U.S. Air Force Product Support Enterprise Vision July 2013

The July 2013 Air Force Product Support Enterprise Vision (PSEV): “Affordable warfighter readiness delivered through optimized Air Force product support enterprise capabilities.” It is built on two key concepts:  “Affordable warfighter readiness” addresses the need to balance system operational safety, suitability, effectiveness, availability, and total ownership costs. “Optimized Air Force product support enterprise capabilities” addresses the need to consider the effects on the Air Force’s product support enterprise capabilities resulting from the implementation of individual system product support strategies   The Air Force PSEV contains 31 Desired State Objectives spread across the four key capability areas of Product Support. The four key capability areas of Product Support are: Product Support Management Supply Chain Management Product Support Engineering Maintenance Management  The 31 Desired Air Force PSEV End State Objectives are: Product Support Management (6) Individual program product support strategies are evaluated for consistency with Air Force Product Support Enterprise Tenets and Desired State Objectives. An agile and adaptable cadre of Product Support Managers (PSM) with the right knowledge, skills, and abilities. Life Cycle Logisticians (LCL) are proactively involved in activities ranging from initial development planning and requirements development efforts to system disposal. An organic capability exists to perform Product Support Business Case Analysis, contract-negotiations, RFP development, and data rights acquisition. The option of competition is preserved throughout the life cycle. The best product support capabilities of the organic and commercial industrial base are leveraged. Supply Chain Management (11) Supply chain solutions are performance-based and right-sized to achieve optimization across the public and private sector, leveraging integrated end-to-end demand and supply planning, and sourcing and distribution strategies that are aligned to meet warfighter requirements through enterprise capabilities. Supply chain influences are built into material and non-material solution designs to meet both operational requirements and long-term supply chain optimization. Planning processes are fully integrated to meet customer requirements and leverage supplier throughput and cycle capabilities. Resource requirements are linked to outcomes in such a way that we can credibly predict the impact on SCM performance resulting from funding changes. Program Management offices have a robust customer relationship management (CRM) capability enabling them to understand, anticipate and influence customer requirements and expectations. An enterprise product lifecycle management (PLM) product data management capability that provides a common source for engineering data, bill of materials (BOM), configuration management and technical orders to optimize supply chain planning and execution. Standard, integrated IT solutions are leveraged to provide organic total asset visibility that enables synchronized information flow among customers and suppliers. Sourcing and distribution strategies that ensure a robust supplier base, allowing innovative competitive strategies leveraging spend and requirements to improve delivery performance. An Air Force level Supplier Relationship Management capability that leverages all purchasing to synchronize product support decisions and supplier performance with enterprise desired state objectives. Partnership efforts with industry are pursued vigorously, in order to aid in the rapid infusion of best-in-class supply chain practices. A robust, responsive and effective risk management capability to proactively identify, assess and mitigate high-probability/high-impact risks to the supply chain.  Product Support Engineering (7) Robust organic product support engineering capability exists to effectively contribute to the Program Manager’s responsibility to assure the Operational Safety, Suitability and Effectiveness of systems or end items or the Mission Assurance of Space Systems. Cross-cutting, enterprise-wide technical solutions are developed, leveraged and effectively implemented as best practices across the Product Support Enterprise. Product support engineering occurs in a collaborative environment that leverages both organic and contractor resources, processes and tools using partnering arrangements and shared access to potential solutions. Robust product support engineering analysis enables risk assessments, cost estimates, technology insertions and modification decisions across the product support enterprise to inform program cost, schedule and performance decisions. Product support engineering resource requirements are linked to outcomes to credibly predict the impact on system performance resulting from increases or decreases in funding. Rigorous developmental engineering planning capabilities and processes are applied early in the life cycle to ensure the design optimizes the balance between reliability, availability, maintainability, supportability, technical performance and life cycle cost. Vital Systems Engineering inputs, planning capabilities, and processes are integrated with the IPS Elements throughout the life cycle, ensuring product support requirements are addressed in the design, testing, manufacturing, and remanufacturing of the system, sub-system or components.  Maintenance Management (7)  A robust, modern, agile and properly-sized maintenance capability. The proper balance of organic maintenance capabilities and a strong commercial base to support operational and statutory requirements. Decisions are aligned to optimize public and private maintenance capabilities to reduce cost and improve warfighter support. Real-time data is used to make objective and more effective capacity utilization decisions to achieve Strategic Network Optimization and Repair Network Integration. A multi-skilled/consolidated-skilled organic workforce is available to support maintenance requirements. Interoperable Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul Information Technology systems that use common data sources to support maintenance, forecasting, planning, execution and product support design influence. Maintenance capability and efficiency is maximized through blended partnerships between the organic and private sectors to enable the sharing of best practices and concepts. This life cycle management focus is important for not only product support managers (PSMs) and the DoD life cycle logistics community, but for the broader acquisition and sustainment workforce, including (but by no means limited to) the systems engineering and program management communities. This document represents an important step forward in providing affordable warfighter readiness delivered through optimized Air Force product support enterprise capabilities. The integration of each of the four key capability areas is particularly powerful. In addition to the Product Support Management, Supply Chain Management and Maintenance Management "Key Functional Capabilities of Product Support", one particularly important aspect is the Air Force's continued integration of life cycle management, logistics, product support, and systems/sustaining engineering into what they are calling "Product Support Engineering", as the fourth key functional capabilities of Air Force product support.