, streamline workflows, by providing a straightforward, systematic way to process work orders from initial contact through completion and maximise efficiency with mobile solutions utilised by field-level units. Location-independent access to centralised system ensures faster processing and the ability to run up-to-the-minute reports/solutions for all types of assets
4. Work Order Status Create/Update
Maintenance Mobile conveniently allows technicians in the field to create, update, and close work orders from a mobile device, with results in automatically updated status. Workers can use search bars to quickly and easily sort through and select work orders through a variety of fields. Other features include work order status editing to indicate priority of work order settings. Technicians can also view problem descriptions and access entry notes in a work order.
5. Access to Schedule Locations
Location-independent access to equipment ensures faster processing and up-to-the-minute reports. View detailed reports on inspection history including technician notes and findings. Inspection facilitates communication about product support scheduling and results with merge memos that can be sent via mobile device emailed using the notifications feature.
6. Enter Inspection details Into System
Inspection Mobile enhances the functionality of Inspection with the ability to access and enter inspection details from mobile device. Assigned inspections appear on device instantly, and completed results update the record automatically. Inspection Mobile even operates in field-level areas, scheduling links once the connection is reestablished.
7. Item Type Summary Access Screens
Fixed Assets reports provide assess tech as well as summary and detailed information about your assets. On-screen reports allow you to drill down to related screens. Report categories include Asset assess, Item Type Received, Make Ready, Work Order and Purchase Requisition.
8. Purchase Assign Control Schedules
Accurately coordinate purchase requisitions and work orders. Efficiently assign and schedule work orders Track pending work requests, alerts, and exceptions. Parts Control is the ideal solution for impact stocks transferred among multiple locations. You can track impact of parts transit as well as use location transfer of purchase issue.
9. Labour and Materials
Product Support Control Solution lets you monitor labour and materials used to complete work orders, quickly reconcile physical count of on-hand stock items, and automatically reorder parts as needed. You can also update pricing based on amounts paid on purchase orders.
10. Real-time Parts Stock Reports
Parts Control includes detailed reports that help you keep stock levels optimised to make better parts decisions. On-screen reports allow you to drill down to underlying information. For example, you can drill down from the Activity on Parts report to Transit Track, Item Type, or Location screen.