For several years now the Navy Department has been extolling the many virtues of the Navy’s Inventory Control Program. We have been convinced that this program offers military as well as monetary advantages. We have been shown concrete cases in which ships were inoperative because of a lack of repair parts which were actually present in the area of the vessel’s breakdown. These parts, however, were not recognized to be the parts required since they were carried under an identification number different from the identification number under which the parts were requested. We have learned astounding facts. The Navy used less than 10,000 actually different bearings during the last war, despite the fact that bearings were stocked, procured, stored, and issued under 300,000 different manufacturers’ numbers. We have been convinced that the next war will be a war of scarcity, one which will necessitate optimum use of available materials.
All of these military advantages have been made manifest to us. Because of their scope and complexity, however, they have been difficult for one actually to visualize. Inventory control has at last reached a phase where this fact is no longer true. The consolidation of stocks, or the shipboard binning phase of the Inventory Control Program, permits ready visualization of the military necessities and the economic advantages of the program.
The first phase of the Shipboard Spare Parts Program has been initiated in the field of electronics. A program has been developed to improve economy, availability, and utilization of maintenance repair parts. In achieving these objectives, great savings in weight and volume automatically accrue to vessels. As the initial step in the physical activation of this program, the Bureau of Ships directed the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to effect what is termed a “conversion breakdown” of electronics parts for the U.S.S. Runner (SS 476). The Bureau of Ships with the information gained as a result of the Navy’s Inventory Control Program, i.e., identification, cataloging, interchange- ability, and usage data, was able to prepare a new allowance list of electronic repair parts for the U.S.S. Runner. Because the new allowance list takes full advantage of interchangeability information, conversion breakdown has been made possible. The actual breakdown was accomplished in the following manner: First, all electronics repair parts carried aboard the U.S.S. Runner were removed to the Electronics Storehouse in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Then the parts were segregated in accordance with their stock number identification. After segregation, the proper number of electronics repair parts required to support the U.S.S. Runner were reassembled in accordance with the new allowance list provided by the Bureau of Ships.
The actual results attained from the conversion breakdown of the U.S.S. Runner, the first ship to which the program has been applied, are nothing short of astounding. Before application of inventory control principles, the U.S.S. Runner was required to carry electronics repair parts which weighed approximately 3,300 pounds and occupied a space of approximately 220 cubic feet. After application of these principles, the weight of electronics repair parts was reduced to less than 300 pounds and the space required to less than 22 cubic feet—a total reduction of 90.9% in weight and 90% in volume.
In the very near future, the Bureau of Ships anticipates applying the electronics phase of this program to all vessels of both the active and inactive fleets. Steps already have been taken to design appropriate bins for vessels of the destroyer class. Eventually, the program will be extended to include, in addition to electronics repair parts, other categories of repair parts. Perhaps the percentage of savings in weight arid volume for electronic parts will vary in other types of vessels; however, planning information indicates that the results will be at least comparable to the results attained aboard the U.S.S. Runner. Specific information concerning prospective savings in categories of material other than electronics is not presently available; however, as most sailormen already know, there is a high rate of interchangeability between spare parts contained in various spare part boxes. This fact indicates that savings in all fields will be impressive.
Thus far, the discussion has been confined to savings in weight and volume. Let us now look at the monetary savings, for they, too, are important as well as substantial.
Total value of spare parts allowed before conversion |
$17,245.00 |
Total value of spare parts allowed after conversion |
$3,990.00 |
Difference |
$13,255.00 |
Manpower cost to convert U.S.S. Runner |
$1,827.40 |
Net monetary savings |
$11,427.60 |
The Shipboard Spare Parts Program, in addition to the military advantages and the monetary savings which accrue from it, has great value to the Navy. Obviously, to accomplish the program, additional personnel are required during the conversion period, personnel which only the Congress can make available to the Navy. In the case of the U.S.S. Runner, one Line Officer, one Supply Officer, and six assistants were needed. Their salaries represent the manpower cost ($1,827.40) which was required to effect conversion breakdown for the U.S.S. Runner. Before the net savings of $11,427.60 could be had, the manpower cost of $1,827.40 had to be expended. The Bureau of the Budget, in addition to both the House and the Senate of Congress, has indicated time and again its willingness to approve expenditures for programs such as these. Accordingly, this and similar programs offer cogent reasons to assist in supporting the Navy’s budget— reasons which are readily understandable to all businessmen. Who among our citizens would not jump at the opportunity of investing $1,827.40 if he were assured of realizing a net return of $11,427.60?