View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Calhoun, Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2008-12 Development of an Item Unique Identification strategy for the legacy components of the US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams Tank Blakiston, Edward Y. Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/10296 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA MBA PROFESSIONAL REPORT Development of an Item Unique Identification Strategy for the Legacy Components of the US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams Tank By: Edward Y. Blakiston Carl J. Punzel, and Richard A. Jennings December 2008 Advisors: Geraldo Ferrer, Daniel A. Nussbaum Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED December 2008 MBA Professional Report 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Development of an Item Unique Identification 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Strategy for the Legacy Components of the US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams Tank 6. AUTHOR(S) Jennings, R. A., Punzel, C. J., Blakiston, E. Y. 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School REPORT NUMBER Monterey, CA 93943-5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING N/A AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has mandated that every component that meets certain cost and management criteria in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) tangible inventory must have a valid Item Unique Identification (IUID) mark by December 2010. The IUID program is expected to increase force readiness, enhance the lifecycle management of assets, and provide more accurate asset valuation to achieve unqualified audit opinions on DoD financial statements. One of the challenges of the program is to achieve IUID-marking saturation throughout in-use, or legacy, inventories with minimal interruption of operational readiness. The purpose of this project is to propose an effective implementation strategy for the legacy items that meet the DoD’s requirements for IUID marking in the US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams tank community. This plan could potentially serve as a model for other communities facing the challenge of IUID implementation. This project examines different implementation alternatives and identifies and develops the determined best course of action. In addition, an estimation of the costs to implement the chosen plan will be provided for comparison and decision-making purposes. 14. SUBJECT TERMS Item Unique Identification, IUID, Legacy Components, M1A1 Abrams MBT, 15. NUMBER OF CFO Act 1990 PAGES 107 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239-18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited DEVELOPMENT OF AN ITEM UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION STRATEGY FOR THE LEGACY COMPONENTS OF THE US MARINE CORPS M1A1 ABRAMS TANK Edward Y. Blakiston, Major, United States Marine Corps Carl J. Punzel, Captain, United States Marine Corps Richard A. Jennings, Captain, United States Marine Corps Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL December 2008 Authors: _____________________________________ Edward Y. Blakiston _____________________________________ Carl J. Punzel _____________________________________ Richard A. Jennings Approved by: _____________________________________ Geraldo Ferrer, Lead Advisor _____________________________________ Daniel Nussbaum, Support Reader _____________________________________ Terry Rea, CAPT USN, Acting Dean Graduate School of Business and Public Policy iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv DEVELOPMENT OF AN ITEM UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION STRATEGY FOR THE LEGACY COMPONENTS OF THE US MARINE CORPS M1A1 ABRAMS TANK ABSTRACT The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has mandated that every component that meets certain cost and management criteria in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) tangible inventory must have a valid Item Unique Identification (IUID) mark by December 2010. The IUID program is expected to increase force readiness, enhance the lifecycle management of assets, and provide more accurate asset valuation to achieve unqualified audit opinions on DoD financial statements. One of the challenges of the program is to achieve IUID-marking saturation throughout in-use, or legacy, inventories with minimal interruption of operational readiness. The purpose of this project is to propose an effective implementation strategy for the legacy items that meet the DoD’s requirements for IUID marking in the US Marine Corps M1A1 Abrams tank community. This plan could potentially serve as a model for other communities facing the challenge of IUID implementation. This project examines different implementation alternatives and identifies and develops the best course of action. In addition, an estimation of the costs to implement the chosen plan provided for comparison and decision-making purposes. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 A. BACKGROUND ..............................................................................................1 1. Federal Government High-Risk Programs .......................................1 2. Causes for Excessive Inventory ..........................................................2 a. Budget Execution......................................................................2 b. Acquiring Spare Parts to Improve Readiness ..........................3 c. Inventory Visibility and Control...............................................3 3. Total Asset Visibility............................................................................4 4. Unique Identification...........................................................................4 5. Department of Defense IUID Mandate..............................................5 B. PURPOSE.........................................................................................................5 C. METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................................6 II. ITEM UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION.........................................................................7 A. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................7 B. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERS ACT OF 1990.........................................7 1. Financial Statements............................................................................7 a. Clean Audit................................................................................8 b. Balance Sheet............................................................................8 c. Military Equipment...................................................................9 2. The DoD and the CFO Act..................................................................9 3. Military Equipment Valuation .........................................................10 C. IUID HISTORY AND BACKGROUND .....................................................11 D. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROGRESS.............................................13 E. IUID MARKING ...........................................................................................14 1. Data Plates ..........................................................................................15 2. Label Printing.....................................................................................16 3. Direct Part Marking ..........................................................................17 F. IUID AND THE CONFIGURATION CONTROL PROCESS.................18 G. IUID REGISTRY...........................................................................................19 1. Virtual Unique Item Identifiers........................................................19 2. Marine Corps IUID Repository........................................................20 3. Automated Identification Technology..............................................20