Production, Quality & Manufacturing

The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) performs contract oversight for the DoD.  DCMA ensures that DoD, Federal, and allied government supplies and services are delivered on time, at projected cost, and meet all performance requirements set forth in a contract. It provides Systems Engineering, Auditing, Earn Value Management (EVM), and Quality Assurance (QA) oversight of […]

A Defense Industrial Capabilities Assessment is an assessment of an industry where there’s a known problem with the skills and knowledge, processes, facilities, and equipment needed to design, develop, manufacture, repair, and support DoD products. It’s done on a case-by-case basis for private or public industrial activities. The guidelines in DoD Instruction 5000.60 are used

Damage Mode and Effects Analysis (DMEA) is an analysis of a system or piece of equipment to determine the extent of damage sustained from a given level of hostile weapon damage. It examines the effect of that damage on the continued controlled operation and mission completion capabilities of the system or equipment. DMEA is the

Customer satisfaction, when quantified, is a valuable enterprise-level outcome metric. The Department of Defense (DoD) has recognized the importance of customer-satisfaction performance measures. Since the passage of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, all Federal Departments and Agencies have initiated procedures to record contractor performance on in-process contracts and to use past contractor performance

Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen. The Department of Defense (DoD) defines Corrosion as “The deterioration of a material or

Corrective Maintenance Time is the time that begins with the observance of a malfunction of an item and ends when the item is restored to a satisfactory operating condition. It may be subdivided into active maintenance time and non-active maintenance time. It does not necessarily contribute to equipment or system downtime in cases of alternate

A Control Chart shows how a process varies over time while identifying special causes of variation and changes in performance. Similar to a run chart, it includes statistically generated upper and lower control limits. This type of chart prevents changing a process that is varying randomly within the control limits (no special cause present). Variables

A Corrective Action Request (CAR) is sent to a supplier where an item, goods, service, or process is in nonconformity, and a remedy is required. The notification requests the supplier to explain the reason for and proposed solution for a nonconformity discovered. CARs are normally determined during quality assurance activities. Each organization will have its

Configuration Management (CM) is the application of sound program practices to establish and maintain consistency of a product’s or system’s attributes with its requirements and evolving technical baseline over its life. It involves interaction among government and contractor program functions such as systems engineering, hardware/software engineering, specialty engineering, logistics, contracting, and production in an Integrated

Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) is the application and integration of appropriate processes, technologies, and knowledge-based capabilities to improve the reliability and maintenance effectiveness of Department of Defense (DoD) systems and components. It’s established by DoD Instruction 4151.22 “CBM+ for Materiel Maintenance”.  At its core, CBM+ is maintenance performed based on evidence of need provided

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is a computer tool used for the development of design-drawings/documentation for manufacturing. It merges computer technology with mechanical drawing and includes three (3) main functions crucial for manufacturing: Line drawings that can be created and stored for future reference, Libraries of common symbols used to create line drawings that can be easily

Basis of Issue Plan (BOIP) is an Army requirements document that describes a new or improved system or component. It’s required before Milestone B approval and is used by Program Managers (PM) for concept studies, life-cycle cost estimates, and trade-off analyses during the research and development process. BOIPs include personnel changes caused by introducing new

Lean Manufacturing “Lean” is a production system consisting of manufacturing cells linked together with a functionally integrated system for inventory and production control that uses less of the key resources needed to make goods. The goal of Lean is to improve efficiency by eliminating waste in the manufacturing process and is centered on preserving value

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a systematic approach for identifying preventative or scheduled maintenance tasks for an equipment end item and establishing necessary preventative (or scheduled) maintenance task intervals. It’s generally used to achieve improvements in fields such as the establishment of safe minimum levels of maintenance, changes to operating procedures and strategies, and the

The Integrated Product & Process Development (IPPD) approach to manufacturing and quality planning is Integrated Management Planning (IMP). IMP is the merging of manufacturing and production, planning and development activities, and quality practices. Production and quality planning are performed simultaneously in IMP. It includes four (4) important production activities that are performed by both contractor

Quality Assurance (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.  QA includes regulation of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components, services related to production, and management, production, and inspection processes.

The Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) is an ongoing effort to enhance the quality of products, services, or processes through small changes. It involves implementing minor iterative modifications that accumulate into substantial outcomes by intentionally examining existing procedures. The six-step systematic approach entails planning, sequencing, and implementing improvement activities based on data. It further expands on

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