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It is convenient to know that they didn't want to use a 3D printer and make one for $300.
The Air Force’s $10,000 toilet cover
Posted from washingtonpost.com
Ethics
Pilot
Humor
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
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I used to get worked up about this until I learned about the procurement system. If you buy one, to a set of specs and the contractor has to make one only, it's very expensive. Buy 10 and the price per piece goes down significantly. Part of the cost are the huge number of regulatory blocks that have to be checked for ANY piece going on an airplane. Tie that only to structural and flight components and prices on coffee pots, toilet seats and other stuff like the waste bins will drop accordingly.
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SSG David Fetty
Not to mention the specs the military requires an item to be produced to. "Said hammer must be able to endure temperature extremes between -30 to 120 degrees, crystallization of the metal must not exceed 30%. Handle shall etc, etc." Once you start researching what to use, testing to ensure that specs are met and the endless meetings to update progress, you will have over a half million invested before the first item is made. That money has to come back from somewhere.
Many things are over-speced. A hammer will function as a hammer, and in a pinch there was always the old steel pot. But in an attempt to get the best product available, we have teams of field grade officers who are charged with writing specs to insure the item will function as it's supposed to.
Many things are over-speced. A hammer will function as a hammer, and in a pinch there was always the old steel pot. But in an attempt to get the best product available, we have teams of field grade officers who are charged with writing specs to insure the item will function as it's supposed to.
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LTC Stephan Porter
Indeed,
The acquisition process is cumbersome and desperately in need of revamping. The leaders in charge of many of the components of capability development (that feed the requirements to the materiel development) do not understand the process and need for appropriate engagement.
Companies have overhead and development costs to get the product, and the amount ordered is critical to the final cost for sure.
The acquisition process is cumbersome and desperately in need of revamping. The leaders in charge of many of the components of capability development (that feed the requirements to the materiel development) do not understand the process and need for appropriate engagement.
Companies have overhead and development costs to get the product, and the amount ordered is critical to the final cost for sure.
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Working in Obsolescence Management and Reverse Engineering, this happens all the time. We do it to ourselves by not planning ahead.
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LTC (Join to see) I seriously believe this would be a very important area for President Trump's Administration to address. In all fairness, we must make sure "at home" is in order. It is not "in order" for the government to be shanked by American contractors. Things like this can undermine international initiatives such as the tarriff on Chinese goods.
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