NORCO, Calif –
NSWC Corona engineers in AR30 received a letter of appreciation from MARCORSYSCOM PMM-152 on October 9 for the work accomplished throughout FY19. “They have tirelessly supported a multitude of issues…which enhanced our ability to support Marines around the globe,” wrote Warren C. Clare, Program Manager for Ammunition. “In fact, due to their expertise, some of our applications have been labeled ‘best in breed’ by a recent OSD-level explosives safety evaluation.”
Clare is referring to Marine Ammunition Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE), an enterprise-level suite of tools developed by a team from AR30 and RS40. The application manages the Marine Corps explosives safety enterprise by tracking the life cycle, management, budget, training, service life, and certifications for all ammunition used by the Marine Corps. In the evaluation by the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board, the MAKE portal was highlighted as “a best practice and should be emulated by the other Services,” due to the adoption of modern tools and technologies, including advanced collaboration, automation, continuous integration and deployment, cloud-based DevSecOps, and agnostic design principles.
“When we started this effort, we didn't want to just build another typical grey government application,” said Michael Tao, AR32 Software Development Branch Manager. “We wanted to build something you'd expect to see from top industry tech firms with a core self-imposed requirement of good UX (user experience).
“Without the MAKE app, the Marines can’t efficiently manage the logistics of procuring, managing and fielding conventional ammunition. They can’t get bullets to the right place. They can’t look at the service life of conventional ammunition. It ensures that the people who are qualified to handle and transport these types of munitions are certified and medically cleared to do so. Receiving this letter and results of the evaluation validated that the industry-level approach, processes and standards we implemented can be achieved within government restrictions."