MAXIMIZE INDUSTRY DAYS
E
stablishing and maintaining successful partnerships with industry doesn’t just happen overnight. In fact, partnerships and business relationships require a strong foundation, built upon open communication, honesty
and with an emphasis on accountability within and across all stakeholders. One way project management offices (PMOs) can establish and preserve these partnerships is through industry days. Industry day events are an important part of market research, as they invite industry to directly engage with the government in advance of future contract opportunities to understand program requirements and ask detailed questions.
Te Demolition Reformation and XM123 Ground Obstacle Breaching Lane Neutralizer (GOBLN) Industry Day hosted by Project Manager for Close Combat Systems (PM CCS) under the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammu- nition (JPEO A&A) was quite successful, attracting over 140 representatives from 49 defense companies and 15 govern- ment organizations. As a result of these industry events, a better
understanding emerged of the technology that exists today and how industry envisions solving the complex problems faced by Soldiers while conducting lane breaching—clearing danger, like mines, from an area to create a safe path—and other types of operations with demolitions.
THE MAIN EVENT Under the leadership and guidance of Joseph Pelino, program manager for PM CCS; Michael Burke, product director; and Phillip Lawson, demolition branch lead, the Demolitions and Countermeasures (D&CM) team simultaneously executed two multiday industry events at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, on Jan. 23-25, 2024. Expanding past a traditional industry day and covering multiple contract actions led to more than 140 represen- tatives from the defense companies and government organizations descending upon the arsenal to review and discuss the use of innovative technologies, efforts to reform the demolition port- folio, the future of breaching operations and the development of the XM123 GOBLN program.
Demolition systems, with their rich history rooted in World War II technology, stand at a critical juncture. Recent conversations with the user community initiated by the D&CM team have sparked a renewed focus on modernization. PM CCS proac- tively launched this industry day as market research to align with emerging user requirements. By embracing modernization, we can enhance the versatility and multifunctionality of demolition systems to allow Soldiers to perform missions with safer, lighter and faster products and execute from greater standoff distance, ensuring they effectively support the needs of our modern forces. Tese developments position us for a transformative leap forward, bridging the past with the future, as we redefine the landscape of safe and efficient demolitions.
Pelino was no longer interested in how industry days were done in the past and sought an event that invoked more participation from its attendees. Within the planning process, Pelino stated, “Let’s redefine industry days, move past the way they have always been done. Instead, let’s create an event that sparks innovation, and challenge the participants to learn. Tat will truly transform our processes and drive progress.”
SETTING THE STAGE
Maj. Thomas Fite, assistant product manager for PM CCS, welcomes industry partners and government organizations to the XM123 GOBLN and Demolition Reformation Industry Day, hosted at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, in January 2024. (Photo by Jeanie Fortunato, PM CCS)
With an outdated portfolio and stimulus for modernization, the industry day planning team included engagements among industry partners, 11th Airborne Division (Artic Angels), 20th Engineer Brigade (Airborne), engineer representatives from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps materiel development commu- nities, the Army Office of the Chief of Engineers and the Walter
116 Army AL&T Magazine Summer 2024
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