Army's Mobile Parts Hospital to Deploy to Kuwait

DETROIT, Aug. 25, 2003 -- The U. S. Army's National Automotive Center (NAC) today announced that the Army will deploy its first Mobile Parts Hospital, a unique self-contained, self-sustaining mobile mini-manufacturing center, to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, in support of the American forces in Iraq.

Once in Kuwait, the Mobile Parts Hospital (MPH), developed collaboratively by the NAC and the Center for Advanced Technologies at Focus: HOPE, will produce a variety of critically needed replacement parts for military vehicles. The hospital's Rapid Manufacturing System (RMS) is the automotive equivalent of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). It combines the latest in manufacturing and technologies through an infrastructure linked via satellite to an "agile" communications and storage cell of technical data located at Focus: HOPE in Detroit. The MPH unit sends a request for manufacturing data to the Command and Control Center located at Focus: Hope. The center then accesses data from the "agile" cell, and the data is then transmitted back to the field unit where the part is manufactured for immediate use.

The deploying unit is a 27,000-pound mobile mini-manufacturing center, capable of being employed anywhere in the world and can begin producing parts in the field in less than an hour. Among its capabilities, the MPH can:

* Send and receive digital manufacturing-ready data to make a replacement part for a variety of military vehicles

  *  Create manufacturing data
  *  Produce the part and verify it before it is released

"The MPH is ready for its prime-time mission," said Dennis J. Wend, executive director of the NAC. "This deployment validates the significant collaborative work we've done with Focus: HOPE in bringing the Mobile Parts Hospital from concept to a fully operational unit. The ability of Focus: HOPE to help design and implement the software to control and program the actual manufacturing process via satellite halfway around the world is a testimony to the great works underway here in Detroit."

The MPH is designed to work like the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital which was used in past military offensives to stabilize soldiers before sending them out of theatre for more complete care. MPH's objective is to provide the same kind of initial treatment to a vehicle so its crew is protected and can finish the mission before going back to the normal maintenance line for repair. The MPH program began development in May 2000 and has received over $20 million in research and development support. The MPH has manufactured approximately 150 different weapon system components to date.

The National Automotive Center in Warren, Michigan, is the government's program manager for this project which includes two militarized ISO containers that can operate independently or as part of a larger virtual network. Focus: HOPE in Detroit helped develop and supplies the command and control center for the MPH. Focus: HOPE contracts with government and business to provide real-world work experiences for its students through its unique "renaissance" engineering program. The Mobile Parts Hospital project enabled Focus: HOPE candidates (students) to gain hands-on engineering experience in all aspects of the project while pursuing academic degrees.

"It is rewarding to see technology that our engineering candidates helped develop move from research to reality," said Eleanor Josaitis, chief executive officer and co-founder of Focus: HOPE. "This project demonstrates the teamwork and skills of a Renaissance Engineer in the Center for Advanced Technologies."

The MPH unit is scheduled to leave Focus: HOPE Thursday, August 28th and travel via military transport to the East Coast where it will be shipped to Kuwait via a stop in Europe. Units on the ground at Arifjan will have the site and satellite systems in place in time for the unit to come on-line early in October.

The National Automotive Center is the Army's official link to working with commercial and academic partners to generate vehicles that will provide the Army with the mobility, survivability and agility it needs to operate efficiently and effectively in today's new threat environment. For the military, the NAC's partnership approach makes it possible to improve performance, safety and endurance while reducing design, manufacturing, operations and maintenance costs. For commercial partners, the application of jointly-developed technologies has similar impacts -- safer cars and trucks, more advanced technology available to the consumer and lower cost because of the broader market base.

Headquartered in Warren, MI, the NAC is part of the U. S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC). TARDEC is the nation's laboratory for advanced military automotive technology and has the mission to research, engineer, develop, leverage and provide advanced systems integration of technology into both ground systems and their support equipment throughout life cycles.

Focus: HOPE is a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization in Detroit. In its quest over the last 35 years to fight racism, poverty and injustice, it has developed career training programs in machining, engineering and information technology. It also has food programs for young mothers, children and senior citizens, as well as a Montessori-based child care center, business conference facilities, community arts projects, and other outreach initiatives. Through Focus: HOPE, thousands of individuals -- especially women and minorities -- have become financially independent. For further information, visit www.focushope.edu on the web.

See www.focushope.edu/news for a photo of the Mobile Parts Hospital