Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[Kirkhill]

You can software and hardware for some of the equipment from Caterpillar, Cummins, Volvo, Detroit Mann,
There are a few Optical, digital diagnostic companies in Canada that sell equipment for diagnosing and aligning instruments. Along with NDT parts and services.

Sure (you would be surprised what PA has available to them for Hydraulic hoses fittings and pipe along with other supply partners for various equipment). You do understand we have various industry bases in Canada that not only mines, processes and manufactures various parts for Aircraft, they also design, engineer, build, repair and manufacture a variety of parts for National and International Aerospace customers.

I wonder what is actually stockpiled through out Canada in various warehouses around the country both Government and private industry.

Is there an index that cross-references NSNs with commercial part numbers?

 

[childs56]

Is there an index that cross-references NSNs with commercial part numbers?

For aviation parts specifically the NSN is usually across the board. But many parts will show up as unavailable or restricted even though it might be the same part.

Otherwise you can use a search engine and type in the NSN and it generally will show commercially available products. Or You can use identifiers for example Caterpillar C12 engine diagnostic computer.
You can use CAGE numbers or even supplier identifiers.

As for an actual cross reference for NSN to commercial parts numbers maybe
Some manufacturers have this as part of their programs for internal use. But a single part might be associated with several different NSNs depending on its use and application.
Youhttps://www.iso-group.com/nsn-search/Search-NSN-Parts-Database/Search-Defense-Parts can try this website.

 

[MJP]

Is there an index that cross-references NSNs with commercial part numbers?

Any material can have multiple manufacturer part numbers associated with it in our cataloguing system. More complex than that but the capability is there and is used.

 

[Kirkhill]

For aviation parts specifically the NSN is usually across the board. But many parts will show up as unavailable or restricted even though it might be the same part.

Otherwise you can use a search engine and type in the NSN and it generally will show commercially available products. Or You can use identifiers for example Caterpillar C12 engine diagnostic computer.
You can use CAGE numbers or even supplier identifiers.

As for an actual cross reference for NSN to commercial parts numbers maybe
Some manufacturers have this as part of their programs for internal use. But a single part might be associated with several different NSNs depending on its use and application.
Youhttps://www.iso-group.com/nsn-search/Search-NSN-Parts-Database/Search-Defense-Parts can try this website.

So nowadays, when I go online looking for a wrench or a new toilet seat my phone tells me which store has it and how many are in stock or if I have to get Amazon or DHL to drop it off tomorrow.

....

How are the storemen making out?

Mind you, it is hard to get parts for a 1914 Model T that was chopped into a roadster in 1964.

 

[Prairie canuck]

Shopping around can also expose you to the world of counterfeit parts. This was a big issue a few years ago and has decreased but it is still there lurking.

 

[FJAG]

Getting away from the sublime equipment, I went to Canadian Tire today and on the impulse shelves just before check out was a little quad-copter drone UAV from the PRC for less than $50. And I said to myself if we commissioned a small factory to turn out thousands of those on a continuing basis for less than $100 at cost. - give a whole lot to Ukraine and build up our own stocks and experience with them.

Plus we'd build the experience for bigger and more complex ones.

All we have to do is start.

 

[childs56]

Shopping around can also expose you to the world of counterfeit parts. This was a big issue a few years ago and has decreased but it is still there lurking.

There was more to this than just shopping around. Ordering from legitimate suppliers, manufactures and producers has resulted in similar issues and concerns. That is why QC is suppose to be doing their job. They often get laxed over things like this.

 

[Halifax Tar]

How are the storemen making out?

I'm what sense ?

 

[Kirkhill]

I'm what sense ?

I'm wondering if the software tools that you have available to you are as user friendly as the tools that are available to any civilian with a smartphone.

And if not, why not.

 

[Ludoc]

I'm wondering if the software tools that you have available to you are as user friendly as the tools that are available to any civilian with a smartphone.

And if not, why not.

No. Because we have been stretched for cash for a long time and have spent our meagre funds elsewhere.

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.” -Terry Pratchett, Disc World

Would it have made sense to replace our supply software with something world class a long time ago? Yes. Would the cost of doing so been quickly recouped in the man hours saved by our overworked MMTs? Yes. But you need the initial money to do so. We have been stuck wearing hand-me-down cardboard boots because we have not been able to afford leather ones.

 

[MJP]

No. Because we have been stretched for cash for a long time and have spent our meagre funds elsewhere.

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.” -Terry Pratchett, Disc World

Would it have made sense to replace our supply software with something world class a long time ago? Yes. Would the cost of doing so been quickly recouped in the man hours saved by our overworked MMTs? Yes. But you need the initial money to do so. We have been stuck wearing hand-me-down cardboard boots because we have not been able to afford leather ones.

Meh SAP/DRMIS is world class. We have an older version but still used by umpteen thousands of companies. Our problem is more self induced. When we switched over to an erp system that is a whole ecosystem, we tried to recreate all our s***** prior systems that stood alone and the people doing it had no idea the power of an a world class ERP


So they did what they were familiar with which doesn't work in a total ecosystem and it has caused nothing but problems ever since. We are slowly unrolling that bandage, but there's still lots of configuration/customization that was done that made sense on a standalone system, but not a total ERP

Even your post highlights the fact that people think it's only a supply system, but in reality it is an interconnected system of modules that does many things. Maintenance, defense and security module, financial module and many more in addition.

Now we can get a better user interface? Sure, and in some cases that already exists for some of the modules. But most of our problems with the system is our own lack of knowledge as an institution.

 

[Ludoc]

Meh SAP/DRMIS is world class. We have an older version but still used by umpteen thousands of companies.

It may be the best system out there, I don't know and will take your word on it. I am sure, as you said, the program itself is an industry standard for a reason. But the question was about user friendliness. I know some guys that can do some real magic on DRMIS, however, it is anything but user friendly.

Tools that aren't intuitive and easy to pick up aren't widely adopted or understood. I think we would be better served with something that most people could learn to use quickly. Maybe that isn't a whole new system. It may be just a front end for us regular idiots and power users could keep their access to the more powerful back end. That is what I meant by "world class," something that runs on a tablet that I could just hand to a person and they could figure out.

A bunch of other well reasoned arguments and good points.

But most of our problems with the system is our own lack of knowledge as an institution.

I agree with you and that is what scares me about MISSILE (or how ever you spell it). It may be better than DRMIS but if we (the CAF as a whole) don't really understand what it does or how to use it, is it really going to improve our processes? I hope so, but I think we will continue to see things tracked on a bunch of Excel spreadsheets that aren't linked to anything else and are updated manually.

I think that is our biggest problem. If we just redirected the man hours each successive HQ wastes building tools to track things that are already tracked by MM/CFTPO/DRMIS/etc we could probably get a lot accomplished.