Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) Deskbook

• Manufacturing Management: Requires an analysis of the orchestration ofall elements needed to translate the design into an integrated and fieldedsystem (meeting Program goals for affordability and availability).Many of the MRL threads have been decomposed into sub-threads. Thisenables a more detailed understanding of manufacturing readiness and risk, therebyensuring continuity in maturing manufacturing from one level to the next. For example:• Technology and the Industrial Base includes industrial base issues andmanufacturing technology development• Design includes producibility and maturity• Cost and Funding includes production cost knowledge (cost modeling), costanalysis, and manufacturing investment budget• Materials includes maturity, availability, supply chain management, andspecial handling (i.e. government furnished property, shelf life, security,hazardous materials, storage environment, etc.)• Process Capability and Control includes modeling and simulation (productand process), manufacturing process maturity, and process yields and rates• Quality Management includes supplier quality• Manufacturing Management includes manufacturing planning and scheduling,materials planning, and tooling/special test and inspection equipmentThe matrix shown in Appendix A provides detailed criteria for each of the tenMRLs, by thread and sub-thread, throughout the acquisition life cycle. The matrixallows a user to separately trace and understand the maturation progress of each of thethreads and sub-threads as readiness levels increase from MRL 1 though MRL 10.These thread and sub-thread MRL criteria should be applied when appropriate to thesituation and may be tailored to a particular technology or application.As stated earlier, the MRL numbering scheme is not important for assessmentsof manufacturing readiness. The degree of maturity of an element of a program that isbeing assessed, whether the target maturity has been achieved, and what has to beaccomplished to increase maturity are important. This information is discovered in theassessment process using the matrix in Appendix A, not by assigning a number to theelement being assessed.2-9