The concept of sustainment

A new section from Stewart Brand's Maintenance on Books in Progress

Continuing his digression – SUSTAINMENT – Stewart Brand writes on the concept itself:

WHO STUDIES, TESTS, AND INSTITUTIONALIZES MAINTENANCE-MIND BEST? I find that the most active frontiers of maintenance theory and practice are in four domains: manufacturing, aerospace, software—and the military.

The US Army, lately, has introduced a new term—“sustainment”— signaling a seismic shift in its doctrine. It was formally introduced in 2009 with a new edition of Field Manual 4-0, previously titled Combat Service Support. The new FM 4-0 was titled Sustainment Operations. The edition of 2019 states: “Sustainment is the provision of logistics, financial management, personnel services, and health service support necessary to maintain operations until successful mission completion.”

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