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Original Date: 04/06/1998
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Information : Tele-Maintenance
The Tele-Maintenance technology is a result of an initiative developed in January 1995 by the Army Materiel Command’s Force XXI Synchronization Office. The purpose of the initiative was to integrate several advanced technology thrusts into a single program designed to greatly improve Army maintenance and repair capabilities. This technology directly linked the forward repair soldier, working on a combat battle tank, from basically any place in the world with the Anniston Army Depot’s (ANAD’s) Subject Matter Expert (SME) via audio, text, and video feeds. The Depot’s SME is able to properly assess the problem and provide detailed voice, schematic, and text assistance to the field repairer in real time. The objective is to provide a seamless maintenance support system, from the foxhole to the factory, by repairing in-forward areas faster and with more effective support to the combat force.
The Tele-Maintenance team first demonstrated this concept at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, May10-26, 1995, in the General Headquarters Prairie Warrior/Mobile Strike Force's Advance Warfighting Exercise. Headquarters, Army Materiel Command's (AMC’s)Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force utilized the Logistics Anchor Desk as a logistics operations cell to look at new ideas, concepts, and technologies from the military and civilian sectors. ANAD's role in the exercise was to look at Force XXI Sustainment Issues through the eyes of Tele-Maintenance.
This technology was again demonstrated at the U.S. Army's 1995, 1996, and 1997 Annual Association of the United States Army Meeting. ANAD's role in the show was part of the Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force display. It featured a Synthetic Theater of War and showcased a live Tele-Maintenance Video Assisted Repair demonstration with ANAD's SME assisting a soldier at Camp Dodge, Iowa who was troubleshooting a problem with an M1A1 main battle tank. The Tele-Maintenance display was sponsored by the Commanding General, U.S. AMC. He and numerous (approximately 300 per day) U.S. Army Command and Staffers (e.g, The Secretary of the Army; Chief of Staff; Vice Chief of Staff; many Office of the Secretary of Defense civilians; international VIPs) came through the exhibit to observe how Tele-Maintenance is linking Force XXI to the maintenance expert for superior worldwide power projection.
Tele-Maintenance has the following benefits:
Optimizes Personnel Resources: transports the knowledge not the individual; enhances split-based operations; and supports multiple contingency operations.
Increases Readiness: compresses time of repair; reduces number of Depot-level repairs; and provides timely maintenance information to the soldier by taking advantage of the Internet.
Cost Savings: decreases unnecessary component replacements; eliminates temporary duty travel to field locations; and eliminates printing and mailing costs.
The setup cost is approximately $8,200 including Tele-Maintenance hardware. The cost of the Tele-Maintenance package is approximately $155,000 which includes electronic transmission of video/audio data; remote technician field support; limited on-site visits if required; database historical information; improved maintenance technology; and Missile Command bridge support. Access to the Depot Component Repair Program will incur an additional charge. Tele-Maintenance has been successfully demonstrated with significant cost benefits. More effort may be devoted to reduce the package cost and promote wider acceptance of this technology.
For more information see the
Point of Contact for this survey.
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