$ BBP 3.0
SPOTLIGHT: MR. JEFF CHAPIN
Seeking big-picture solutions to save lives and reduce costs
MR. JEFF CHAPIN
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Product Manager for MRAP Vehicle Systems, Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support
POSITION AND OFFICIAL TITLE: Lead systems engineer for cross-platform solutions
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 5
EDUCATION: MBA, Portland State University; B.S. in mechanical engineering, Purdue University
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Costing $1,640 less than the previous solution, the retrofit yielded $5.8 million in cost savings on the M-ATV, $4.4 million on MaxxPro vehicles, and roughly $1.5 million on the RG-31 variant.
s lead systems engineer for cross-platform solutions (CPS), Jeff Chapin and his team develop, test, integrate and field add-on capabilities for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. Over the past year, they’ve incorporated better buying power (BBP) and value engineering (VE) initiatives for MRAPs
and other vehicle systems that have yielded cost savings of nearly $15 million.
Chapin came to CPS about five years ago following a career in the automotive indus- try, designing suspension and steering components for heavy trucks and High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. Moving to a military position meant that he could use his design and program management skills while working on projects that save lives and support warfighters, he said. Originally hired to work at the U.S. Army Tank Automo- tive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), where his brother and father have also worked, Chapin began his career working on capability insertion (CI).
“Over the last five years, the name of the team has changed from CI to CPS, but the mis- sion is the same: to provide common solutions across the MRAP variants,” he said.
“When we fielded MRAP, we had to freeze the design and produce vehicles,” Chapin explained. “Capability insertion is basically staying in constant communication with the warfighter so we know what new threats they are seeing in theater. Tis enables us to develop materiel solutions to mitigate those threats and insert them on the MRAP vehicles. Defeating our enemy would be easy if they did not adapt and find new ways to try and defeat our technology.”
“One thing most people don’t know is that while the current CPS team supports only Army vehicles, when we were first established we also supported MRAPs for the Navy, Air Force and Marines” under a joint program executive office (JPEO), Chapin explained. DOD reorganized the office in late 2012, and it is now an Army program office. Chapin is still in contact with people he worked with in the JPEO, and one of those contacts facilitated a BBP initiative last summer.
Chapin needed Gunner Accessory Package (GAP) kits for the Army’s MRAP All- Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) and MaxxPro vehicles. “I found out that one of my contacts from the Marine Corps needed GAP kits for its MRAPs, and I knew that if we purchased an additional 500 kits, it would push us to a lower price.” By com- bining purchases of the kits, he and his team realized a savings of $546 per vehicle,
116 Army AL&T Magazine January–March 2015
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