New logistics system for ground assets

Military Forces, especially when they are deployed, depend on effective logistics and maintenance support for their materiel. A new project called "MMM to Ground" aims to enhance that capability for Defence's Aviation Organisations and Equipment Managers.

MMM stands for MIMS Maintenance Module, which is a functional area of the Mincom Information Management System (MIMS), developed by Mincom Limited. MIMS is a core component of the Standard Defence Supply System (SDSS).

Project Manager, CAPT John Shepherd, said that the project will deliver MMM to all aviation organisations which manage or carry out maintenance on GSE or ground-based equipment and to managers of through-life support for that equipment. He said that RAAF Base Amberley had been chosen by Air Force as the pilot site for the project and a trial within selected MEOMS workshops, recently initiated in October, is currently underway.

MEOMS Amberley Manager, Mr Tony Scales, confirmed that his Tactical Vehicle Workshops went 'live' on November 1 to begin trialing MMM. He added that workshop personnel have been training on the system and are now conducting transactions. "'MMM' is moving into ADF Aviation organisations plus the Defence Material Organisation (DMO)," he said.

Mr Ian McDonald of MINCOM said that MMM would operate on all Defence computer terminals as part of SDSS. "MMM is intended for small section-to-section work orders, and it includes automated parts listing software, " Mr McDonald said. "It can do away with hand-written orders."

Brigadier David McGahey, the Director-General Material Systems, visited Amberley recently to conduct briefings on MMM to Ground and to meet with MEOMS' personnel working on the first RAAF-based site.

The military version of the MIMS software was developed from a Commercial-off-the- Shelf (COTS) package modified for military-specific applications. It was introduced into the Australian Army in the mid-1990s.

"The Defence requirement was unique, in that, the system had to cover a large geographical area, with district-to-district communications, certain entitlement priorities and be highly flexible in its operation," Mr McDonald said.

The software is also gaining international acceptance, with similar applications introduced into the Canadian Defence Forces, United States Coastguard and Homeland Defence in the US.

Flight Lieutenant Darren Hill of Headquarters Combat Support Group said that while the CAMM2 system satisfied the air requirement until now there was no common maintenance management system for ground-based assets.

The timeline for implementation of MMM is:

March 2005 Pilot Site (AMB) goes live with AESSO Class 1 GSE & LSD equipment.
AESSO commences fleet management using MMM.

April-May05 Pilot Site operates base-wide at Amberley.
Oakey maintenance and fleet managers commence local implementation.

June2005 Post-implementation Pilot Review.
Townsville commences local implementation.

July 2005 Remaining aviation maintenance (Army, Navy and Air Force) and DMO sites rollout over the following 12 months.

For further information contact the Project Manager, CAPT John Shepherd at john.shepherd1@defence.gov.au.