Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

* NOTE: This report includes abstracts from the March 1993 and November 1996 surveys at this facility. The abstracts have since been divided into two groups based on their applicability to either the Y-12 facility or the Oak Ridge National Laboratoroy (ORNL).

In the 1940s, Oak Ridge Operations was established as one of the primary sites for World War II’s Manhattan Project. Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex has expanded far beyond its original mission and supports various activities such as major energy research and development programs; dismantlement and storage of nuclear weapon components; emergency manufacturing; design, fabrication, and certification of precision prototype hardware and assemblies; environmental management; educational training; and manufacturing technology transfer programs. Located in the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Oak Ridge Operations encompasses 35,252 acres of land and embraces three primary research and technology facilities (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, and East Tennessee Technology Park) as well as supportive organizations.

The ORNLconducts applied research and engineering development to advance the Nation’s energy resources, environmental quality, scientific knowledge, educational foundations, and industrial competitiveness. The site covers 2,900 acres and employs 5,000 personnel. Its fiscal budget was $672 million in 1995.

Oak Ridge Operations, like other government facilities, currently faces changes, challenges, and opportunities related to changing missions and declining budgets. Clearly the facilities, infrastructure, capabilities, and expertise that exist at Oak Ridge are world-class and generally unequaled. Among the best practices documented were Oak Ridge's mass spectrometry; electrical signature analysis; simulation technologies; non-surgical cancer diagnosis; Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology; Manufacturing Skills Campus; and Ultraprecision Manufacturing Technology Center.

Mass spectrometry remains one of the world’s most widely-used analytical techniques. Recognized as the world leader in this field, Oak Ridge has improved this technology by reducing the equipment cost and size, and by automating the analysis capabilities. These improvements promote field usage by allowing the technology to be portable, providing real-time analysis, and permitting laymen to operate the equipment efficiently.

Traditional electric motor and generator test methods of analyzing load and performance with total current and power monitoring cannot provide the high resolution needed to describe evolving faults or small variations in the applied loading. Oak Ridge developed several signal conditioning and signature analysis methods that exploit the intrinsic abilities of conventional electric motors and generators to act as transducers. By using current and voltage probes, electrical signature analysis detects and analyzes the small time-dependent load and speed variations generated within an electro-mechanical system and converts them to frequency signatures which are useful for both mechanical and electrical fault detection.

Oak Ridge's capabilities in the area of simulation technologies include integrated concurrent engineering environments, a virtual factory, and a machine tool training simulator. Through the Concurrent Engineering Center, Oak Ridge can develop, visualize, and analyze proposed designs on a 3-D computer model under simulated conditions prior to the fabrication of a prototype. Oak Ridge's virtual factory simulates a discrete and continuous factory which not only offers layout capability but features production cycle-time predictions and human ergonomic models for design. Oak Ridge's machine tool training simulator provides users with hands-on operating experience, real-time feedback, and the capability to train in a realistic environment by exposing the user to a virtual fabrication shop.

Conventional methods of biopsy diagnosis require a tissue sample and usually a lengthy turnaround period for laboratory analysis. Oak Ridge has developed a laser-based, non-surgical method for diagnosing cancer. This differential normalized fluorescence procedure uses a fiber-optic endoscope, requires no tissue sample during the procedure, and provides immediate diagnostic results. Clinical evaluation of this technique has proven it to be almost 100% accurate when diagnosing esophageal cancer.

Oak Ridge serves the Nation through ORCMT by maintaining core competencies related to weapon manufacturing, providing access to user facilities, operating the manufacturing skills campus, and providing opportunities via technology transfer programs. Success results by combining the overlapping research and development capabilities of ORNL, the unique manufacturing technologies of the Y-12 Plant, and the environmental restoration experience of the East Tennessee Technology Park.

In November 1997, the Y-12 Plant was designated as the National Prototype Center (NPC) by the U.S. Congress. This Center specializes in high-risk, complex prototype work which integrates manufacturing, engineering, and scientific capabilities, and draws from resources available across the entire Oak Ridge complex including those from ORCMT. NPC is a place where government agencies and private industries can find all the capabilities, skills, and resources needed to turn great ideas into innovative, affordable, manufacturable products.

As the training arm of ORCMT, the Manufacturing Skills Campus offers intense hands-on and performance-based training courses for government, industry, and academia. The Campus features national broadcasts on industry- relevant topics via remote electronic hook-up, and a virtual training model which reduces traditional cost and schedule barriers.

As new technologies produced a need for smaller, more precise components, the demand for machining capabilities with submicron tolerances increased. Oak Ridge's Ultraprecision Manufacturing Technology Center provides fabrication methods and precision metrology with submicron tolerances. In addition, the Center specializes in ion milling; single-point diamond turning; ductile grinding; and miniature/micro optical systems.

Since its original survey in March 1993, Oak Ridge Operations continues to advance in quality, excellence, and research. In addition to these goals, its new mission promotes communication, marketability, and collaboration with the private sector. This spirit of change continues to characterize Oak Ridge’s activities as it builds on its historic strengths; delivers scientific and technological value; and establishes itself as an efficient, cost-effective complex regarded for its high excellence, ethics, and integrity. This BMP survey report should not be considered as superseding the March 1993 report, but should be viewed as complementary to the first report. The BMP survey team considers the following practices to be among the best in industry and government.

TABLE OF ACRONYMS
The following acronyms were used in this report:

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.