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Valenite Tooling Used
in New U.S. Army
The U.S. Army's National Automotive Center has deployed its first Mobile Parts Hospital, a self-contained mobile mini-manufacturing center to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, in support of the American forces in Iraq. The Mobile Parts Hospital was developed collaboratively by the U.S. Army's National Automotive Center (NAC) in Warren, Michigan and the Center for Advanced Technologies at Focus: HOPE, located in Detroit, Michigan. The Parts Hospital will produce a variety of critically needed replacement parts for military vehicles with tooling provided by Valenite. The hospital's Rapid Manufacturing System is the automotive equivalent of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). It combines manufacturing technology through an infrastructure linked via satellite to an "agile" communications and storage cell of technical data located at Focus: HOPE in Detroit. The hospital unit sends a request for manufacturing data to the Command and Control Center located at Focus: HOPE. The center then accesses data from the "agile" cell, and the data is then transmitted back to the field unit where the part is manufactured for immediate use. After being deployed in Kuwait, the center began producing replacement parts in less than an hour.
In the 27,000 pound mobile mini-manufacturing center is a Mazak Integrex 100Y machining center tooled with Valenite VM Modular Tooling. Included in the standard package are (10) different sizes of OD turning VM 63 tools, (4) different sizes of grooving and cutoff tools, (9) different end mill adapters, (8) different turning adapters, (4) different ID boring VM63 tools, (5) different boring bar adapters, (3) different shell mill adapters, (8) different collet chuck adapters, (2) different tap adapters, (2) hydraulic chuck adapters, (1) extension and (3) different reducers and a complete supply of carbide cutting tool inserts. The NAC is the Army's official link to working with commercial and academic partners to generate vehicles that will provide the Army with the mobility, survivability and agility it needs to operate effectively in today's new threat environment. For the military, the center's partnership approach makes it possible to improve performance, safety and endurance while reducing design, manufacturing, operations and maintenance costs. The NAC is part of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). TARDEC is the nation's laboratory for advanced military automotive technology and has the mission to research, engineer, develop, leverage and provide advanced systems integration of technology into both ground systems and their support equipment throughout life cycles. Focus:HOPE is a nationally recognized civil and human
rights organization in Detroit. It has developed a variety of career
training programs in machining, engineering and information technology. |
