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May Membership Meeting: Captain Tim Barney USN Presents to VSRA Membership

The May VSRA General Membership meeting was held at the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel on May 17, 2022. The guest speaker was Captain Tim Barney, USN, Commander, Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center.

Captain Barney began by thanking the Association for having him speak. He announced that he will be moving on from MARMC in August. 

Captain Barney then shared that MARMC’s core service is to provide, Contract Management Oversight (CMO), providing contract and repair oversite with private industry partners. He spoke about the Total Ship Readiness Assessments (TSAR) plan, which is to identify, document, and repair U.S. Naval ships through common integrated processes. 

Captain Barney noted that MARMC is in the industry of fixing Naval Ships. He pointed out that in four years MARMC has completed 309 Continuous Maintenance Availabilities (CMAV), 47 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Availabilities, over 50,000 Fleet Technical Assist Visits (FTA), along with supporting the Deployment of 7 Carrier Strike Groups, 6 Amphibious Groups, various Naval Exercises and Joint Operations in EURCOM, CENTCOM, NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM.

Captain Barney gave credit and thanks to the VSRA members for their help, support and work that is done every day to support our Nation. He pointed out that since May 2018 through August 2022 MARMC has been responsible for $5.2 billion worth of maintenance on naval vessels in the Mid-Atlantic Region. This includes support of 54 surface ships, submarines, and aircraft carriers; not including other ships that are supported such as LCS’. This is all driving funds back into the community.

Captain Barney spoke proudly of the Fleet Technician Apprenticeship Program (FTAP). It was created to support ship self-sufficiency. This program allows sailors (E4-E6) to get hands on trouble shooting experience. Once they receive their qualifications, they meet with the Board to assess if they are ready for deployment on a ship. They then take that knowledge to the fleet assisting the ship with real time needs. These MARMC Fleet Technicians may one day be applying for positions in the shipyards, bringing that knowledge with them. They are getting ready to announce the first FTAP graduating class.

Captain Barney stated that MARMC has a few programs in the works, one of which is the Technology Transfer Program that gives MARMC the opportunity to partner with the shipyards to try new things. They are targeting issues that drive availability durations and costs. He said that they are looking for volunteers to Pilot the program.

Captain Barney discussed Data Analytics and Machine learning, comparing it to Skynet. It is taking us from metrics to simulator, then from simulators to predictive analysis. They are close to having a model that takes a regular integrated schedule into an accurate simulation capable of ingesting a ships schedule to execute MARMC’s business processes based on historical data. The benefit would identify potential problems early and inform Navy leadership of the likelihood of on-time delivery, thus leading us to work smarter, not harder more efficiently and effectively together. The potential is great!

Captain Barney closed with discussing Additive Manufacturing (AM) and the potential of this program being enormous. This program uses a Hybrid metal 3D printer with a CNC built in. This technology is not yet authorized to be used, but they are working on making it come to fruition. If an item is made from metal and they can print it, it would make repairs and turnaround quicker. The machine has the capability to print multiple metals at the same time leading to the possibility of rebabbit bearings. This is a new technology they are getting with the ability to share lessons learned to build upon the technology. They are looking at a timeline of early next year for the machine’s availability. The end goal is getting MARMC ahead of the curve in technology.


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