IF IT AIN’T BROKE ...
A NEW APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE The 25th Transportation Company’s participation in the study presented an excellent opportunity to introduce condition-based maintenance for the unit’s fleet of tactical wheeled vehicles and trailers.
Condition-based maintenance monitors vehicle health, maintenance and usage data to provide actionable information to improve maintenance and fleet manage- ment decisions. Te Army is expected to begin the process of adopting condition- based maintenance for all vehicles in FY19, so AMSAA seized on the opportunity to leverage its time working with the 25th Transportation Company to highlight the use of condition-based maintenance in an operational unit.
collect and store fault and performance data from engines, transmissions, start- ers, engine control modules, transmission control modules, braking systems and tire inflation systems, among others, so it can be downloaded and analyzed. Hub odom- eters are mounted on trailer axles and use the wheel’s rotation to determine miles traveled.
AMSAA field analysts and 25th Transpor- tation Company maintenance personnel downloaded the data weekly and used it to assess the condition of the vehicles and prioritize part orders and repairs necessary to return the equipment to mission-capable status. Most of the elec- tronic non-mission-capable fault codes would be invisible to the Army without the data from the digital source collec- tor. Condition-based maintenance makes
make subassembly repairs instead of simply replacing major subsystems. Te 25th Transportation Company has not replaced a single engine since the begin- ning of the study, thanks to the fault code information gained through condition- based maintenance.
What was quickly evident with the use of condition-based maintenance during the study was the need for additional training for unit maintenance personnel on how to interpret the digital source collector codes. AMSAA provided unit technicians with diagnostic training and technical support needed to configure diagnostic devices as well as troubleshoot and isolate electri- cal faults coming from the digital source collectors. After a series of classroom lessons and hands-on diagnostic exercises, technicians could understand error fault codes and systematically track the issues to perform the correct repair.
The extended services strategy led to an annual savings of approximately $69,000 in service parts in the 25th Transportation Company, on such items as engine oil, transmission fluid, filters, seals, wheel bearings, belts and brake shoes.
AMSAA worked directly with the 25th Transportation Company to install digi- tal source collectors on 91 vehicles and hub odometers on 91 trailers to provide vehicle health and usage data. Te digi- tal source collector is a device connected to the controller area network of Army tactical wheeled vehicles and Strykers that records more than 80 data elements from various electronic control units on the vehicle. Te digital source collectors
46 Army AL&T Magazine
these fault conditions visible, helping maintenance personnel better understand conditions affecting vehicle operation and focus on specific repair actions instead of costly component replacements. Depleted diagnostic skills within field-level main- tenance units over the last 10 to 20 years have produced a culture of remove-and- replace versus troubleshoot-and-repair. Maintenance personnel who understand and leverage error faults can confidently
October-December 2018
MAN-HOUR TRADE-OFF Maintenance personnel with the 25th Transportation Company went from using no fault codes during vehicle inspections, before digital source collectors were added, to up to 70 fault codes a day; diagnos- tic and component failure information quickly became a valuable maintenance resource that Soldiers never knew existed. Soldiers reported newfound confidence in their ability to correctly diagnose issues and save both time and money in the repair process. However, the increased visibility into vehicle faults also brought an increase in repairs needed to maintain operational readiness.
Condition-based maintenance tools
such as the digital source collectors, laptops connected to onboard vehicle networks and diagnostic software prod- ucts made Soldiers more informed, but they also made them much busier. Main- tenance units will desperately need the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144
