Navy logistics modernization effort ready to take next step

The time it took to order the part was more than just inefficient; the sailor had to use legacy IT systems that were difficult to secure.

PEO-MLB is leading a logistics IT modernization effort that will modernize and make more user friendly the applications that shipyards, ships, aviation and other organizations rely on to manage parts, equipment and products across the Navy.

“We’re optimizing a commercial off the shelf (COTS) product to achieve that performance profile. The sailors are telling us how they want this tool to be configured. So we have determined that, yes, the tool can meet all of our requirements from a technical standpoint. Now it’s a matter of improving the user experience so that it’s easy for them to use,” Baur said at the AFCEA NoVa Navy IT day. “We’re applying that COTS product broadly across the Department of the Navy, against all of the user requirements that we have for shipyards, ships, aviation. And we’re implementing that solution, first starting with organizational level maintenance, but then moving on to intermediate and depot level maintenance.”

The Navy awarded a $233 million contract to IFS and Lockheed Martin in 2020 under the Naval Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (N-MRO) program to modernize and integrate 20 separate logistics systems. Under this deal, IFS and Lockheed will provide a technology platform that seeks to combine artificial intelligence, digital twin capabilities and predictive analytics to anticipate and react to potential equipment failures before they happen. The companies said in a release from May 2021 that the technology and data will contribute to the enhanced support of maintenance, supply logistics, real-time fleet management and other business functions for more than 200,000 sailors.

Baur said PEO-MLB completed some initial testing on a ship recently and will use those results to determine the next design and capabilities for the platform.

“It’s an ongoing, deliberate process of human centered design, where we use the users as our guideline for telling us where we need to go next to improve the product’s performance,” he said. “Some users are very happy. Some users are not. For us, with the work — and this is hard work — how do we make the changes necessary to improve the system for the sailors that were dissatisfied, without taking away the goodness that we’ve already got for other groups of sailors?”

• Naval Product Lifecycle Management (N-PLM)
• Naval Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (N-MRO)
• Naval Supply Chain Management (N-SCM)
• Integration and Infrastructure (I&I)
• Logistics integrated data

Through the entire portfolio, the Navy is trying to modernize more than 300 systems on land and on ships.

Baur said the N-MRO program is one of several ongoing modernization efforts.

He said the Navy also is implementing and deploying product life cycle management capability at all of its prime shipbuilders.