Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

The army reported on October 27th that they have saved 16.1 billion won this year by improving the maintenance system. Recently, as new power has been deployed in the military, the budget for the operation and maintenance of the equipment has increased rapidly. Based on defense policy research, the Army has been carrying out various budget reduction activities such as improvement of the track equipment maintenance system, improvement of the field circulation maintenance system, repairs and maintenance system upgrades.

First, the Army revolutionized the track equipment maintenance system. The tanks and armored vehicles, which are the main arms of the army, have been compulsorily installed without any special considerations, considering the length of service and the distance in service. There has been difficultly with the increased volume of depot maintenance and the reduced equipment utilization rate as a result of mandatory maintenance on a limited budget. To improve this situation, the Army has been carrying out a pilot demonstration project considering the remaining life of track equipment from March of this year. Depending on the remaining service life, the maintenance process was applied differently, so that unnecessary maintenance that does not affect the operation of the equipment was eliminated and only necessary maintenance was carried out. This resulted in a budget reduction of 2 billion won and a reduction in the volume of depot maintenance.

The field circulation maintenance system also was improved. Each logistics support command changed the implementation of orbital equipment plan maintenance, and only necessary operation areas were maintained in consideration of equipment conditions. By improving and reducing the existing standard process drawings, the Army was able to reduce the budget and manpower. In doing so, the Army saved 1.6 billion won compared to the previous year.

The Army also improved the repair and maintenance system. Purchase of new parts was avoided by reusing repair parts through the activation of Reconditioning spare parts maintenance. The new K1 tank engine costs 540 million won, while the maintenance cost is 110 million won. Pursuing repairs rather than purchasing a new one can enable a savings of 430 million won per unit. The army has greatly increased its maintenance activities, from 75,000 repaired parts last year to 119,000 this year. Through this, the Army achieved a budget reduction of 12.5 billion won compared to the previous year.

By Seung-Hoi, Ahn < seung@dema.mil.kr >
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