The Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Manufacturing Technology Program has pinpointed new focus areas for manufacturing through the Organic Industrial Base Modernization workshop.
Hosted last month, the workshop was designed to identify promising innovations in military technology production that could meet the needs of the office in collaboration with nine of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, the DOD said Tuesday.
Representatives of the public-private MIIs who participated in the workshop include Berardino Baratta, CEO of Manufacturing x Digital, who said that the program spearheads the “innovation and adoption of advanced manufacturing capabilities to improve the U.S. supply chain and national security readiness.”
The event was attended by numerous DOD leaders, including Vic Ramdass, deputy assistant secretary of defense for materiel readiness; Richard Martin, director of supply chain management for the Army Materiel Command; and Jeffrey Sick, director of logistics for the Air Force Sustainment Center. Other participants were David Menzen, deputy director of the Logistics Division and Marine Col. Kirk Spangenberg, commander of the Marine Depot Maintenance Command. During the workshop, they spoke about modernization challenges and technologies important to DOD missions.
OSD ManTech will launch the OIB Modernization Challenge in February 2024 to help develop technologies that could support the department’s efforts to progress in its critical technology areas.