Defense logistics agency issue - KMI Media Group

dLa aviation’s mission is to take the unknowns out of the aviation suppLy chain,
whiLe reducing costs and wait time.
Logistics procurement management
is a key component of DLA Aviation’s
mission, aimed at keeping U.S. military
aircraft operational and in the air instead
of in depots awaiting repairs. Data management
technologies and efficiency planning
efforts central to this not only reduce
downtime by ensuring parts get to where
they need to be as fast as possible, they
also reduce costs.
“That is really the focus of what we
do—buying components for our service
customers to make sure they can keep our
aviators mission ready,” Brigadier General
Scott W. Jansson, commander of DLA Aviation,
told Military Logistics Forum. “It’s
a quite extensive procurement mission.”
He said that while ensuring the effective
management of both the supply
and demand spare parts chains—which
include storage and distribution operations
that support aviation needs across
the U.S. armed forces through various
outposts nationwide—the Richmond, Va.based
agency deals with around 9,000
26 | MLF 6.5
different suppliers. At times, the agency
aggregates the individual needs of each of
the services in order to increase buying
power.
With depot procurement and storage/
distribution operations located from Naval
Air Station, Jacksonville, Fla., to Utah’s
Hill Air Force Base, the mission supports
over 1,300 major weapons systems in
total, with more than 440,000 aviation
parts of the 1.3 million repair and supply
items for which the agency serves as the
primary U.S. military supplier.
Jansson explained that that in terms of
current fiscal year priorities, DLA Aviation
is looking to improve industrial customer
support by further improving their services
for aerospace repair depots, which
remain its main clients, as well as improve
support to operations customers across
the services.
“Our first priority is to improve those
services to the customer,” said Jansson.
“One of the things we are trying to do
is execute more timely and affordable
By christian Bourge
mLf correspondent
acquisitions, making sure we understand
our customer requirements, and reduce
the time of getting parts to them. The
more agile we are in the supply chain, the
more quickly we can turn items around.”
One way that DLA plans to do this
is by further reducing already truncated
lead times for part replacements, an area
in which they have seen great improvement
in recent years through a number
of means. One of those management
techniques is simply working closely with
suppliers.
Jansson said he meets twice a year
with key staffers from strategic suppliers,
typically large integrators who are original
equipment manufacturers, including
firms like Boeing, Pratt & Whitney and
Northrop Grumman. He added that at
lower pay grades, staff meets with management
personnel from key firms quarterly
to as often as weekly.
Brenda Mitchell, director of military
support and services at Pratt & Whitney’s
East Hartford, Conn., facility, said the
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