Advanced manufacturing fills supply chain gaps and enables Army readiness, the commanding general of Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command said.

“When we attack the advanced manufacturing mission, it's about making sure that we can get effects to units in the field,” Maj. Gen. Michael Lalor said during a panel on advanced manufacturing initiatives at a recent Association of the U.S. Army Hot Topic on the industrial base. “Primarily, it’s about filling gaps in that supply chain … and then it's also about serving as a catalyst for Army capability at echelon.”

Advanced manufacturing capabilities include 3D printing and utilizing artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning, among others, according to an Army news release from December.

As part of its embrace of advanced manufacturing capabilities, Tank-automotive and Armaments Command launched the Battle Damage Repair and Fabrication effort.

Under the program, the Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center in Illinois uses agreement status reports “worldwide by fleet” to identify “candidates for advanced manufacturing” and prints temporary replacement parts that units need, Lalor said.

Ultimately, the Department of Defense is working to create a global network of advanced manufacturing capabilities that can be accessed by any of the services, said Christopher Lowman, former assistant secretary of defense for sustainment. “The department has to … proliferate the understanding of the capabilities of advanced manufacturing throughout the services at echelon,” Lowman said.

As the Army deepens its advanced manufacturing capabilities, it is eager to partner with industry, Lalor said. “As far as us at a more strategic, operational, tactical level, ... what we need is a partner,” he said. “I need a partner, not a transactional relationship. I need someone who's willing to assume some risk, some cost sharing and partnership and help me develop the capabilities and fill in the gaps where we have them as a team.”