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PEO Ammunition independent audits focus on quality management systems to ensure compliance with materials and requirements
by Samuel H. Figueroa and Johnny R. Hartman
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n the world of Army Acquisition, we are on a seemingly unending quest to improve our processes. One process that has seen a great deal of change is the way we ensure that whom they literally are a matter of life and death.
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Not long ago, the acquisition community often demanded numerous inspections of the products we were buying to ensure our suppliers. Over time, we found that ensuring quality in this fashion was overly expensive because of the man-hours involved in multiple inspections of every piece. In addition, we came to realize that we often rejected parts that were perfectly usable, because of overly tight tolerances.
multiple inspections and the resulting scrap rates. We began to understand that well-controlled manufacturing processes auto- matically reduced the risk of defects. This ushered in proven quality systems such as Total Quality Management, Statisti- cal Process Control, and most recently, Lean Six Sigma (LSS). These systems all recognized that the best way to improve prod- uct quality was to improve production processes. This prevented opportunities for error and reduced variability in results that could grow over time.
NO TIME TO DOUBT
Every Soldier assumes that each and every round will work as advertised, and it is the acquisition community’s responsibility to provide that guarantee. Program Executive Office Ammunition’s (PEO Ammo’s) independent audit program is a means to fulfill that commitment. Here, members of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (3/101) place complete trust in their 120mm mortar ammunition as it starts its journey to the target area at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. (U.S. Army photo by PVT Mary Gurnee, 3/101 Public Affairs)
Even with these quality systems in place, however, the Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS) of Program - forming products were still being produced occasionally. These nonconforming munitions would often be discovered during Lot Acceptance Testing, which resulted in the outright rejection of thousands of rounds at a time and an expensive, time-consuming rework for the entire lot.
may undergo suspensions or other condition-code downgrades. Clearly, the mere existence of quality management systems (QMS) was not enough to ensure product quality.
ensure implementation of QMS requirements, with special atten- tion to safety-critical characteristics (SCC). To achieve this goal, PM CAS sponsored LSS Black Belt and Green Belt projects that - ments for post-award conferences, and established a supplier QMS and SCC audit program. The independent audit program - ers and sub-vendors alike, using International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 as its frame of reference.
ASC.ARMY.MIL
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