The career discipline that focuses on the actual physical building of a product in the DoD is Production, Quality, and Manufacturing (PQM).  PQM is made up of these three disciplines and forms the basis for taking requirements and raw materials and converting them into a final product for a customer. Integrated Management Planning (IMP) is the management technique that merges these three disciplines into the overall DoD Acquisition Life-Cycle Management process.

Production

Production is the processes and methods employed to transform tangible inputs (raw materials, semi-finished goods, or subassemblies) and intangible inputs (ideas, information, knowledge) into goods or services. Topics that address production are:

• Production Readiness Review (PRR)
• Production Qualification Test
• Defense Standardization Program
• Final Production Baseline

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is a conversion process and a form of production. It brings together resources including materials, manpower, tools, equipment, technology, and facilities in a structured, organized manner to produce the evolved design of a finished product. Topics that address manufacturing are:

• Condition Based Maintenance Plus
• Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS)
• Lean Manufacturing
• Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL)
• Industrial Capabilities and Assessment

Quality

Quality is that aspect that a product meets the stated needs, requirements, and demands for customer satisfaction. The act of ensuring quality falls under Quality Assurance (QA). QA is a monitoring approach that evaluates various aspects of an acquisition project, or service to determine if the minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process.  Topics that address QA are:

• Continuous Improvement Process
• Total Quality Management (TQM)
• Failure Modes & Effects Analysis
• ISO 9000 Quality Management Series
• Six Sigma

Topics that Program Managers (PM) and PQM personnel should be aware of are:

• Configuration Management (CM)
• Continuous Improvement Process
• Value Engineering
• Reliability Information Analysis Center
• Maintenance Task Analysis

AcqLinks and References:

• Defense Acquisition Guidebook (DAG)
• DoD Instruction 5000.60 “Defense Industrial Capabilities Assessments” – 18 Jul 2014
• DoD Handbook 5000.60-H “Assessing Defense Industrial Capabilities” – April 1996
• MIL-HDBK-61A Configuration Management Guidance – 7 Feb 2001
• DoD Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) Guidebook
• DoD Instruction 4145.22 “Condition Based Maintenance Plus for Materiel Maintenance” – 19 Jan 2018
• DoD Directive 4151.18 “Maintenance of Military Materiel” – 31 Mar 04
• Condition Based Maintenance Plus Fact Sheet
• MIL-STD-2173 Reliability Centered Maintenance
• SD-24 Value Engineering: A Guidebook of Best Practices and Tools
• SD-22 DoD Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages Guidebook – Aug 12

Updated: 6/9/2021

Rank: G1