The Development of US Military Packaging (2)

After half a century of development, the US military has formed its own unique and increasingly perfect packaging management system. Now that the U.S. military has formed a four-level packaging management system, the deputy assistant secretary of defense responsible for military installations and logistics assigns someone to be responsible for packaging work at the highest level, and decides on packaging policies and directives; the second level is the Army Equipment Command, which is responsible for implementation. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense’s directives specifically sponsor the planning work of the packaging organization; the third level is the “Packaging, Storage and Containerization Center” (PSCC) of the headquarters, which is the central organization for the US military’s material packaging. As a unit that implements packaging management, its main functions are:
1. Formulate policies, procedures and standards in terms of packaging, storage, transportation, loading and unloading, and containerization, and make sound proposals to the leading department of the Army's equipment department.
2. In terms of packaging and storage of materials, the Ministry of Defense directives and regulations, the common regulations of the three armed forces, and the directives of the Joint Logistics Command were proposed and related recommendations made.
3. Ensure that the proposed packaging requirements suit the needs of users and apply to the procurement of army materials.
4. Conduct evaluation tests on practical new packaging, new materials and new packaging technologies for the Army.
5, to conduct materials, storage methods and materials handling methods and equipment assessment tests.
6. Complete a value engineering study to ensure that the packaging methods proposed by each secondary department of the Army Equipment Division achieve the best cost-saving benefits. The fourth level is the relevant agencies scattered throughout the country, that is, the administrative departments responsible for packaging work, which are mainly military warehouses.
Second, the military packaging standardization The US military is one of the countries that developed military packaging standards earlier. It is no exaggeration to say that from the day when the US military packaging was born, the US military packaging standard was born at the same time. US military packaging standards and regulations It was accompanied by the development of the military packaging of the U.S. military. Every time a packaging problem arises, the U.S. military will immediately formulate corresponding standards or norms to solve these problems.
In World War II, two days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the packaging of goods destined for overseas shipments was either too simple to protect the contents or the chaos of packaging. The Office of the Deputy Secretary of the US Army’s Military Department signed an agreement. The general packaging specification, which sets requirements for packaging shipped overseas. In 1945, the Luhe Navy Joint Packing Bureau was established. After the establishment of the Bureau, a series of general packaging specifications was established. These include the famous JAN-P-108. By the end of World War II, the Bureau had established about 36 general specifications for packaging.
From the late 1940s to early 50s, the U.S. military formulated a series of packaging norms and standards in various fields. In 1952, the Naval Aviation Equipment Supply Division established the military and standard MIL-P-116, which divides storage methods into three categories and a total of 21 sub-categories. At this time, all arms and arms actively develop weapons systems, which require the development of corresponding packaging requirements. The Navy has developed MIL-STD-794 as required, provided general guidance for the formulation of packaging requirements, and subsequently developed MIL-STD-834. The Air Force also applied these standards to their practice. The arms and services also developed a series of packaging requirements as part of the federal code to replace the JAN documents developed during World War II. The other is actually using military specifications instead of procurement documents. As of January 31, 1950, the Philadelphia Military Depot used MIL-K-1950 instead of procurement documents.
Because the U.S. military has no uniform plan and coordination for the formulation of packaging standards or specifications, each military service independently develops its own packaging specifications, resulting in the duplication of a large number of norms and standards, making the standard system more confusing. In response to this situation, the report submitted by JPGC to the Assistant Secretary of Defense on July 13, 1989, suggested that MIL-P-116 should be included in the MIL-STD-2073 series of documents. They also suggested that the MIL-STD-2073 series of documents should be readjusted and that at least 197 codes should be deleted. Finally, they asked to remove 51 packaging specifications and merge the other 68 packaging specifications into 21.
After decades of development, the US military has reached more than 1,000 packaging standards. Including packaging data sheets, federal norms and standards, military specifications and standards, order forms and drawings, thus forming a set of complete, systematic, supporting and related standards system. Each important standard and specification has a large number of supporting documents. This set of standards strictly stipulates the packaging dimensions, specifications, materials, containers, cleaning and protective measures, packaging methods, quality and technical requirements, and the loading methods, storage and transportation tests, markings, and inspections of packages. Acceptance and so on also made clear and detailed regulations, so that the military packaging production, inspection and acceptance have laws to follow and regulations to follow. Through the use of this complete standard system, the US military organizes and directs the production and development of products, and effectively controls the competitive process of bidding and bidding. The entire standard system runs through various aspects such as the development, review, ordering, loading and unloading, storage, use, and management of military equipment packaging, so that the entire packaging work can be implemented in a lawful manner, and the operability and versatility of the packaging are enhanced. Military, ordering parties and contractors. (To be continued)