Courtesy Photo | Lawrence Coleman, right, a logistics assistance representative with U.S. Army Medical...... read more read more
FORT DETRICK, Md. -- When a medical device breaks down, a quick and effective repair is essential to ensuring readiness.
That can be a difficult prospect when a field-level maintainer must spend time tracking down a part to requisition locally.
U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command’s Integrated Logistics Support Center is taking steps to handle much of that legwork, cataloging hundreds of repair parts and linking them to dozens of medical equipment systems as it reforms sustainment practices throughout the operational force.
As of March 5, the ILSC’s Readiness and Sustainment Directorate, or R&S, has successfully cataloged a total of 570 repair parts for 32 different high-priority medical device systems, according to Byron Craig, division chief of supply and special projects within R&S.
These systems range from portable ultrasound machines and blood infusion pumps to critical care equipment, such as ventilators, automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, and X-ray machines.
“Timely repair of medical devices in a field environment presents a significant challenge to Army medical maintainers due to a lack of stocked and catalog of Class VIII repair parts,” Craig said. “This effort enables units the ability to procure repair parts to reduce repair turnaround time, which improves medical unit readiness and allows the unit to deliver quality patient health care.”
He added: “We acknowledge this is a starting point with much more work ahead.”
The ILSC serves as the tip of the spear for medical logistics reform as the Army undergoes major systemic changes. Much of that effort is part of what’s called Medical Logistics in Campaigning, or MiC, which aims to fully integrate MEDLOG into the wider Army sustainment enterprise and allow the seamless transition from a peacetime posture to large-scale combat operations.
Medical maintenance is one of the major focuses of MiC, addressing needs to synchronize and monitor demand of repair parts across the enterprise.
“We are trying to become proactive instead of reactive,” R&S Director Pam Wetzel said. “It all goes back to medical being able to see itself and how we communicate our requirements to our partners, like the Defense Logistics Agency who sources many of these repair parts.”
The ILSC has brought a renewed focus on sustainment in the medical acquisition process, helping to ensure the costs and sustainment requirements are factored into the total equipment life cycle from the start.
But for “legacy” devices, meaning those fielded to the medical force under past acquisition procedures before AMLC’s creation in 2019, more work needs to be done.
When a medical device requires service, parts need to be sourced and procurable. In the past, much of that responsibility fell on the maintainers -- either at the unit or sustainment level.
After diagnosing the issue, they would need to locate a part number and look it up, but cataloging was not standardized or aligned with the device. This slowed turnaround times and reduced visibility from the strategic level, as a result of the unit finding the part on their own and purchasing it directly, Wetzel said.
“If we can’t see what is needed, then we can’t adequately prepare and prime the supply chain to support the force,” she said. “Now that we’ve cataloged these parts, the fleet manager that’s responsible for that device will be looking at that and can track demands for different parts through the orders being placed.”
Wetzel said the ongoing effort also enables the ILSC to monitor for potential obsolesce within an equipment system, allowing the Army to engage with its partner manufacturers and come up with contingency plans to continue sustaining equipment for years to come.
“This initiative is huge because we’re doing it for the first time with medical, something that other commodities have done for a long time,” Wetzel said. “Ultimately, our goal is to improve readiness by reducing turnaround times for maintenance and ensuring equipment remains mission capable.”
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2025 11:29 |
| Story ID: | 493677 |
| Location: | FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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