Category: Article

ETC Signs a Lease for a New Space In Indian Head

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NOVEMBER 12, 2020

ENERGETICS TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Luiz Lobo, Strategic Communications Leader
Phone: 202-251-5085 – llobo@etcmd.com

ETC SIGNS A LEASE FOR A NEW SPACE IN INDIAN HEAD
The Company is Committed to Supporting Indian Head Development

As part of its commitment to help develop the town of Indian Head, ETC signed a 5-year lease for a 3,000 square feet space in the CSM’s Velocity Center building at Indian Head. The office will help ETC’s growing work in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Energetics Science, Technology, and Research and Development.

Matthew Martin, ETC’s Director of Finance and Administration, says that the company is looking forward to leveraging the College of Southern Maryland’s project’s energy. “Our business is growing fast, and ETC needed more space. With support from the Charles County Commissioners, Economic Development Department, NSWC IHD, the MAC, and CSM, I see big things coming to Indian Head. I envision that ETC’s move is an added step toward increasing commercial development within the town of Indian Head.”

James Fangmeyer, Co-founder and Principal of Triumph Development, owners of the building, also shared his enthusiasm: – “With this new lease, more people will come to our building, and development will continue strongly in Indian Head.” Charles McPherson, President of CMI General Contractors, also added that “…things are starting to move at Indian Head. I am thrilled that ETC is involved in moving this initiative forward.”

“The Velocity Center is a dedicated place for innovation and learning, which aligns well with the Energetic Technology Center’s focus on research and development and technology incubations. This move will benefit our local community and economic development efforts,” said Reuben B. Collins, II, Esq., President, Charles County Board of Commissioners.

“I am proud to support and welcome Energetics Technology Center (ETC) to the CSM Velocity Center in Indian Head. It’s an economic engine that will provide an ‘innovative learning space and support workforce development’ for all of our residents. I am honored to have this venture in our County, especially in District 2,” said Charles County Commissioner Thomasina O. Coates, M.S. (District 2).

ETC is focused on creating opportunities for partnerships between private and public organizations, encouraging rapid technological advancement through research and development, attracting and retaining a highly technical workforce, and creating a more vibrant community.

About Energetics Technology Center: The Energetics Technology Center provides engineering and data analytics services, policy development, and technology development to the government, academia, and private industry. ETC is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization incorporated in 2006. For additional information, please visit our website at: etcmd.com/media/news

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The World Of MEMS: Examples of Microelectromechanical Systems

By: Eldy Zuniga, MEMS Engineer

My first exposure to microelectromechanical systems, MEMS, came during my time at the University of Michigan. A friend got me in contact with a professor at the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility for a part-time job. There I learned how to design and fabricate these devices, and to love their simplicity and the gratification of their systematic fabrication.

MEMS encompass any device with components under 0.1 millimeters and down to 100 nanometers. The only other accepted criteria to define a MEMS device is that at least one of its parts has some mechanical functionality. However, they do not have to technically move.

MEMS components have four significant functions: microstructures, microelectronics, microsensors, and microactuators. The first two are typically present in most designs and function as the device’s foundations. A microstructure is any structure in a MEMS device that is itself inert or provides structural support for other components. One example is the free mass in many accelerometers. Microelectronics are instead electric built in the device typically made to interact with the device’s supporting electronics. Due to MEMS fabrication using similar CMOS techniques, most electronics components can be built into a MEMS device, such as capacitors, transistors, and resistors.

The final two functions are transducers due to their nature in changing their input energy to different output energy. The main difference between the two categories is where the electrical power is located. They take whatever force or event microsensors are designed to interact with and generate some electrical output calibrated to create a definable reading. A simple example is a classic pressure sensor. As the sensor deforms, it causes a pathway for the electrical current, which increases proportionally as the path’s resistance lowers due to the sensor’s deformation. This is an example of a mechanical input converting to an electrical output.

Microactuators are the complete opposite consuming electrical energy to generate some reaction. The ones I most commonly use are called thermal actuators. These actuators are designed using silicon’s natural heat expansion to allow controlled displacements. A current running through the actuator heats the structure, displaces it, and provides a mechanical push to another or simply acts as an obstacle.

These are simple examples of MEMS functions. Still, over the years, the variety of options and complexity the MEMS community has generated is impressive. This variety of components allows MEMS to be present in most modern devices. They are typically very modular and use similar fabrication methods to be easily updated for other improved designs.

Overall, with these four functions, MEMS can be as flexible as they can be versatile. This trend will continue as our fabrication technology improves. More designs, which for now are closed off, will become available to us. I am most interested in the inclusion of additive manufacturing, which will allow new materials and structures to be included in designing and fabrication, but that is a topic for another day.

SBIR/STTR PROGRAMS: How ETC’s Methodology is Helping The DON

By: Rachel Crespo, Engineer

The Department of the Navy (DON) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Management Office tasked ETC to do some scoping and research and identify areas where we can improve the number of small businesses participating in the Navy’s SBIR/STTR programs. We have a particular emphasis on underrepresented companies, which in the eyes of the DON are Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs), Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), and HUBZone certified small businesses.

We started this project by creating a scalable methodology that leverages data and metrics from various sources, calling it the TechFire® Magnifying Glass, also mentioned by Bingo in this issue. The tool assesses different U.S. cities’ ecosystems and picks the best positioned ones for underrepresented firms.

To determine which cities to outreach to, we focus on four key parameters:

City potential – We use the JSA ranking, done by two MIT economists that ranked 102 U.S. cities they have identified to be potential new technology hub cities;

Government investments – We look at the investments made in the area over the last ten years;

Collaborative Partners – We identify the economic development organizations in the area to see who we could partner with;

Company potential – We use census data to see how many socially/economically disadvantaged businesses exist there

Once we choose our initial shock group of cities, we can engage with the local organizations there. The data in the Magnifying Glass gets pulled into automated engagement products. We send partner organizations their Automated TechFire® Ecosystem Assessment Report, which introduces the DON SBIR/STTR programs and provides a snapshot summary of their data. We also send them a TechFire® presentation, allowing them to peak over the fence and view other cities’ in this outreach project’s data.

We have outreached to the Minority Business Development Agencies (MBDA) and/or the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) in Houston, TX, El Paso, TX, Detroit, MI, Omaha, NE, Alexandria, VA, Southwest Pennsylvania, and Montpelier, Vermont with positive results. The cities’ organizations have agreed to collaborate with us on this project. As partners, they have committed to monthly 15-min tag-up meetings where we can discuss progress and successes. These cities have agreed to cc’ ETC on any outreach activities they do. An example of an outreach activity can be the MBDA reaching out to a specific company in their network about a topic they have a matching technical capability.

They will connect us to any other local collaborators in the area and fill out a monthly highlights report where they document the outreach activities, new SBIR participation, and if any of their companies received an award. In return, we will give them multi-city monthly highlights report that will be a roll-up of all cities participating, so they can share lessons learned and best practices.

We are incredibly excited to see the effects of this project and to continue to steadily engage our city partners.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: What Do These Billion-Dollar Words Mean?

By: Will Durant, Program Manager

Artificial intelligence enables machines to simulate human behavior. Machine Learning is the black magic used to train machines to “learn” from existing data and solve the next complex problem. Both tools can act as the key to the complexity vault or a sledgehammer where a screwdriver would be. AI is a fantastic tool, but like any technology fad, it faces hype cycle issues.

At ETC, we are working on a tool we call “EWARE,” designed to become an end-to-end system that will automatically ingest existing, adjacent, and emergent data of relevance to the energetics delivering scientific knowledge and deep awareness back to the same community. We want to be the central connector for every piece of information our users want, and we are tackling this head-on.

“EWARE” starts by pushing full-text PDFs, metadata structures, audio, notes, or any data type into the system. Unstructured information will go through a machine vision process to extract the different document components into raw text format, whereas the structured data parses according to its structure. The objective is to then prepare this information into a data object input for our machine learning models.

Our effort is to build a key for weighted keyword extraction, text summarization, document type classification, material relationships with ontology development, and other capabilities. Combining these capabilities (now at different stages of development) will allow us to create deep statistical awareness of information to the user in the most targeted way.

There are still two big questions: Where and how do we get the most valuable data? And what “keys” (ML Models) will unlock that information for our user. The data part is less challenging to identify than to incorporate, as every publisher has different licensing and data management rules. Energetics is a different puzzle to unlock than molecular chemistry and pharmaceutical formulations. We are, however, continuously searching for solutions within our academic, industry, and government partners.

My special thanks to our enthusiastic and dedicated core team working on this problem, including Aaron Imrie, Ian Michel-Tyler, Lloyd Hardy, John Fisher, Bill Wilson, Ruth Doherty, John Millemaci, and Peter Schramm. Also, to our academic partners Dr. Peter Chung at UMD and Dr. Zois Boukouvalas at AU and their teams.

AI Artificial Intelligence EWARE Machine Learning ML ML Models PDFs

The Dragon’s Jaw Bridge: An Example Of Weapon Effectiveness

By: John Fischer, Principal Scientist

One of the many challenges experienced by military weaponeers is matching available weapons with designated targets. An example of how a challenging target was finally defeated with new technology is the Thanh Hóa (aka Hàm Rồng, Dragon’s Jaw) Bridge, found in the Thanh Hóa Province of former North Vietnam.

A fighter jet in areal combat. — – Jaws of the Dragon – Illustration by Stan Stokes

– Early in the Vietnam war, the Thanh Hóa bridge was identified as a primary supply link for the Communist’s movement of men and war supplies to support South Vietnam operations. Upon designation as a high-value target, American Navy and Air Force airmen flew a total of 873 sorties against the bridge with no success. Missions against this site, which became known as Hàm Rồng, Dragon’s Jaw, resulted in the loss of 104 pilots.

In 1960, the first successful demonstration of a new technology known as the LASER occurred at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, CA. At the Army Missile Command’s laboratory at Redstone Arsenal, AL, scientists and engineers became aware of this device and began investigating LASER light to designate targets. Nothing similar had ever been done. Still, these innovators successfully built and demonstrated a prototype LASER designator system in 1964. While not an Army mission at the time, the DoD’s acquisition community immediately saw potential and awarded contracts to the industry for advanced prototypes. Success as an operational system was demonstrated, again, at Eglin AFB in 1966. A production acquisition soon followed it in 1967.

On 27 April 1972, Air Force F-4 Phantoms, equipped with the world’s first laser-guided bomb (LGB), flew a single mission against the Thanh Hóa Bridge. The target was destroyed with no loss of American aircraft or casualties. This story illustrates the value of science and technology and the role of the military’s technical base in developing innovative solutions to difficult problems.

As we in ETC continue to build the justification for increased investments in next- generation energetic materials, we should always remember that weapon performance and effectiveness are critical to military success. With existing precision targeting and weapon guidance, warfighters can place a weapon exactly where it needs to go. However, adversaries continue to harden their high-value assets making defeat with available weapons difficult, as was seen with the Dragon’s Jaw. We need to continue our pursuit of improving weapon effectiveness with new energetics and innovative systems design approaches.

Alarm Sounds on U.S. Military Kill Chain Capabilities

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 29, 2021

ENERGETICS TECHNOLOGY CENTER
Luiz Lobo, Strategic Communications Leader
Phone: 202-251-5085 – llobo@etcmd.com

ALARM SOUNDS ON U.S. MILITARY KILL CHAIN CAPABILITIES
Critical New Study Addresses Energetics and Lethality as US Falls Behind China, Russia

Download the Study [PDF 79KB]

ETC – the Energetics Technology Center, has delivered compelling findings in a study commissioned by the Office of Naval Research, addressing the urgent need for the U.S. military to regain its superiority in lethality over defense rivals, China and Russia.

The study argues for a new approach in developing and using advanced energetics to regain and maintain battlefield dominance. It recommends a dramatic reshaping of energetics production and supply chains, and proposes establishing a new energetics agency with an aggressive agenda.

Energetics materials are used for explosives and propellants with multiple applications in defense, energy, and space. They range from small projectiles to large-caliber artillery, missiles of many sizes, air-dropped munitions, undersea weapons, and implosion devices that initiate nuclear weapons.

The study addresses concerns that the United States military has already ceded lethality superiority in multiple areas, in the wake of Chinese and Russian developments.

The study team, led by Dr. Theresa Mayer, Vice President of Research at Purdue University, was comprised of former military officers and subject matter experts from government, industry, and academia, who diagnosed the state of the energetics material enterprise.

The study holds a realistic set of key recommendations for decision-makers. Major General Bill Hix, a former Army’s Chief Strategy Officer, was part of the study Advisory Board and is urging immediate action, saying “Lethality is a core mission that is unique to the Defense Department that is at risk, and superior energetics is fundamental to achieving and maintaining dominance in the realm of lethality.”

Similarly, Admiral Mark Ferguson, also a member of the Study Advisory Board, notes that “We are facing near-peer adversaries who are intent on deploying capabilities superior to our own. We must retain an edge in lethality to protect and defend U.S. interests”.

Robert Kavetsky, CEO of the Energetics Technology Center, says he is confident that this study will be a catalyst for needed changes in the energetic material enterprise.

The study addressed every aspect of the process of moving energetics materials from their discovery in basic research to producing the material for use in a weapon. It found antiquated production capabilities, supply chain vulnerabilities, a research pipeline that struggled to deliver new energetics materials to weapon systems, regulatory and qualification barriers, and a depleted scientific work-force.

A parallel study was conducted by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in response to Congressional language in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Download the Study [PDF 79KB]

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COST ANALYSIS OF POLICE BODY-WORN CAMERAS IN MARYLAND: A Review and Results of National Studies Applied to Maryland

By: Matthew Crowe, Economic Development Analyst and Gene Lauer, Economic Development Consultant

Download the full report here.

Executive Summary: The Energetics Technology Center, Inc. undertook a cost analysis of implementing police body worn camera programs in Maryland. Pursuant to Senate Bill 71, the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021, all county law enforcement agencies performing the police function, as well as the State Police, must implement body worn camera programs by 2025. Certain counties are required to comply as soon as 2023. While there are some random estimates of costs for a few departments provided in SB 71’s Fiscal and Policy Note, no statewide cost of implementation has been calculated previously to our knowledge. This study provides a range of such costs likely to be incurred in Maryland, collectively and by police component, for all mandated agencies, as well as for municipal police departments that are not yet, at least, covered under the provisions of SB 71.

While the study reviews and provides the results of several national studies conducted on the costs and benefits of body worn cameras, our analysis is limited to costs only, with no attempt to quantify real or perceived benefits. A number of jurisdictions have implemented full or partial body worn camera programs in the State, and the study makes no attempt to adjust for or discount costs downward for those jurisdictions which are already incurring expenses for their programs. The study provides ranges rather than one cost to reflect differences in body worn camera technology options that can be selected. The study also provides contract cost estimates on a per officer/camera basis, as well as an average personnel cost likely to be incurred to staff the program to derive a more accurate cost of implementation. Finally, the study’s cost estimates are derived from a combination of interviews, email responses and publicly available press releases and accounts, informed by the results of the aforementioned national studies.

The study estimates the average annual contract cost of a body worn camera program in Maryland, including support personnel costs, of $2445 per officer/camera. This results in a statewide total cost of $32,415,820, including municipalities. The lower and higher ends of the range of costs are $1791 and $3788 per officer/camera, respectively, reflective of the nature of the technology and storage options selected. Statewide, at the lower end of the range, costs are estimated at $24,176, 524, while costs at the higher technology option range, were all agencies to select that option, and could total as much as $50,016,752.

Finally, the study provides additional considerations regarding relative affordability issues, potential cost offsets, and future artificial intelligence/machine learning applications.

Download the full report here.

ETC In The Community: Port Tobacco River Conservancy

The Port Tobacco River Conservancy (PTRC) is a conservation advocacy group active in Charles County, Maryland. In 2001, residents near the river became alarmed over its unhealthy conditions, resulting mainly from failing septic and sewage systems. Since then, the scope of concerns for PTRC has broadened to cover issues of rainwater runoff, silting and trashing of the river, and the overall environmental health of the river watershed.

Our vision is that the Port Tobacco River and its 30,000-acre watershed will be restored to nearly pristine condition, as they were in the 1950s. PTRC’s work is about more than just environmental advocacy – it has taken on numerous conservation projects, each of which may be one small step. Still, together these projects protect and improve the ecological health of the river and its watershed. You can see the lasting impact of many of these completed projects today. Trees planted in five acres near the Northwest corner of Hawthorne Rd., at Mitchell Rd., are now over 15 feet tall and are helping to control erosion that once flowed into the Port Tobacco Creek – just one of several tree planting projects.

Rain Gardens have been completed in a few locations – a meditation garden at Christ Church in La Plata (available to all) and educational gardens at McDonough High School and Craik Elementary School. PTRC was a significant contributor to the pavilion that Charles County erected in the Port Tobacco River Park. We plant and maintain native plant pollinator attractors at the park.

We worked with United Way of Charles County on the “Watershed Discovery and Exploration” project, providing kayak and canoeing adventures for children of low-income families. The kids learned about native plants and animals in our watershed and how to protect them. North Point High School students participated in an invasive plant control program, including hands-on training on removing these harmful plants. PTRC has just finished the construction of an “outdoor classroom” at Craik Elementary School, which it will use for instruction about the environment. These are just a few examples of the many educational and environmental activities the organization conducts. We also organize activities that promote appreciation of the beauty and importance of the river, its watershed, and its ecosystem. Each year, with the help of many students and citizen volunteers, we conduct trash cleanups along the shoreline. PTRC worked with the county to install an “Eagle Webcam” focused on a nest that is used each year by a pair of eagles named “Hope” and “Chandler.” You can live-view their nest on the PTRC webpage.

PTRC’s success in pursuing its vision of a healthy river and environment relies on two essential components: its volunteers’ work and the financial support of sponsors such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the principal financial sponsor of our projects. PTRC is very grateful to ETC for being one of the most consistent, strongest, generous, and reliable corporate sponsors for many years! Additional Information at: porttobaccoriver.org

Is it Possible to Move the Needle? How ETC Can Make Substantial Impact On National Security?

By: Emerson Kesler

We are proud to support the United States National Security Enterprise! Those are words you will hear on videos from the ETC website interviews that go to the heart of what this organization is all about. Still, the National Security Enterprise is big, bureaucratic and it is slow to change and react. Often it is overwhelming to believe that an organization the size of ETC can make a substantial impact. I am here to tell you that it can! Sometimes, all it takes is to overcome inertia and start the ball rolling to make significant changes.

We have just concluded a substantial study on the state of energetics. Energetics is a critical component to our national defense’s future and a necessary technology moving forward in our nation’s space and energy portfolio. The study identified seven overarching recommendations that are essential toward achieving this end. But it will not happen without establishing national advocacy, sizable financial investments, and radical changes to how the Government manages this technology. All seemingly overwhelming objectives. Is it possible to move the needle?

Entrepreneurs have had such a significant impact on this country. Just look around us. We have phones that are mini-computers, and every app you can think of streams videos. We can search anything, record high-resolution images, communicate with multiple people, track your current and future location, and even monitor your health. It was all almost unimaginable twenty-five years ago.

What does this have to do with ETC and Energetics? Like entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs are catalysts for change, the innovators working within a company or organization. They have many of the same traits. They create an idea or product, sell it, garner support, are proactive, become committed, and are almost obsessed with driving toward their vision. Intrapreneurs are motivated by the greater good over personal financial achievement.

Here is the example of a small group of government employees who, as part of a master’s program assignment in the early ’90s, had the idea of using the internet to create a contracting portal. All solicitations and contracts were now in the system, potentially saving millions of dollars in distribution costs and substantially reducing contracting time. Six weeks later, and with only a $150K investment from a senior leader, the site became operational. It was the Federal Government’s first e-commerce site. That portal would soon service the Army, Navy, Commerce, State, and Interior Department before being given to the General Service Administration in 2001 and becoming FedBiz Opportunities and now SAM.Gov. Moved the needle? Absolutely!

There are dozen similar examples within the Government, where a few individuals made significant changes with limited resources and without initial support from senior leadership. Still, they accomplished extraordinary things!

A Critical Chemical Cautionary Tale …and The Moral of The Story

By: John Fischer, PhD, Principal Scientist

A long time ago, some say the saga began in aught nineteen, an observant person working in the Pentagon’s subbasement saw a looming threat. A threat to on-time deliveries of an important chemical needed for tactical rocket motors – butane triol, also known as 1,2,4-trihydroxybutane. When it reacts with a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids, some nasty chemicals to handle, it yields the much-used plasticizer Butane Triol Trinitrate. One may now ask, what’s a plasticizer, and why should I care? Plasticizers (2) are used in everyday plastics (polymers) to improve flexibility, extensibility, and processability.

In other words, this type of additive allows the processing of plastics into articles used by everyone. In the world of rocket motors and different energetics, a plasticizer is critical to ensure safe handling and performance of the munition. Without chemicals such as Butane Triol, the safety and performance of weapon systems are at risk. So, what did this observant person, Cuthbert Snodgrass, do? Well, Cuthbert, at that time, was an aspiring GS-11 who, at the next group staff meeting, informed his boss, Wilma Flintmore, a GS-12, of his observation.

At the next branch meeting, Wilma told her boss, Edna Milner, a GS-13, that there was a looming threat to our nation’s munition production. Edna immediately worried and told her boss, Division Director Elmer Witherspoon, a GS-14. Elmer was preparing to go on two weeks of annual leave and promised to address this issue upon his return. He delayed his return as he went on a cruise on the ship Diamond Princess. Unfortunately, he was one of the first to contract the just-discovered virus, SARS-CoV-2, soon known as COVID-19.

Fortunately, Elmer recovered without any side effects. He returned to work, not at the Pentagon, but to his home to begin 18 months of remote site telework. Because of all the trauma and confusion, he forgot about Edna’s worry until early aught 21 when Edna asked for a SITREP (3) on their previous conversation. Elmer was very apologetic and promised to take immediate action. Indeed, Elmer bypassed his GS-15 boss at much personal and professional risk and sent an email to Betsy Inglebottom, a newly promoted member of the Office of Secretary of Defense’s Senior Executive Service. Betsy immediately saw the need and tasked an outside technical expert in the field of energetics to investigate and return no later than 180 days hence with recommendations.

The outside technical expert, a group of talented people in energetics, pulled together a team of brilliant people to solve the problem. This organization, Engineers for Technical Competence (ETC), faced an immediate choice – subcontract to someone else or solve the problem themselves. ETC, an organization led and staffed by some of the most caring individuals in the country’s national security establishment, knew they had to figure this problem out for themselves. It was too important to pass through to others. What did they do? Upon reporting to Betsy and receiving financial support, ETC took on the job.

Thanks to our deep bench of talent, including super-smart consultants who share ETC’s commitment to excellence, we identified a mid-size cosmetic company. Hand Lotions Are Us (HLAU, a New York Stock Exchange symbol) in Fargo, North Dakota, produced a hand lotion that generated butane triol as a “waste product.”

We set on a trip to Fargo in January of that year (these people are dedicated as the average daily high temp was -23F) to ask the question: Can the U.S. government buy your waste product? The answer was a resounding “Yes!!!!” Their annual production of 4.7864 metric tons coincided with the military need requirement of 4.01 metric tons per year. ETC did a quick analysis and determined that the product available had been classified as a technical grade. The DoD needed Mil-Spec quality and, after purification, would yield 4.02 metric tons.

There was much joy and excitement in Fargo that day, even though a blizzard was on its way and stranded us for two extra days at the local Comfort Inn. Even though I had a low-bandwidth Wi-Fi system and ran out of coffee for the complimentary breakfast, ETC communicated its discovery to Betsy and her staff. Joy permeated the halls of the Pentagon, down to the subbasement and Cuthbert. He had since been promoted to GS-12, making his family quite proud.

We thought we had solved the problem. Well, not quite! One issue still needed to be resolved. We asked HLAU if they could purify the butane triol to Mil-Spec grade, to which ETC received an immediate “No!” HLAU was willing to give the DoD the material in question if they would pay for the shipping containers (recyclable barrels) and commit to hauling the stuff away. Upon consultation with her staff, Betsy determined that there was no better deal. She agreed to the terms within her assigned responsibilities and asked ETC to work on the details since it had done so much great work thus far in this process.

Of course, ETC took on the challenge and first found a shipping company to haul the material someplace, but where? We asked an existing U. S. military arsenal located in Duluth, MN, to take on the job of receiving and purifying the butane triol. They said that they could retool an idle distillation tower and do the job for the low price of $56.876M (lots of thought went into this number) provided the U. S. government would guarantee a twenty-year procurement of the purified material.

Betsy didn’t have this level of budget authority. She asked her boss, who asked his boss, who asked her boss, who asked a political appointee who informed the organization that he had been offered a lucrative job in the private sector, and was leaving the next day. After two months of waiting for a temporary person to run the show, the answer was, “wait till the election is over to see if someone new is coming in.” The election happened, and no new person was coming in, so the temporary acting boss gave a tentative “maybe.” The Duluth folks then replied with a “no can do.”

ETC, being both resilient and resourceful, then asked a lab set up to do this kind of thing, or so they thought if they could do the job of purification. They said, “What are you talking about, this is a production job, and we are a lab with prototype capabilities only.” Still undaunted, ETC proceeded to work with Congress and secured, along with state of Delaware funding, resources to build a facility dedicated to this job and the production of special glass vials for handling COVID-20 and 21 vaccines.

After only 6.3 years, the new facility came online and began purifying the butane triol. But, since the original requirement for this material was codified, the U. S. DoD lab in Guam developed a new energetic material known as Guam Lab -1 (GL-1), which was incompatible with butane triol in all formulations. And, since GL-1 was qualified (4) for all munitions, the U.S. government now had to dispose of 211.567 metric tons of butane triol. To solve this problem, Betsy (currently the subject OSD office’s political appointee) again turned to ETC to figure it out.

What’s The moral of This Story?

Supply chain management requires expertise and hard work to identify all the issues involved.
Once the issues have been identified, they most likely become obsolete before any definitive and lasting actions are taken.
There are three rules to always keep in mind:
- Rule #1, everything changes all the time and without warning; Rule #2, there is no Rule #2; Rule #3, if there is no Rule #2, there can be no Rule #3.
A lot is riding on this task, and subcontracting to others must proceed with caution. When a company states, “We have no chemical engineers but can subcontract that out,” all involved must think hard about the next steps.
This type of work is expensive and takes a long time to complete.
Have a plan for courses of action 1 through X. Remember that a battle plan is valid to the point of engaging the enemy.
True experts in supply chain management are busy doing other things, and attracting their attention will take a lot of work.
Only some people in the DoD understand the challenges to be overcome in addressing this type of issue.
There will be a quiz on this material. Your grade will be reflected on your permanent record.

___________

Some of this is real, some of this is unreal
https://polymer-additives.specialchem.com/selection-guide/plasticizers
SITREP = Situational Report
Admitted total fiction here