Life-Cycle Management - Army Logistics University - U.S. Army

• Develop a means for neighboring installations,
including non-Army installations, to collaborate in
such areas as pooling resources and cooperating on
regional issues.
• Combine all family support offices at Selfridge
Air National Guard Base, Michigan, into a single office
to eliminate duplication, increase efficiency,
and provide customers with a single point of entry.
The installation currently has three family support
offices serving its three main activities: the 127th
Wing, Michigan Air National Guard; the 927th Air
Refueling Wing, Air Force Reserve; and the U.S.
Garrison-Michigan Army Community Service.
Since its creation in 2001, the Army Business Initiative
Council has approved 122 initiatives. The
council’s mission is “to improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of the Army’s business operations by
identifying, evaluating, and implementing business
initiatives that streamline Department of the Army
business operations and create savings.”
GOVERNMENT RETAINS MANAGEMENT
OF THREE DLA DEPOTS
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) completed
three public-private competitions for management
of its Defense distribution depots during fiscal year
2004. In all three competitions—for Defense
Distribution Depot Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania,
Defense Distribution Depot Corpus Christi, Texas,
and Defense Distribution Depot Puget Sound,
Washington—it was decided that depot operations
and management will remain in-house rather than
be turned over to a private contractor.
DLA announced in March 1998 that it would
study 16 of its 18 Defense distribution depots in
the continental United States for possible contracting
out to the private sector (all except its primary
distribution sites at Susquehanna, Pennsylvania,
and San Joaquin, California). The competitions are
conducted under the guidelines contained in Office
of Management and Budget Circular A–76, Performance
of Commercial Activities.
Of the 12 competitions completed to date, 6 have
resulted in operations remaining within the Government:
Richmond, Virginia; Albany, Georgia; and
Columbus, Ohio, as well as Tobyhanna, Corpus
Christi, and Puget Sound. Six competitions have
been won by contractors: Cherry Point, North
Carolina; Warner-Robins, Georgia; Jacksonville,
Florida; Hill, Utah; Barstow, California; and San
Diego, California. Competitions for the remaining
four depots—Norfolk, Virginia; Anniston, Alabama;
Red River, Texas; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—
are scheduled for completion by 2007.
In October, DLA also activated its 25th distribution
site, Defense Distribution Depot Guam Marianas
(DDGM), in Guam. DDGM will support Department
of Defense customers in Guam. Management
of warehousing and distribution operations at the new
depot will be managed by a contractor, Eagle Support
Services Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama. Other
distribution depots opened in fiscal year 2004
include those in Sigonella, Italy, and Kuwait.
NEW EQUIPMENT IMPROVES
CONTAINER HANDLING AT MOTSU
New container- and materials-handling equipment
at Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point
(MOTSU), North Carolina, will save money and
improve container throughput for the Department of
Defense (DOD).
DOD has been moving toward 100-percent
containerization of munitions since the early 1970s.
Ninety percent of the ammunition that comes
through MOTSU is containerized. The new equipment
was procured as part of a modernization plan
that began in 2003 to decrease operating costs,
increase productivity, enhance customer service,
and comply with a DOD requirement to be able to
transship 10,000 containers in 14 days.
MOTSU’s Strategic Plan, published in 2003,
includes a goal to improve efficiency of the terminal
by upgrading operational processes, developing
automated cargo management systems, and procuring
equipment to support the near-exclusive use of
containers. As a result, the terminal is transforming
from a breakbulk terminal to a container terminal.
“We knew we had to maximize the movement of
containers to keep the ship working and the way to do
that was to move two 20-foot containers at a
time. . . . We did a cost-benefit analysis of double
loading, also known as ‘picking,’ which showed we
could move 1,856 containers in 8 days instead of 12
by double picking,” said Steve Kerr, the transportation
manager at MOTSU. “Our former fleet of 40-foot
chassis was not capable of handling double-picked
loads of up to 105,820 pounds. We had to focus on
procuring the right equipment to do the job.”
The new, commercially available equipment will
increase productivity and save time and money
ARMY LOGISTICIAN PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF UNITED STATES ARMY LOGISTICS 47