Overcoming Operational Challenges - Transforming Maintenance with Data Driven Solutions

By Michael Ehrlich, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer

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With the demand on the Navy’s fleet of warships continuing to rise, timely and efficient maintenance in support of an agile and fully operational fleet is an incredibly high stakes operation for the U.S. Navy – with clear national security implications.

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As Naval leadership has continued to focus on improving the challenges surrounding delays in maintenance across the fleet, the impact to date has been significant. Although there have been major improvements over the last four years, in terms of both schedule and cost savings, they recognize that more challenges remain. This recognition has driven continued exploration of new ways to drive improvement. Initiatives such as looking to move maintenance activities from the shipyards to theater, where the ships are deployed, highlight how Naval leadership is challenging traditional operational models and their willingness to embrace more pragmatic approaches to drive improvement.

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However, there are other contributing factors which are straining the Navy. With a shrinking defense industrial base leaving only a small number of shipyards capable of supporting the maintenance activity required, government-issued reports have highlighted the additional risks facing the fleet maintenance community. Although the 2019 Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan (SIOP) provides a path forward, with a 20-year period and a $21B price tag it underscores the urgency of identifying faster solutions.

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This raises a critical question: what strategies can the Navy adopt to help the Navy make meaningful progress faster to address the global threats we now face?

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Leveraging data to help drive improvements in the fleet is something that Naval leadership continues to embrace. At a defense conference earlier this year the director for the surface warfare division, Rear Admiral Fred Pyle, said that the Navy has “opportunities to leverage real-world data given what the team is doing in the Red Sea right now” to help improve predictive maintenance and modernization efforts. This approach, along with broader adoption of AI and other innovations, are showing favorable results. However, these approaches amplify the challenges that these technical innovations create – the rapid generation of volumes of data from automated analysis and AI can be overwhelming. This is especially true for the Navy, who in many cases has decades of collected data available. Finding ways to harness that data into actionable insights remains a technical challenge, but not one that is unique to the Navy.

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FTI’s team of Naval subject matter experts and data scientists have been working closely with our customers to develop a foundational set of capabilities that we believe can help the Navy effectively leverage the decades of data that exists to dramatically improve the outcomes of maintenance activities. From the shipyards all the way to command leadership, FTI solutions are centered on leveraging the right data to help drive the best decisions every step of the way.

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Through the DoD and FTI’s investments in innovation and partnership in support of the warfighter, we are uniquely positioned to help execute on the Navy’s vision for a more innovative and data-driven infrastructure to improve readiness and availability for the fleet.

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Our product, FTI AMARA: Asset Maintenance, Availability, and Risk Analytics, can be a key enabler in driving that vision forward.

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FTI AMARA: A Strategic Solution for Managing Carrier and Submarine Maintenance and Availability

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FTI AMARA is a comprehensive, cloud-based software platform that addresses and anticipates ship maintenance, modernization, and sustainment needs. AMARA offers insights and fosters a proactive maintenance environment by integrating robust data integration, analysis, and predictive insights.

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AMARA is designed to help tackle some of the biggest challenges faced by the Navy related to improving fleet readiness and availability. Here's how AMARA can provide opportunities for significant modernization and transformation:

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Identifies foundational constraints

AMARA can help establish standardization across the maintenance enterprise (from shipyards to the command) creating a baseline of data maturity required to accelerate performance improvements.

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Operational efficiency

Another critical challenge is the Navy's high operational tempo for essential assets. AMARA’s predictive analytics become invaluable here, allowing maintenance teams to anticipate problems before they lead to operational disruptions. This proactive approach ensures that maintenance schedules are less likely to be interrupted by unforeseen issues, thus maintaining the desired operational tempo.

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Supply chain optimization

Addressing parts and materials shortages, AMARA includes a sophisticated logistic and inventory module that can help predict supply chain challenges based on historical and real-time data. This capability can help and augment existing systems and processes to control excess inventory costs and schedule delays.

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Predictive analytics

FTI AMARA provides a predictive analytic framework and an interactive space to do 'what if' analysis, help establish standardization across shipyards, provide a platform to aggregate all planning data that exists, and give Naval leaders confidence in the data they're reviewing.

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Enables data to drive decisions

AMARA provides leaders with not only access to data, but access to the right data that they can trust. By normalizing and pre-processing data, AMARA can help rapidly improve data quality and remove variability in fidelity across all sources.

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Reduces time from problem identification to resolution

AMARA provides near-real time access to not only the locally captured data, but to data residing in connected systems as well. This provides a window into challenges early and at a higher fidelity, enabling corrective action to be taken faster and more effectively.

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Workforce empowerment

Given the persistent issue of workforce shortages and the heavy reliance on overtime, AMARA offers a strategic advantage. Its intuitive interface and predictive capabilities enable planning and forecasting that enhance workforce allocation.

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The FTI AMARA Difference

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- Rapidly deployable, and often begins delivering value within weeks or months versus years.

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- A fraction of the cost of large company solutions or traditional enterprise software implementations.

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- Not disruptive to current technology environments, and works with virtually all systems, applications, and data types.

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- Serves a wide range of users, from those with basic skills to highly technical professionals.

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- Never restricts access to data or analytic outputs – our customers data is always their data.

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FTI AMARA is Now Available via SaaS and Perpetual Licensing

Delivery via SaaS

FTI AMARA is now available via a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Subscription pricing allows fast and predictable adaptation to changing customer demands, ensuring new capabilities, data ingestion and integration requirements, and scalability can be delivered as fast as they are needed. Additionally, AMARA’s throughput-based approach is designed to meet a wide range of needs, from maintaining current systems to deploying enterprise-scale solutions across multiple Program Executive Offices (PEOs), industry partner systems or large-scale Fleet operations. AMARA is highly flexible, enabling tailored support for a diverse

range of requirements, from straightforward updates to complex, cloud-based installations for extensive user communities. The demand signal from the customer defines the volume of data and how quickly it must be ingested.

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Perpetual Licensing

FTI’s new perpetual licensing model for on-premises (on-prem) implementations is designed for new and existing customers seeking both affordability and predictability. This option also provides an opportunity to secure continuous support, regular capability enhancements, critical security updates, and the latest ATO and environmental certifications, keeping customer operations not just running, but running securely. Designed and built with flexibility at the forefront, our licensing model ensures customers can leverage the full power of FTI AMARA at an affordable price point. Customers can choose to license FTI AMARA independently or in combination with our expert technical services, ensuring seamless integration and maintenance across various environments.

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Schedule a demonstration or request more information: Product@FTIdefense.com.

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FTI’s Navy Operations Team

FTI is a long-time technology partner of the U.S. Navy, and our experience in weapons systems, maintenance, modernization, cyber, and ship-to-shore communications, as well as logistics and programmatic support, has been foundational in the development of our products and solutions, as well as the expertise of our Navy Operations Team.

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About FTI

FTI provides deep data expertise, technology, and services that enhance the ability of the DoD, Intelligence Community, and other agencies of the Federal Government to make the best decisions possible. Drawing on nearly four decades of innovation, FTI's extensive portfolio of intellectual property and operational technologies has been augmented by more than $200 million of U.S. government and FTI R&D investment, and solutions can often be mission-ready in a matter of weeks at a fraction of the cost of alternatives. Headquartered in Beavercreek, Ohio, FTI operates in 34 states, works at all classification levels, and offers seven facilities of varying clearance levels nationwide.

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Related reading

How AMARA can help the Air Force Be Ready to Enable Readiness for Great Power Competition: The Role of Technology to Enable an Air Force Ready for Great Power Competition

AMARA now available as SaaS or Perpetual Licensing: FTI Announces SaaS and Licensed Versions of FTI AMARA

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