Defense logistics agency issue - KMI Media Group

More documents

Recommendations

Info

prepare to reposition forces out. There’s a physical space operation in addition to the academic aspect of keeping records and the integrity of our supply system; all are critical to know what we equipment we have and whose books it’s on. DLA acts as a partner to provide disposition instructions: what goes on with that gear, how it gets handed off to DLA, and where we put it so we can then do the proper thing to accommodate the last portion of disposition. I mentioned two important parts. One is record-keeping and the other is the actual handling and transfer of equipment that the unit no longer needs. DLA partners with the units to help them unburden themselves of the unnecessary gear so they can transfer important things back to the states. That has a huge impact on that reverse logistics pipeline. By taking out excess, we take out items that aren’t authorized or aren’t needed back at home station when that unit redeploys. So I think we play a key role. Just to reiterate, we absolutely do that from a seat at the table, in concert with the units that are redeploying. Q: Let’s talk about inventory: Excess inventory is excess cost, both in storage and in the acquisition of it. Can you go into detail about demand planning and forecasting? A: We have three major supply centers: our DLA Land and Maritime Organization in Columbus, the DLA Aviation Organization in Richmond, and our DLA Troop Support Organization in Philadelphia. Those are our three supply centers and they face the customer. Clearly, that’s the interface to answer the challenging question of what is your demand, what is your requirement. Those organizations, as a part of BRAC 2005, put DLA employees inside the planning processes within the services. Prior to 2005, some of those people belonged to the services. They were Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps employees. As we extended DLA into the retail world, those employees became DLA employees. Some of this has only occurred in the last five or 10 years, but it gives us a huge ability to understand service requirements. So those planners, buyers if you will, are forward positioned with the services. Let’s use the example of a depot maintenance activity in the Army: DLA planners are embedded in that depot activity. When the depot gets its annual workload funded by the services’ maintenance budgets, those depot maintenance dollars are planned and programmed against a requirement to produce a planned number of vehicles or items of equipment through that depot process. What a great place for our interface to take place. As the service plans their maintenance and production workload, DLA is planning the sustainment with them. Our supply centers have the customer facing responsibility to get the requirement just right, and then, once they have it right, put those items on acquisition and requisition processing. Let’s say a weapons system is being repaired at one of the Army maintenance depots. As that depot’s plan for the fiscal year is produced, we put those requisitions into process simultaneously. So when that material appears in the depot line for repair, the sustainment repair parts are right there with it. I could describe a similar process for the Navy shipyards: As a ship comes in for a repair cycle, the repair cycle might be longer—perhaps three years for a ship—but our process is the same. As that ship is identified, the planning begins immediately for arguably about 50 percent of what that ship’s going to need. As the time draws closer and the programming becomes available, that 50 percent goes to more like 24 | MLF 6.5 80 or 90 percent. So by the time the ship goes into dry dock, the material is in place in the depot system. It may be one of our major distribution depots, or it may be forward positioned actually inside the Navy shipyard. There’s an effectiveness criteria and an algorithm we use for whether we forward position it right there or if we have the delivery capability based on our historical demand to be able to hold it and not do the point of sale until it’s actually needed. That gives the services great flexibility with their working capital, to let the defense working capital hold that material until we get that point of sale. Great efficiency and flexibility for the services, and quite frankly, it’s efficient. If the service bought the material, there would always be a tendency to buy an insurance level, to have it just in case. This takes away the “just in case I need it, or might need it, or potentially could need it,” and lets DLA assume responsibility. When the demand hits, we’ve got an obligation for customer support to provide that material on time, so that nothing in the production cycle gets interrupted. We do that on DLA’s dime. Q: Planning for major military operations always include the logistics arm, but what of DLA’s role in unplanned events—for example, the Japanese tsunami, Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti. What’s DLA’s role in meeting the logistics obligations when the military responds to those things? A: You know, in military parlance, we call what you describe the range of military activities from major combat operations to the humanitarian assistance or the disaster relief that you describe. Honestly, that humanitarian assistance and disaster relief is far more likely to occur. The last three or four years has proven it. DLA has to be prepared for that. We leverage DLA’s data and data analysis to position certain items forward—blankets, cots, some food and bottled water—in anticipation of that most likely scenario, particularly in the overseas environment. Should the Defense Department be called upon, DLA’s role is much like it would be in major combat. We would have a sustainment role, providing the food and the bottled water that are critical to life support. If you take it to the next level, victims would require shelter. DLA would be there to provide tents and cots and blankets. This does not mean DLA provides all of the food. If the Defense Department does not have the lead, the World Food Program and other non-governmental organizations are the first responders. However, when we have crisis situations like Tomadochi, or as you mentioned Katrina, where we have rapidly deteriorating or destroyed infrastructure, non-governmental organizations may not have the capability to do the distribution process. That’s a situation where the Defense Department can be effective. One of the services would probably go in with the military gear and the troop strength, and DLA would provide support through one of our field activities. While DLA is unlikely to provide direct support to one of the non-governmental organizations, it has provided support to FEMA. If the infrastructure and the distribution processes allowed us to position material, FEMA or another DHS organization might do the last tactical mile, if you will, and put the supplies in the hands of those that need it the most. Q: What is DLA’s customer service mantra? How do you measure and improve on customer service, and how do you measure your status? www.MLF-kmi.com
A: Our mantra is “Warfighter Support.” We have three major pillars that we base our core competencies on: warfighter support, stewardship excellence and workforce development. Number one among those is support to the warfighter customer; whether in Afghanistan or at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, it is our primary concern. I mentioned how we face the depots and accomplish demand planning with our supply centers. From a DLA perspective though, there’s another facet of that, and that is the direct interface. DLA is a global agency with four regional organizations positioned to liaison with our combatant commands at the geographic combatant commands—PACOM, Europe and Africa Command, Central Command, North and South Command, so we’re attuned to the big picture the geographic combatant commander has. Let’s look at PACOM and focus one level down. The Pacific Command is headquartered in Hawaii, but the Army, Navy and Air Force components are also there, so we positioned a DLA regional commander there [at the 06 level] who has the responsibility to touch all those organizations, through that combatant commander. This way we maintain that customer focus. It’s not just looking at what the maintenance production requirement is inside of the service’s industrial site at a depot or a Navy shipyard or air logistics center; it’s also being attuned to the requirements of a combatant commander as they prepare for their operational plans, or for humanitarian assistance or disaster relief. Q: Is there anything you’d like to add about your customer outreach programs, or the formalized or informal things you do to keep in touch with customers? A: DLA does many important things. We provide $40 billion annually in supplies to the services. It’s important we get that right and know what ‘right’ looks like in our planning, purchasing and acquisition lead times when we’re getting those supplies. But I think DLA does something even more important. We build trust and confidence with our warfighter customer. That warfighter support is the first leg of our core competency. Stewardship excellence and workforce development will follow if we get the warfighter support right. I really just want to emphasize that DLA is America’s combat logistics support agency. We’re more than a supplier; we serve the total life cycle of an item of equipment, beginning with the customer-facing element of our supply centers, through storage and distribution support, to ultimate disposition services. Today, units are turning in items to a disposition yard in Kandahar, Afghanistan, so they can be released from their mission and go back to home station or prepare for the next contingency. The planning for that has to be done now—not only from the preparedness and readiness point of view, but how to do this most effectively. In this austere budget time, we must get our warfighter customer’s requirement exactly right. O Your ONLY opportunity to interface with representatives from the entire DoD maintenance community— make plans now to attend! 2012 Department of Defense Maintenance Symposium & Exhibition November 13-16, 2012 • DeVos Place Convention Center • Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA www.sae.org/dod View a video! Administered by for the U.S. Department of Defense P121077 www.MLF-kmi.com MLF 6.5 | 25
Page 1 and 2: Supply Optimizer Redding Hobby Acti
Page 3 and 4: Military logistics ForuM June 2012
Page 5 and 6: SPOTLIGHT: Global Tracking Soluti o
Page 7 and 8: A next generation fighter takes a n
Page 9 and 10: forecasting, lower administrative c
Page 11 and 12: At first glance, the containers use
Page 13 and 14: MILITARY CONTAINERS Quadcon Tricon
Page 15 and 16: We used a lot of things we develope
Page 17 and 18: hundred to a couple hundred thousan
Page 19 and 20: SUPPLY CHAIN General Dynamics NASSC
Page 21 and 22: Q&A Maintaining a Globally Responsi
Page 23 and 24: In a war fought with stealth fighte
Page 25: AAR has more of what government and
Page 29 and 30: company primarily works with DLA to
Page 31 and 32: With nearly $15 billion in sales pr
Page 33 and 34: The advertisers index is provided a
Page 36: 13-0242 Logistics Solutions for Aff

Defense logistics agency issue - KMI Media Group

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?