Photo By Christi Corpus | CCAD’s Artificial Intelligence Process Improvement Talent Competition participants,...... read more read more
by Cheryl Green, deputy director for Directorate of Resource Inventory and Information Management,
Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas— Corpus Christi Army Depot recently hosted an inaugural Artificial Intelligence Process Improvement Talent Competition. This event was transformational and was designed to unite CCAD’s top talent, leveraging creative, sustainable analytical methods to fortify the depot’s mission.
The competition required teams to submit capstone presentations demonstrating how AI integration could resolve specific operational deficiencies. The judges were: Deputy and Chief Operations Officer Roderick Benson, Chief of IT Business Management Division Marc Carter, and Depot Operations and Integration Division Chief Joshua Wigley. These esteemed judges were tasked with the difficult job of scoring the capstone presentations.
“This training evolution was instrumental in level setting the AI knowledge base of depot talent,” said Wigley, “The collaborative structure of the training enabled the team to cohesively create and modify three different AI models that have strategically postured CCAD for the modernized future.”
Each capstone presentation had a heavy emphasis on integrating AI tools into daily operations, utilizing real-world data from the Army Enterprise Resource Planning system and Army Vantage.
“Continuing these efforts is critical for workforce development,” said Manuel Vasquez Jr., a program analyst at CCAD. “As we introduce more smart automation and AI tools, we need to ensure the workforce is comfortable and confident using them. This kind of hands-on collaboration builds a culture where the workforce feels empowered to use technology to improve their own daily processes.”
“The AI solutions this team is developing based on their experience and business intelligence will help us navigate the uncertainty that naturally accompanies such transformation,” said Benson.
The subjects were selected based on specific operational deficiencies identified within the depot. Judges utilized a Rubric Evaluation Scoring tool to determine the final rankings. The results are as follows:
In first 1st place was Kitting. Which highlighted the production delays that frequently occurred when component kits are incomplete or staged inefficiently, leading to "work-in-progress" bottlenecks. This project optimized the kitting process by using AI to predict part shortages and streamline the delivery of materials to the floor exactly when needed. Team members were Matthew Lapointe, Jay Smith, Michael Benavides, and Thomas Beggin.
Next in 2nd place was the Property Readiness Analytics and Intelligent Search Engine project, also known as PRAISE. This project focused on property book items. Manual tracking of property book items can lead to "ghost" inventory or visibility gaps, complicating audits and resource allocation. By applying AI-driven analytics to property records, the depot can ensure real-time asset visibility and predictive maintenance scheduling for high-value equipment. Team members included Manuel Vasquez Jr, Jacob Beckmann, and Carla Bolton.
Finally, in 3rd place was the Complex Assembly Manufacturing Solution Assistant. Technicians faced "information overload" or delays when searching through massive volumes of technical manuals and historical maintenance data. This Large Language Model acted as a digital bridge, which allowed for rapid, natural-language queries to retrieve complex assembly instructions instantly, reducing downtime and errors. Team members were Oscar Davila Jr, Marcial Reza and Chloe Perez.
The competition highlighted the distinction between "quick wins" and sustainable controls. This means that although AI offered rapid solutions, the focus remains on long-term stability. Furthermore, CCAD maintains a strict philosophy on technology that AI is a tool meant to empower management decision-making, not a replacement for human judgment.
“This will guide our talented personnel to build upon existing enterprise solutions,” said Carter, “By doing so, we can ensure that these new capabilities are integrated, secure, and aligned with our broader strategic objectives.”
What encourages me most is the character of this team, their willingness to innovate, take the initiative, and to lead in a way that ensures “their” depot is positioned for success both today and well into the future.” said Benson It is a transformative time at the Corpus Christi Army Depot developing innovative methods using artificial intelligence to deliver critical data in logistics, sustainment, and material readiness for the future operating environment.
| Date Taken: | 03.16.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2026 11:59 |
| Story ID: | 560897 |
| Location: | CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 467 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CCAD is Modernizing the Future with Artificial Intelligence Innovation, by Christi Corpus, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
