MAY 21, 2026 – As the Department of War continues its push toward integrating artificial intelligence into everyday operations, U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command’s Medical Maintenance Management Directorate, or M3D, is continuing to take proactive steps to ensure its workforce is ready for the digital future.
During an April 28-29 training event held at AMLC’s Medical Maintenance Operations Division in Utah, known as MMOD-UT, leaders and key quality management staff focused on harnessing the power of AI to streamline and elevate ISO 9001 auditing and quality management processes.
Attendees included representatives from all three of M3D’s medical maintenance teams in California, Pennsylvania and Utah, as well as the Medical Maintenance Readiness Program at Sierra Army Depot, California.
For an organization that has maintained its ISO certification since the early 2000s, continuous improvement is baked into the culture. The introduction of AI tools represents the next logical step in delivering optimal support to the enterprise and, ultimately, the warfighter.
“This is the new industrial revolution. It’s not going anywhere,” M3D Director Jorge Magana said. “We have to realize how to use it in our field. AI is in all of our lanes now.”
Building a ‘persona,’ setting guardrails
Led by an industry expert in quality management systems, the two-day event focused heavily on the mechanics of prompt engineering – specifically how to give AI the appropriate constraints, or “guardrails,” to prevent it from drifting off-topic or “hallucinating” incorrect information.
“You’re inventing an assistant that really knows their stuff,” the trainer told participants, warning that large language models are “built to please” and can be unruly without proper structure. “Vague instructions produce vague results.”
Through 10 hands-on exercises, the group practiced building prompts using persona blocks, task blocks and strict operational constraints. They learned that investing time on the front end of a prompt significantly reduces the amount of editing required on the back end.
For many attendees, the training was an eye-opening experience that demystified a complex technology.
“This was fantastic,” said John Jeske, inventory manager for MMOD-UT. “This training helped me find out what I truly didn’t know about AI.”
Hannah Tarasona, production controller for MMOD-CA, found that the best way to describe AI was to relate it to raising her 9-year-old child.
“I see AI as my child. It is a fascinating process of continuous growth,” Tarasona said. “You’re basically building it, guiding its actions and carefully putting guardrails in place to ensure it stays on the right path to get the product that you want. AI is a really good tool.”
Elevating the audit process
ISO 9001 is a voluntary standard for quality management systems that require organizations to consistently meet customer and stakeholder needs.
As MMOD-UT Quality Manager Christine Ruiz summarized: “It all boils down to ‘say what you do, do it, prove it and improve it.’”
Ruiz, a former biomedical equipment specialist who is self-admittedly “old school” when it comes to advanced technologies, said she was initially cautious about AI. However, the training demonstrated how the technology could make her work significantly more efficient.
“Who would have thought I could have told AI to do stuff and give it the rules like I do with my own kids? So on the back end of the product, I don’t spend so much time,” Ruiz said. “That was just like, why didn’t I think of that? It’s kind of crazy.”
Ruiz noted that AI acts as an invaluable tool for gaining a fresh perspective, helping auditors see “the forest through the trees.” For example, measuring customer satisfaction is a critical ISO requirement, but it can be challenging for M3D because they are often the sole source for Army medical maintenance. Standard surveys don’t always yield reliable data.
By utilizing AI, Ruiz said it enables them to find new ways to analyze data and define metrics for customer satisfaction beyond traditional surveys, such as analyzing the frequency of direct customer feedback or equipment return rates.
“It offered me other ideas on ways we can measure customer satisfaction,” she explained, adding that the AI-generated audits offer additional depth and thoroughness than manual reporting alone.
Continuous improvement for the warfighter
At its core, the integration of AI into M3D’s quality management system is about continuous improvement. This aligns directly with the broader readiness goals of AMLC, the Army’s Class VIII medical materiel command, and its higher headquarters, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command.
By refining its internal processes, identifying gaps faster and writing deeper, more actionable audit reports, M3D is working to ensure that the medical equipment it maintains returns to the field in peak condition to the benefit of the operational force.
Through hands-on training and a willingness to adapt, AMLC and its medical maintenance personnel are working to stay at the forefront of medical logistics, leveraging every tool available to provide unmatched support to the warfighter.
“AI has limits, and we have to know how to harness it for our enterprise,” Magana said, emphasizing that deliberate engagement with the technology is critical. “If we don’t embrace AI, we will get left behind. We need to continuously learn and improve.”
Story by C.J. Lovelace
U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command