BENEFITS OF UTILIZING ITEM UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION AS A PROCESS IMPROVEMENT ENABLER

摘要

The Item Unique Identification (IUID) requirement mandated by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD AT&L) provides a gateway to reevaluate current business processes and identify process improvement opportunities. In the world of measurement and calibration, the foundation of traceability, accountability, and high quality data established by IUID policies provides multiple opportunities for cost avoidance, improving availability, and extending equipment performance. Cost avoidance stems from faster cycle time, principally from shipping/receiving improvements and reduced lab time; lower error rates allowing a reduction in labor to find and correct data errors, as well as labor to identify and quarantine unrecoverable errors within data analyses; and avoiding unnecessary procurements due to less work in progress and fewer lost/misplaced items. Improved availability results largely from improved data quality. The enhanced data quality enables more accurate data analysis and tighter confidence intervals, which can lead to calibration interval extensions, reducing the work in progress. Equipment performance extension is a result of the ability to identify poor performers, including equipment, calibrators, procedures, and vendors. Once identified, corrective and/or proactive measures may be taken to resolve poor performance problems and extend the service life of the equipment.