The Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense–Materiel Readiness has announced five finalists for the 2024 Maintenance Innovation Challenge. They are:

• Enhancing Field Repair Capabilities through Mixed Reality
  Author: Stephanie Bryan, Marine Depot Maintenance Command
• Expeditionary Cold Spray
  Author: Jeff Campbell, NAVSEA 05T
• On-Aircraft Cold Spray to Optimize Maintenance and Reduce Logistics
  Author: Matthew Chu, Fleet Readiness Center – Southwest
• Repair Technology Exercise
  Author: Mathew VanRavenhorst, NAVSEA 05T
• XtruJog
  Author: Vis Madhavan, Fairmount Technologies, LLC.

The DOD Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG) principals selected the finalists from a total of 77 entries submitted by government, industry, and academia participants. The finalists were judged as having the highest potential to make maintenance and sustainment more agile, effective, efficient, and affordable.

The finalists will deliver presentations at the 2024 DOD Maintenance Symposium in Salt Lake City, UT, in a breakout session scheduled for Tuesday, December 10, 3:30-5:00 pm MST. They will be evaluated by a panel of DOD senior maintenance leaders and commanders, after which an overall MIC Award winner will be selected. In addition, attendees at the breakout session will select a “People’s Choice” winner.

The National Association for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) has committed to support the demonstration of the winners’ innovations by making available $50,000 of in-kind support to both the MIC and the “People’s Choice” winners’ associated commercial technology provider(s). (Reference to NCMS does not constitute or imply endorsement or recommendation by the Department of Defense.)

To learn more about the MIC and see entries from previous years’ competitions, visit: https://ncms.org/maintenance-innovation-challenge/.

About NCMS

NCMS is a cross-industry technology development consortium dedicated to improving the competitiveness and strength of the US industrial base for over three decades. NCMS leverages a network of industry, government, and university partners to develop, demonstrate, and transition innovative technologies efficiently, with less risk and lower cost. NCMS enables world-class companies to work effectively with other members on new opportunities—matching highly capable companies with the providers and end users who need their innovations and technology solutions. The NCMS network benefits from an accelerated progression of idea creation through execution. Learn more at https://www.ncms.org, at NCMS’s LinkedIn, and at @ncmsmfg.