Logistik Unicorp at CANSEC 2022

[dimsum]

Reddit for the win: the problem isn't a shortage of caps, it's an excess of officers.

I chuckled at that one too.

 

[Navy_Pete]

I love after CANSEC the flood of good idea emails that come in; maybe bring us up to 50% HR levels and I can start even thinking about new items, instead of just treading water and working on whatever the biggest issue the day is

 

[daftandbarmy]

I love after CANSEC the flood of good idea emails that come in; maybe bring us up to 50% HR levels and I can start even thinking about new items, instead of just treading water and working on whatever the biggest issue the day is

The work of senior leadership? Sorting wheat from chaff, of course

 

[Navy_Pete]

The work of senior leadership? Sorting wheat from chaff, of course

View attachment 71278

That is a hell of a good point, just frustrating when you want to improve things, but are resourced below the levels to even maintain the status quo. We've got more than a few genuinely good ideas that are about a decade old that we've yet to be able to implement due to lack of resources.

I was joking the other day that maybe we could pretend it's 2002 and implement an off the shelf 2012 solution under the various innovation programs, but no one in the innovation team found it funny for some reason.

 

[markppcli]

That is a hell of a good point, just frustrating when you want to improve things, but are resourced below the levels to even maintain the status quo. We've got more than a few genuinely good ideas that are about a decade old that we've yet to be able to implement due to lack of resources.

I was joking the other day that maybe we could pretend it's 2002 and implement an off the shelf 2012 solution under the various innovation programs, but no one in the innovation team found it funny for some reason.

I would deeply love to pick you brain about what’s up and coming or dying on the vine.

 

[Navy_Pete]

On the Navy side we've been talking for years now about having some simple things like a tablet with the drawings etc on it, so that when someone went to do maintenance they could pull it up, have refs available if required, fill in a soft copy checklist, and then synch it with the maintenance system to mark it as done.

The tools to do that have been around for 15+ years, and with how cheap tablets are you could probably implement it for under $100/unit, and now also are compatible with the same EHM tools that come standard with most large machinery. The big OEMs all offer EHM monitoring as part of the ISSCs, so you can regularly email them small data files, and they will let you know if something needs investigated.

This stuff used to be incredibly expensive 20 years ago, but now you can get it off Amazon, and actually offers more real functionality then the VR glasses people are so hot and heavy about.

Totally off track from the original L-U post, but I'm sure there are folks working on teams that also are big on innovating there with next gen fabrics etc, when we still can't get a pair of pants tailored to fit a human being. Probably also has the same ratio of support, where there are more people working on 'next gen' investigations that don't actually ever deliver something, while the squad trying to support clothing is down to the bare minimum required to keep the current contracts in place (as long as no one takes holiday, gets sick, or goes on course).

 

[daftandbarmy]

On the Navy side we've been talking for years now about having some simple things like a tablet with the drawings etc on it, so that when someone went to do maintenance they could pull it up, have refs available if required, fill in a soft copy checklist, and then synch it with the maintenance system to mark it as done.

The tools to do that have been around for 15+ years, and with how cheap tablets are you could probably implement it for under $100/unit, and now also are compatible with the same EHM tools that come standard with most large machinery. The big OEMs all offer EHM monitoring as part of the ISSCs, so you can regularly email them small data files, and they will let you know if something needs investigated.

This stuff used to be incredibly expensive 20 years ago, but now you can get it off Amazon, and actually offers more real functionality then the VR glasses people are so hot and heavy about.

Totally off track from the original L-U post, but I'm sure there are folks working on teams that also are big on innovating there with next gen fabrics etc, when we still can't get a pair of pants tailored to fit a human being. Probably also has the same ratio of support, where there are more people working on 'next gen' investigations that don't actually ever deliver something, while the squad trying to support clothing is down to the bare minimum required to keep the current contracts in place (as long as no one takes holiday, gets sick, or goes on course).

It's all about leadership, of course.

I'm working with a client organization right now who I was seriously worried about. We did alot of work with a cross functional Design Team to map out and improve a variety of processes and business tools.

After we completed the design phase they put the project on 'pause'. I thought they had cancelled it. Then they just started implementing all the good idea the team came up with.

Today, they 'e-introduced' us to one of the new people they hired for the 'Air Traffic Control' position that will do triage on all the work coming in their front door and tracking everything that was falling through the cracks.

It's like Consultant Christmas... I don't know what the next surprise will be

 

[markppcli]

On the Navy side we've been talking for years now about having some simple things like a tablet with the drawings etc on it, so that when someone went to do maintenance they could pull it up, have refs available if required, fill in a soft copy checklist, and then synch it with the maintenance system to mark it as done.

The tools to do that have been around for 15+ years, and with how cheap tablets are you could probably implement it for under $100/unit, and now also are compatible with the same EHM tools that come standard with most large machinery. The big OEMs all offer EHM monitoring as part of the ISSCs, so you can regularly email them small data files, and they will let you know if something needs investigated.

This stuff used to be incredibly expensive 20 years ago, but now you can get it off Amazon, and actually offers more real functionality then the VR glasses people are so hot and heavy about.

Totally off track from the original L-U post, but I'm sure there are folks working on teams that also are big on innovating there with next gen fabrics etc, when we still can't get a pair of pants tailored to fit a human being. Probably also has the same ratio of support, where there are more people working on 'next gen' investigations that don't actually ever deliver something, while the squad trying to support clothing is down to the bare minimum required to keep the current contracts in place (as long as no one takes holiday, gets sick, or goes on course).

I’m flashing back a couple years to the Commander of the Army answering Comd 1 CMBGs question about how we could get night vision for every soldier in the high readiness brigade with an king discussion about the next generation digitial night visions he’d been shown that was going to be available in ten years. Uh Rodger that Sir but 30 % of this brigade doesn’t have an NVG and we’d really like that soonest.

I suppose, and I hope this doesn’t come off as an attack on what I’m sure are some hard working well intentioned folks, but it’s easier to deal with fantasies (future projects with no hope of adoption) than realities ( our combats look absurd).

 

[Navy_Pete]

I’m flashing back a couple years to the Commander of the Army answering Comd 1 CMBGs question about how we could get night vision for every soldier in the high readiness brigade with an king discussion about the next generation digitial night visions he’d been shown that was going to be available in ten years. Uh Rodger that Sir but 30 % of this brigade doesn’t have an NVG and we’d really like that soonest.

I suppose, and I hope this doesn’t come off as an attack on what I’m sure are some hard working well intentioned folks, but it’s easier to deal with fantasies (future projects with no hope of adoption) than realities ( our combats look absurd).

I general, the next big thing or sexy projects like new weapon systems get a lot more support. Totally fair, because let's be honest, that's more interesting, but then when the bathrooms go down or trainers break, people start freaking out and wonder why we aren't doing more.

Apparently the answer you shouldn't give is that there are more people creating dashboard reports than supporting that group of equipment. Also, you shouldn't tell people that installing wifi isn't a bigger priority than multiple safety related engineering changes., or that when people are triple hatted with high turnover in key positions things will fall through the cracks.

Definitely some interesting things coming down the pipe, but I think we'd get more bang for the buck by getting those people to implement existing solutions now instead for known problems that we just don't have the people to move with (ie buy enough current gen equipment for the troops). Even reporting that things aren't being done and creating a high risk for unknown failures and impacts, people are still surprised when that risk turns into a problem.

If we had enough bums in seats then sure, dream big, but when most places are below 50% HR and heavily triaging that seems like a luxury.