The Lockheed Martin [LMT] team bidding for the Army/Marine Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program said Friday it successfully completed the government’s Production Readiness Review (PRR) at the company’s Camden, Ark., Ground Vehicle Assembly facility. During the PRR event, the team assembled a JLTV on its production line to further demonstrate production readiness.
Photo: Lockheed Martin
The PRR was a detailed evaluation of Lockheed Martin’s JLTV production planning and readiness in terms of schedule, performance, cost and other criteria.
That meant two days of presentations and factory line visits, proving the facility was ready, said Scott Greene, vice president of ground vehicles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control during a teleconference.
Successfully completing the PRR is one of the government’s critical steps for a contractor to demonstrate production readiness.AM General and Oshkosh [OSK] are also leading teams battling for JLTV.
“Our Camden facility is ready for production,” he said. “To fully prove that point, we assembled a JLTV on our Camden production line during the PRR event, proving conclusively that the line and facility are ready for vehicle assembly right now.”
The JLTV assembly was not required as part of the PRR.
Randy O’Neal, vice president-production operations at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said it was “about a 10-hour task” spread over two days.
The production line for JLTV was moved from Lockheed Martin JLTV partner BAE Systems’ Sealy, Texas plant to Camden after BAE closed that facility.
“Every single method, process required to prod vehicle, existed in Camden,” O’Neal said. The training, certifying and trained, skilled workforce knows how to apply the processes and methods.
Greene said the move to Camden also meant streamlining and improving the production flow.
The production line is capable of going well beyond the program requirements for the next 10 years or so, O’Neal said, with the possibility to expand if need be.
The Lockheed Martin team had successfully completed a government Manufacturing Readiness Assessment at the Camden site late last year.
Greene said, “We’re ready and operational for low-rate and then full-rate production.”