Improving Product Data: A Roadmap to Future Parts Procurement

The Defense Logistics Agency buys parts for a wide variety of DoD systems. Many of these parts must be manufactured to order, and for those procurements, clear and complete technical data (engineering drawings, notations on materials, manufacturing processes, etc.) is needed to receive a part that performs as needed. DLA must rely on the military services' engineering support activities for current, complete, and correct technical data packages. Current manufacturing techniques include the use of 3-dimensional (3D) models to provide the technical data, both for human visualization and numerically controlled manufacturing machines. DLA bidders are prepared to use these modern data forms, but often the technical data packages consist of 2-dimensional drawings, and may lack needed information other than what is on the drawing, decreasing the pool of bidders. This report lays out a number of areas in which DLA can work with the larger DoD community to improve the product data being acquired by the military services and to prepare to use modern product data in the formats they will supply in the future. Task no. DL904.70. The original document contains color images.