Point-of-need manufacturing for military spare parts is now a reality. Oshkosh Defense and the U.S. Marine Corps proved it in Japan, where an LVSR replacement part was manufactured on-site instead of shipped across thousands of miles. A secure digital file did the work, sent directly to an authorized facility.
The facility produced the part close to the operational area. The demonstration took place during Exercise Valiant Shield 2026.
How Point-of-Need Manufacturing Worked
Oshkosh Defense and the Marine Depot Maintenance Command (MDMC) carried out this on-site manufacturing effort together. An approved part for the Marine Corps’ LVSR vehicle was manufactured in Japan. LVSR stands for Logistics Vehicle System Replacement. For comparison, the same part was also produced at MDMC’s facility in Albany, Georgia, using the same distributed manufacturing approach.
The digital manufacturing process relied on the AdvMFG Hub Digital Sustainment Platform, which securely stores approved part files and restricts access to authorized users only. Rather than transmitting the physical part, the platform sends the digital file itself, eliminating the need for long-distance shipping and supporting point-of-need manufacturing at scale.
Supply lines across the Indo-Pacific are growing longer and increasingly prone to disruption. Shipping parts from central depots can take days, while point-of-need manufacturing is designed to shorten that timeline. This matters most for parts with long lead times or those no longer in production, since it can also reduce the time vehicles spend out of service for maintenance.
Authorized manufacturer MadeHere also took part in the effort, working alongside Oshkosh Defense and MDMC. Their collaboration showed that distributed manufacturing can support military vehicles while part configuration and intellectual property protections remain controlled throughout the process. Point-of-need manufacturing could become more common going forward.
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Source: C4Defence–Oshkosh Defense
