Supporting the Columbia-Class Submarine Program Through Engineering-Enabled Manufacturing
The Columbia-class submarine program is the U.S. Navy’s number one acquisition priority and a critical investment in the future of the nation’s sea-based strategic deterrent. The Columbia-class submarine was developed as the U.S. Navy’s next-generation replacement for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, designed to sustain the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad and provide survivable strategic deterrence into the 2080s. Parts Life, Inc. supported this high-priority Navy program through design engineering and manufacturing support of the Logistics Escape Trunk, or LET, Stand. The LET stand is is part of the family of support equipment design engineered and manufactured for the PEO submarine program.
Precision Manufacturing for a Critical Submarine Support Structure
The LET Stand supports maintenance activity for the submarine’s 25,000-pound Logistics Escape Trunk. Because of the trunk’s size and weight, the stand had to meet strict requirements for form, fit, function, stability, handling, and structural integrity. Customer collaboration helped guide the redesign, allowing our team to improve handling and ease of use for maintainers while preserving the structural requirements of the equipment.
Our team engineered and manufactured the prototype on schedule while supporting design improvements informed by maintainer usage, material considerations, operational handling requirements, and real-world use conditions. For the LET Stand, that meant evaluating how the structure would be moved, positioned, inspected, and used in a maintenance environment. Before this improvement, moving the LET stand was only possible using a crane, which required lift planning, equipment availability, and added coordination every time the stand needed to be repositioned. By adding forklift movement capability, Parts Life gave the customer a more practical handling method that improved flexibility in the maintenance environment while maintaining the structural requirements of the stand.
Line of Sight for Program Managers
Customer collaboration and clear visibility into each step of the process were key to the LET Stand project. Parts Life worked directly with key stakeholders to provide weekly line of sight into design implementation, fabrication progress, technical decisions, and overall project status. This visibility gave the customer confidence in the path forward, reduced uncertainty during the first prototype build, and helped ensure technical decisions could be addressed quickly without disrupting schedule performance. Through accurate updates, documented progress, and direct communication, Parts Life supported the program’s need for visible execution and manufactured the LET Stand in accordance with the required delivery schedule.
In the development phase, the team held a critical design review for the prototype. After the first prototype build, the Commander and leadership team visited our facility to inspect the stand, review project progress, and approve.
Building Giants: Workforce DeVelopment for Manufacturing and Skilled Trades in a Philadelphia HUBZone
A core philosophy in our business is to strengthen the people supporting the defense industrial base through skilled trade and workforce development. The project connected a critical Navy program with large scale welding, engineering capability, certified inspection, and regional manufacturing capacity. As submarine programs place continued demand on the defense industrial base, suppliers with welding, fabrication, engineering, inspection, and quality capability play an important role in maintaining program momentum.
“Nationwide, there is a huge shortage of skilled tradespeople, and a lot of companies talk about how hard it is to find skilled labor." states Moses DeHart, manufacturing instructor. "What makes Parts Life and DeVal Lifecycle Support different is the willingness to take the time, put in the effort, and establish a training program that helps solve the problem instead of pushing it off on someone else. Our training covers most materials, including aluminum and stainless steel, and when a job requires a welder to work in a different position than they are currently qualified in, we run the test in that position so they can demonstrate they are able to achieve it. That matters for our customers because it gives us a stronger, more prepared workforce, but it also speaks to our mindset as problem solvers. We see the need for more skilled manufacturers within the domestic defense industrial base and address it at the root."
DeHart continues "Workforce development creates pathways where people can see a future for themselves and their families, with clear goals and clear compensation growth. That is hugely empowering. The most powerful part of a training program is seeing people become better prepared for their lives, better prepared to support the people they love, and more confident in the future they are building.”
Supporting Critical Navy Submarine Programs with Practical Execution
The LET Stand project represents the type of work Parts Life supports for Navy and Department of Defense customers: complex manufacturing tied to technical requirements, operational use, and program visibility.
Through certified welding, non-destructive testing, structural validation, engineering support, and direct customer communication, Parts Life helped deliver a critical maintenance support structure for the Columbia-class submarine program. For program managers, this work shows how Parts Life supports high-priority defense programs with engineering-led manufacturing, disciplined quality, and clear line of sight through delivery.
Flexible Contracting Pathways for Rapid Program Support
The LET Stand was supported under a SBIR Phase II effort and made executable through Parts Life’s flexible, accessible contracting vehicles. This approach gave the customer a practical path to move a high-priority technical requirement into engineering, manufacturing, inspection, and delivery without slowing the work through rigid procurement channels. By aligning contract access with engineering-led execution, Parts Life helped the program move from requirement to prototype with clear scope, direct communication, quality planning, and line of sight through each stage of the build.
Parts Life, Inc. is a certified AS9100D engineering service provider, manufacturer, and alternate source supplier for DMSMS and obsolete replacement components on military systems and subsystems. Our value-added reverse engineering processes address missing or incomplete technical data needed prior to manufacturing. Services, such as R.O.P.E.® (Rapid Obsolescence Planning and Execution) and 5R® (Reverse Engineering, Remanufacturing, Recertify, Repair, Replicate) deliver manufacturable technical data with source approval to manufacture replacement parts. In our Prototype Integration Facility, parts and components are manufactured and tested for form, fit, and function to ensure each piece meets and surpasses OEM requirements.
