Collective Design of the PAC-3 Product Delivery System Environment

The objective of this proposal is to define a system design process to minimize PAC-3 Program All Up Round (AUR) production costs. This proposal is targeted toward achieving signficant reductions in the unit cost and cycle time in the high-volume missleproduction environment of the PAC-3 AUR facility and its PAC-3 supply-chain relationships. The Production Delivery System (PDS) is the result of a Collective System Design process developed by Dr. David Cochran. To use the PDS, system designers use aDatabase evaluation form (questionnaire) in a structured process that defines system stability as a Tier 1 competency. Systemic variation and resulting instability are embedded in actuals quantified by historical learning curves. Since learning curvehistory is used as the estimating basis to prepare RFP responses, the effects of systemic variation are included in DoD contractor proposals. Learning curve history documents company reactions to system instability. The PDS defines specific activitiesand decision interfaces that are controllable by or influenced by manufacturing system designers (ie: the engineers, managers, and operating personnel) to minimize sources of systemic variation. As a result, the PDS offers a unique, standardized method ofevaluating and focusing Lean/Six Sigma (LSS) and Value Stream Mapping (VSM) implementation activities to minimize the adverse effects of instability. The objective of this proposal is to define a state-of-the art system design process to minimizePAC-3 Program All Up Round (AUR) production costs by achieving the objectives of a systemically defined and implemented Lean Six Sigma environment. This proposal is targeted toward achieving significant unit cost and cycle time reduction in the high-volumemissle production environment of the PAC-3 AUR facility. Resources allocated and invested in achieving a PDS defined systems solution are expected to provide radical improvements in future PAC-3 program cost projections. Successful implementation of thePDS will enable operations within the Spiral Development acquisition process by significantly reducing manufacturing cycle times.