Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany -- ALBANY, Ga. – Marine Corps Logistics Command (LOGCOM) hosted a demonstration of the Advanced Manufacturing Competitive Advantage Pathfinders (AdvM CAP) project in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and Marine Depot Maintenance Command (MDMC). The initiative connects advanced manufacturing capabilities across the Department of Defense (DoD), private industry, and allied partners.
The project links a secure, accredited 3D printing system to 10 military and private industry sites worldwide. This connection enables simultaneous production of parts at the point of need, offering a strategic advantage to forward-deployed Marine Expeditionary Forces operating in contested environments.
“Why does this matter for Marine Depot Maintenance and the Marine Corps? It gets critical parts to forward-deployed Marines in highly contested areas of responsibility,” said David Anderson, director of operations for MDMC. “This gives them the ability to access intellectual property they need to get the part produced rapidly at the point of need without a dependency on traditional supply chains.”
The system supports both the distribution and reception of digital files, expanding MDMC’s ability to sustain readiness and collaborate with global partners.
“In addition to that, it also opens up our advanced manufacturing capabilities to a global market,” Anderson said. “We can send the intellectual property we’ve developed for deployed operations, and we can receive IP from anywhere in the world to produce the part right here in Albany, Georgia, or Barstow, California—or in the future, with our forward-deployed maintenance team in Japan. It gets our advanced manufacturing capabilities into the fight, where traditional supply chains may be compromised during wartime scenarios.”
The demonstration validated a secure GovCloud environment capable of initiating print jobs at connected sites around the globe. Anderson emphasized the system’s strategic relevance.
“We’ve already connected 10 military and private industry sites in strategic locations around the world,” he said. “From a secure, accredited GovCloud environment, we can click a button and initiate print jobs simultaneously, producing parts securely at the point of need. The ability to livestream digital parts to globally dispersed advanced manufacturing equipment across the DoD, private industry, and allied partners is a strategic capability that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the department today.”
By reducing reliance on traditional supply chains and addressing logistical vulnerabilities, the Pathfinders project marks a significant step forward in enhancing Marine Corps logistics and mission readiness through cutting-edge digital manufacturing.