Dennis Wisnosky Delivers Keynote Address at Defense Manufacturing Conference
By Protean Gibril
Business Transformation Agency
December 23, 2008
Orlando, Fla. – Dennis Wisnosky, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and Chief Architect in the Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer (DCMO), introduced the Department of Defense (DoD) initiative referred to as Global Collaborative Manufacturing Architecture (GCMA) at the recent Defense Manufacturing Conference. With a theme of "Defense Manufacturing: Are We Ready to Provide Affordable Warfighter Capabilities?", the conference addressed present and future manufacturing requirements of the warfighter and how to improve capability to respond effectively to a wide range of possible threats to the national security industrial base posed by the current persistent challenges and asymetrical warfare environment of the Global War on Terror.
Dennis Wisnosky delivers keynote at DMC
Wisnosky addressed the role of manufacturing in DoD focusing on the challenges the Department and industry face. "These challenges stem from circumstances such as the shift to a global economy; research and development (R&D) threats to U.S. technology from other countries; a shift in focus from R&D to sustainment; and dwindling resources to support technology development," said Wisnosky.
Wisnosky stressed the use of architecture to guide global collaboration for manufacturing with governance at all tiers of the global landscape. Elaborating on GCMA, Wisnosky said, "industry must also participate in the initiative. There is a need for pin-point, compatible investment from both the Department and industry."
The Business Transformation Agency (BTA) staff exhibited at the four-day conference December 1 – 3, engaging leaders from academia, government and industry on transformational activities relating to defense manufacturing. More than 220 other exhibitors representing defense agencies and industry organizations were also on hand to network with attendees.
This year's conference was the most well attended to date, bringing together participants of flag rank and the Senior Executive Service, with officers, engineers, scientists and business specialists. Other keynote addresses represented the perspective of the joint warfighter, the Services and industry, addressing challenges and showcasing successes in defense manufacturing capability enhancements.
Wisnosky and BTA's Randy Coleman, Project Technical Lead, Enterprise Planning and Investment, led a workshop on Global Collaborative Manufacturing on December 2, attended by many industry leaders to discuss the need for investment management and the challenges to be addressed. In addition, Coleman led a technical session on Global Collaborative Manufacturing Architecture, Interoperability and Modeling on December 3, providing an overview of the GCMA initiative and its relevance to the topics addressed at the conference.