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Executive Education for Depot
and Arsenal Leaders
An important contributor to the Army Materiel
Command’s (AMC’s) drive to adopt privatesector
best practices is the Depot and Arsenal
Executive Leadership Program (DAELP). DAELP
was established by AMC in 2003 to provide executive
development for commanders and senior civilian
leaders of the Army’s depot and arsenal facilities. It
is managed by the Institute for Defense and Business
(IDB) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in conjunction
with the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The goal of the
program is to give participants “a strategic overview
of key functional, analytical and managerial elements
required for effective leadership of large, complex
organizations.”
The 6-month program includes 5 weeks of resident
instruction at Chapel Hill provided by faculty selected
from Kenan-Flagler and other leading graduate business
schools and corporate and military leaders. Participants
spend 1 week on a group orientation tour
of representative armed services depots and selected
corporations. Each participant undertakes several
worksite projects at his duty station and has 4 weeks
of on-site residency with one of the program’s host
corporations. DAELP was designed for the Army, but
participants now come from the Marine Corps, Navy,
Air Force, and the Defense Logistics Agency.
In an interview after the May 2007 DAELP graduation,
General Benjamin S. Griffin, AMC’s commanding
general, discussed the importance of DAELP’s role
in facilitating exchanges of information and experience
between military and private-sector logisticians as part
of the larger and ongoing transformation of military
logistics. He described DAELP as “a place where good
ideas come together.” It exposes depot commanders to
the latest information from a business school perspective,
he said, and it provides a good environment for
sharing ideas among depot commanders.
Among the innovations conceptualized through such
exchanges of information with the private sector and
the application of Lean Six Sigma principles, General
Griffin mentioned the creation of Army field support
brigades. “They are our face to the field,” he said.
“They provide support for folks in the field . . . and
feedback” for AMC research and development.
DAELP is only one of a number of programs operated
by IDB, a non-profit research and educational institute
established in 1997 by the State of North Carolina and
the University of North Carolina. IDB is supported by
ARMY LOGISTICIAN PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF UNITED STATES ARMY LOGISTICS
by jerry Sh i n n
Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations, research
grants, contract and tuition revenues, and corporate and
philanthropic underwriting of educational and research
projects. IDB’s distinguishing concept is to bring participants
from the military, Government, and private sectors
together with business school faculty to teach, learn,
discuss, and exchange information, in both structured
and informal settings, primarily in the field of logistics.
In addition to its affiliation with the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, IDB works with faculty
from other institutions, including North Carolina Agricultural
and Technical State University, North Carolina
State University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the
University of Michigan.
Another IDB program is the Center of Excellence in
Logistics and Technology (LOGTECH), established in
2000. LOGTECH offers a master of business administration
(MBA) degree curriculum in logistics and
technology in affiliation with Kenan-Flagler and the
Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. AMC
is the DOD executive agent for LOGTECH, which
draws students, lecturers, and discussion leaders from
all armed services and joint commands.
Through LOGTECH, the IDB also offers two executive
education programs: the Program for Executives
in Logistics and Technology, for flag-level military
officers, executive-level civilians, and comparable private-sector
executives; and the Advanced Program in
Logistics and Technology, for O–4 to O–6 military officers,
GS–13 to GS–15 civilians, and comparable-level
participants from the private sector.
LOGTECH also organizes an annual Logistics
and Technology Forum, involving approximately 90
military, academic, and private-sector leaders, and is
a cooperating sponsor of the annual Focused Logistics
Briefing held in London, England, which brings
together military leaders from the United States and its
major allies. The IDB and LOGTECH organize and
manage numerous specialized programs by request of
the military, including 1-week conferences and 1- and
2-day instructional programs.
The newest major IDB initiative is its Center for
Stabilization and Economic Reconstruction, through
which IDB provides education programs and delivers
specialized support to the DOD in this increasingly
important area. ALOG
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o r i a L p a G e e D i t o r o f Th e CharloTTe observer.
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