Defense logistics agency issue - KMI Media Group
Defense logistics agency issue - KMI Media Group
Defense logistics agency issue - KMI Media Group
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providing over 75 million lines of inventory<br />
in their database with 14,000 parts<br />
searched for on a daily basis. For government<br />
use specifically, the firm lists about<br />
13 million items of both active and historical<br />
use.<br />
“ILS assists DLA in providing them a<br />
global asset view of available parts,” said<br />
Angelbeck. “We deal with a lot of MICAP<br />
(mission impaired capability awaiting<br />
parts) situations, incapable aircraft that<br />
they need a part for to get it back into service.<br />
We assist them with identifying the<br />
parts so they can get it in house and help<br />
the warfighter.”<br />
He added that the company sees even<br />
greater opportunities with DLA in light<br />
of the recent update to the 2012 Director’s<br />
Guidance, which he said places an<br />
“emphasis on shifting industry capabilities”<br />
in light of the tightening DoD budget<br />
situation, coming Afghanistan drawdown<br />
and other factors.<br />
“One of the things at the top of their<br />
list is viewing information as the most<br />
cost-effective means to overcome the perceived<br />
cost shortfall,” said Angelbeck.<br />
data advancing efficiency<br />
With procurement cost and delivery<br />
timing a central focus of DLA Aviation’s<br />
operations, data management and other<br />
technological advances are a key component<br />
to ensuring both. Pratt & Whitney’s<br />
Mitchell noted that in support of the contract,<br />
the company has developed a sophisticated<br />
forecast modeling tool and process<br />
that the Air Force has cited as a best practices<br />
effort. She said these “value stream”<br />
enhancements are being worked as part<br />
of a collaborative forecasting process for<br />
aviation supply deliverables, adding that<br />
the company is currently working with<br />
DLA Aviation and Air Force Global Logistics<br />
Support Center and industry peers on<br />
further improvements in this area.<br />
“That’s really one of the most significant<br />
initiatives we as industry are working<br />
on with the DLA, to come up with a better<br />
forecasting process that will produce a<br />
more accurate and stable demand signal<br />
that we can reliably execute, resulting in<br />
100 percent on-time delivery to customer<br />
need,” said Mitchell.<br />
According to ILS’s Angelbeck, his firm<br />
not only connects DLA with needed parts,<br />
but also forecasts future demand for a particular<br />
part based on historical data and<br />
28 | MLF 6.5<br />
historic pricing information, which helps<br />
any purchaser with the bottom line.<br />
ILS’s market intelligence group develops<br />
12-month predictions for the expected<br />
supply and demand on a particular part,<br />
data that is linked to the broader availability<br />
data, providing government contractor<br />
information that includes pricing history<br />
for negotiation purposes.<br />
“They have a base line to go out and<br />
procure that part,” Angelbeck said.<br />
Outside of suppliers to the <strong>agency</strong><br />
and those who connect the two, another<br />
component of the DLA supply chain is<br />
the firms that do repair work on military<br />
aircraft.<br />
Dan Gonzales, vice president of business<br />
development for government and<br />
military sector at Tempe, Ariz.-based StandardAero,<br />
said that while the aviation<br />
overhaul firm has other arrangements in<br />
place should it not be able to get materials<br />
through the <strong>agency</strong>, it relies on DLA to<br />
provide parts for many of its operations.<br />
“One of the benefits of working with<br />
DLA is that they are a very steady supplier<br />
of parts,” said Gonzales.<br />
StandardAero does depot work for the<br />
Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, which<br />
totals 30-35 percent of their $1.5 billion<br />
in annual revenue, said Gonzales. Their<br />
largest workload portion is managing the<br />
overhaul of the C-130 supply plane’s T56<br />
turboprop engines, which they have been<br />
doing at the former Kelley Air Force base<br />
since 1999.<br />
Randal Herrington, director of materials<br />
for the StandardAero’s T56 operations,<br />
said DLA is good at ensuring the operation’s<br />
steady part demands are met using<br />
their forecast data.<br />
“That is certainly how we work best<br />
with the DLA,” said Herrington.<br />
Gonzales said that one of the ways<br />
they ensure this is effective is to collect<br />
real time data, evaluated and calculated<br />
nightly to feed their forward supply projections.<br />
He added that they’ve also come<br />
to count on regularly scheduled meetings<br />
with DLA as part of their work with the<br />
<strong>agency</strong> to ensure efficiency.<br />
Advances in procurement modeling<br />
are also leading to further potential<br />
<strong>logistics</strong> advancement. Gonzales said that<br />
StandardAero is developing a model that<br />
would anticipate when engine part failures<br />
will occur in the field in anticipation of<br />
demand patterns for the DLA to reduce<br />
down times for broken engines.<br />
Pratt & Whitney’s Mitchell also<br />
pointed to discussions about the use of<br />
performance-based <strong>logistics</strong> contracts as<br />
a possible means of improving <strong>logistics</strong><br />
outcomes, although she said that these<br />
types of contracts are typically led by the<br />
Air Force, as they own system level performance<br />
and DLA is not responsible for metrics<br />
at the operational level. This points to<br />
DLA’s integral but in some ways limited<br />
role in the overall military procurement<br />
process.<br />
“I think there is still some confusion<br />
about role of DLA in PBLs,” she said,<br />
adding that industry and government are<br />
trying to figure out what DLA’s actual<br />
responsibility would be under such a contract.<br />
Even as DLA Aviation and its partners<br />
take advantage of the latest datadriven<br />
technology and analysis, the <strong>agency</strong><br />
continues to look forward to other ways<br />
in which it can improve the aviation supply<br />
procurement process for the armed<br />
services, its industry partners and the<br />
taxpayer.<br />
ILS’s Angelbeck said that a major topic<br />
within the aviation supply industry currently<br />
is counterfeit parts and how to<br />
ensure they don’t get onto planes. One<br />
of the ways ILS seeks to address the <strong>issue</strong><br />
is traceability of part history within its<br />
database.<br />
“One of the things that is important<br />
to DLA and industry is traceability,” said<br />
Angelbeck. “They want to have the routing<br />
going back to the manufacturer. One of<br />
the things we are working on with the DLA<br />
is traceability within our database. We<br />
hope, in the near future, to supply traceability<br />
and at the least, tag the particular<br />
supplier.”<br />
DLA’s Jansson said that the <strong>agency</strong> is<br />
looking to take traceability even further,<br />
utilizing the latest in individual part tracking<br />
technology.<br />
“DLA, overall, is working on new technology<br />
to try and help mitigate the risk of<br />
counterfeit parts using biological DNA to<br />
stamp electronic components for example,<br />
to ensure as counterfeit parts aren’t entering<br />
the supply chain.” O<br />
For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief<br />
Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com<br />
or search our online archives for related stories<br />
at www.mlf-kmi.com.<br />
www.MLF-kmi.com