5 ms·

It already does a lot of inflexible manufacturing, often by outsourcing overseas, but I'd love to see part of the US military converted to a rapid-response, hig

by SiVal 7y ago

It already does a lot of inflexible manufacturing, often by outsourcing overseas, but I'd love to see part of the US military converted to a rapid-response, highly flexible, fully-domestic manufacturing system. LOTS of very flexible automation, so they could take a wide range of designs and raw materials and rapidly switch from making one thing to making another and the ability to hugely ramp up production on demand without having to retrain people or recertify facilities. The people involved would be trained to set up for a different product every couple of weeks or so. The system could be kept almost constantly humming, making one thing, switching and certifying, making another, switching and certifying, keeping them pre-trained, tested, and certified. The military itself has an ongoing need to rapidly adapt to new situations, but things are needed domestically for planned infrastructure, sudden large-scale destruction from earthquake/fire/flood/tornado disasters, sudden economic changes (ex: some sort of trade cutoff), strategic domestication (ex: immediately end reliance on some import), round-robin top-off of local emergency prep supplies, individual citizen preparedness supplies, etc.

ethbro 7y ago
https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Shipyards/Norfolk/Department-Links/Production-Shops/ https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Shipyards/Norfolk/Departmen...
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  I was going to say: surely the US military maintains a manufacturing core? I’m a metal fabricator by trade, and one thing you quickly notice is: with a machine shop and a fabrication shop you are tooled up to build the machines to manufacture almost anything.
  - 0xWTF 7y ago
    Folks, military physician here, operating at the national level on the analysis that informs these projects. The recent post on HN about the MIT $100 ventilator is one of the things that got this rolling. Manufacturing is spinning up. What I really need is developers on this project: https://github.com/joshua-s/coronavirus-diary https://github.com/joshua-s/coronavirus-diary
    - grogenaut 7y ago
      Josh you should put a call to action on the repo. There are no issues listed. I don't see links to anywhere that would let me help listed on the readme.
    - rickdangerous1 7y ago
      Wow...really? A MIT project with HN post is what kicked this off. As in...no one thought of this until then?
      - efp 7y ago
        welcome to the information age, where even the top brass can't make sense of it all and consequences will never be the same
    - egwor 7y ago
      What help do you need? - testers? - docs? - code reviews?
      - 0xWTF 7y ago
        Need more developers: * security engineer * iOS engineer * Android developer * Dart engineers * Flutter developers * Engineers with health industry experience * backend infrastructure * backend security Goal: 1-2 months to MVP deployment. Maybe sooner if people pile on.
    - agurk 7y ago
      From the README file on the coronavirus-diary: Coronavirus Diary is a mobile application that allows users to record their medical status, location, and activities to an encrypted vault on their device. If the user experiences symptoms in line with the disease, they will be prompted to contact their physician. In the case that a user contracts the disease, they can release their historical data to a physician to aid in treatment, research, and containment effort.
    - morphle 7y ago
      How can I contact you? There is an app already in use in the Netherlands. They are field testing at scale and releasing better versions twice a day. Next monday it will be distributed to all hospitals and most citizens. Dutch PBS prime time news had a 5 minute documentary on the app yesterday March 18th.
  - sandfly 7y ago
    Machine shops are Turing complete. You can use a machine to fabricate the machine you are using.
    - tlb 7y ago
      Very few are. Making ball bearings, for example, requires very special machines that no regular shop has.
      - catherd 7y ago
        ...but you can make machines in machine shops, as pointed out above. or machines to make machines, if needed. or in the simpler case you might fall back to scraped and oiled ways and bushings
- rwmurrayVT 7y ago
  'Their Optical Section performs optical alignment on shafting, masts, and other equipment.' That's me! Norfolk Naval Station is just one shipyard in the area. There are similar yards with all of the same equipment. BAE/Colanna/NASSCO/NNSY/Lyons/ECSR. It's the same story in San Diego, Pascagula, Jacksonville, Hawaii.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    Cool! That's the cleanest link I came across to illustrate the point. I think people forget how much end-to-end manufacturing capability the military retains (especially the Navy), even in these days of outsourced procurement pressure.
    - rwmurrayVT 7y ago
      Required to buy from USA manufacturers for nearly every thing. There are a substantial number of small shops supporting the US Navy.
dr_dshiv 7y ago
I love this idea. Non-wartime competition with contractors.
fludlight 7y ago
This should be distributed geographically, meaning the pork could be spread around, meaning it is remotely possible to pass.
gnopgnip 7y ago
This is literally what the military is now. Under the berry amendment a lot of what the military buys needs to be 100% domestic. A significant fraction of military spending is to ensure that the logistics are in place in case of a greater need in the future, not just to fulfill current needs and training, or any specific mission.
- noir_lord 7y ago
  Same reason there are rules about ships going between US ports been manufactured in the US - to keep strategic ship building capacity in the event of a war.
  - tobylane 7y ago
    That well meaning law means there’s one cruise ship that fits the requirements, all the others visit one foreign port. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America It looks like the cargo ship law, Jones Act, is more successful in creating capacity.
    - brobdingnagians 7y ago
      Even then, it took a special exemption from Congress since it was towed to and finished in Germany after the initial company filed bankruptcy. > Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd acquired the unfinished ship and was towed to Germany for completion as Pride of America for their newly launched NCL America division. > A special exemption on the part of the U.S. government allowed the modified, mostly German-built ship to attain U.S. registry. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America
    - dantheman 7y ago
      The Jones act is a complete failure. https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-burden-america-can-no-longer-bear https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-...
- joezydeco 7y ago

by SiVal 7y ago

ethbro 7y ago

https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Shipyards/Norfolk/Department-Links/Production-Shops/ https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Shipyards/Norfolk/Departmen...

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
I was going to say: surely the US military maintains a manufacturing core? I’m a metal fabricator by trade, and one thing you quickly notice is: with a machine shop and a fabrication shop you are tooled up to build the machines to manufacture almost anything.
- 0xWTF 7y ago
  Folks, military physician here, operating at the national level on the analysis that informs these projects. The recent post on HN about the MIT $100 ventilator is one of the things that got this rolling. Manufacturing is spinning up. What I really need is developers on this project: https://github.com/joshua-s/coronavirus-diary https://github.com/joshua-s/coronavirus-diary
  - grogenaut 7y ago
    Josh you should put a call to action on the repo. There are no issues listed. I don't see links to anywhere that would let me help listed on the readme.
  - rickdangerous1 7y ago
    Wow...really? A MIT project with HN post is what kicked this off. As in...no one thought of this until then?
    - efp 7y ago
      welcome to the information age, where even the top brass can't make sense of it all and consequences will never be the same
  - egwor 7y ago
    What help do you need? - testers? - docs? - code reviews?
    - 0xWTF 7y ago
      Need more developers: * security engineer * iOS engineer * Android developer * Dart engineers * Flutter developers * Engineers with health industry experience * backend infrastructure * backend security Goal: 1-2 months to MVP deployment. Maybe sooner if people pile on.
  - agurk 7y ago
    From the README file on the coronavirus-diary: Coronavirus Diary is a mobile application that allows users to record their medical status, location, and activities to an encrypted vault on their device. If the user experiences symptoms in line with the disease, they will be prompted to contact their physician. In the case that a user contracts the disease, they can release their historical data to a physician to aid in treatment, research, and containment effort.
  - morphle 7y ago
    How can I contact you? There is an app already in use in the Netherlands. They are field testing at scale and releasing better versions twice a day. Next monday it will be distributed to all hospitals and most citizens. Dutch PBS prime time news had a 5 minute documentary on the app yesterday March 18th.
- sandfly 7y ago
  Machine shops are Turing complete. You can use a machine to fabricate the machine you are using.
  - tlb 7y ago
    Very few are. Making ball bearings, for example, requires very special machines that no regular shop has.
    - catherd 7y ago
      ...but you can make machines in machine shops, as pointed out above. or machines to make machines, if needed. or in the simpler case you might fall back to scraped and oiled ways and bushings
rwmurrayVT 7y ago
'Their Optical Section performs optical alignment on shafting, masts, and other equipment.' That's me! Norfolk Naval Station is just one shipyard in the area. There are similar yards with all of the same equipment. BAE/Colanna/NASSCO/NNSY/Lyons/ECSR. It's the same story in San Diego, Pascagula, Jacksonville, Hawaii.
- ethbro 7y ago
  Cool! That's the cleanest link I came across to illustrate the point. I think people forget how much end-to-end manufacturing capability the military retains (especially the Navy), even in these days of outsourced procurement pressure.
  - rwmurrayVT 7y ago
    Required to buy from USA manufacturers for nearly every thing. There are a substantial number of small shops supporting the US Navy.

dr_dshiv 7y ago

I love this idea. Non-wartime competition with contractors.

fludlight 7y ago

This should be distributed geographically, meaning the pork could be spread around, meaning it is remotely possible to pass.

gnopgnip 7y ago

This is literally what the military is now. Under the berry amendment a lot of what the military buys needs to be 100% domestic. A significant fraction of military spending is to ensure that the logistics are in place in case of a greater need in the future, not just to fulfill current needs and training, or any specific mission.

noir_lord 7y ago
Same reason there are rules about ships going between US ports been manufactured in the US - to keep strategic ship building capacity in the event of a war.
- tobylane 7y ago
  That well meaning law means there’s one cruise ship that fits the requirements, all the others visit one foreign port. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America It looks like the cargo ship law, Jones Act, is more successful in creating capacity.
  - brobdingnagians 7y ago
    Even then, it took a special exemption from Congress since it was towed to and finished in Germany after the initial company filed bankruptcy. > Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd acquired the unfinished ship and was towed to Germany for completion as Pride of America for their newly launched NCL America division. > A special exemption on the part of the U.S. government allowed the modified, mostly German-built ship to attain U.S. registry. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_America
  - dantheman 7y ago
    The Jones act is a complete failure. https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-burden-america-can-no-longer-bear https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/jones-act-...
joezydeco 7y ago