Brig. Gen. Gail Atkins, deputy chief of staff for logistics and operations at the Army Materiel Command, identified digital transformation as an immediate priority in the modernization of the organic industrial base, or OIB, the Army said Monday.
Get updates on government modernization initiatives directly from defense leaders at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Digital Transformation Summit on April 22. The event will also feature speakers from across government and industry to discuss future plans for enterprise IT, user experience, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Tickets are available here.
At an event hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association, Atkins highlighted the Army’s work with industry to adopt commercial best practices and technologies to meet the service’s modernization requirements.
“We are all in on digital twinning,” the official shared on AMC’s efforts to strengthen the OIB.
As part of the Army’s 15-year modernization plan for the OIB, AMC invested nearly $100 million in facility and equipment upgrades across its sites.
“We are literally mapping our factory floors and censoring them so that while we are manufacturing or repairing, we are iterating and planning for what the next piece needs to be,” Atkins added.
What Actions Is the Army Taking to Modernize Its OIB?
AMC established the OIB Operations Center following a recent comprehensive, 90-day review of the OIB in late 2025. The OIB Integration Cell is responsible for ensuring that OIB’s long-term plans align with the Army’s strategic objectives. Meanwhile, the OIB Operations Center is in charge of accelerating OIB modernization.
“We embarked not only on a modernization plan, but a re‑imagination, and we must completely iterate and reimagine what our industrial base needs to be,” Atkins added.
Why Is the Army Modernizing Its OIB?
The Army is moving forward with a 15-year upgrade of its OIB to improve safety for personnel on production lines and increase efficiency and quality through greener manufacturing practices across all facilities to support the 2030s Army.
The OIB comprises 23 government-owned depots, arsenals and ammunition plants, some of which have been in use since the ‘70s,” Breaking Defense reported.
