Theater Logistician Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Dowd - KMI Media Group

By Keith Lippert
Vice Admiral
Keith Lippert (Ret.)
www.MLF-kmi.com
During my almost 38 years of active Navy duty, I
experienced logistics support from my early days of
serving on a nuclear submarine to much later when I
became director of the Defense Logistics Agency. Military
logistics changed dramatically during my active duty
time, and will continue to evolve. What remains constant
is that the people providing the logistics support to our
warfighters worldwide 24 hours a day work very hard
for its success.
In terms of the military logistics system becoming
more effective and efficient, I will address three areas:
•
•
•
Vice Admiral Keith Lippert (Ret.) started working as chief strategy officer for the Accenture Defense group
in October 2006. His last tour on active duty was as the 14th director of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
The longest-serving director in DLA’s history, Lippert served in this capacity from July 2001 to July 2006. Prior
to DLA, he was the commander, Naval Supply Systems Command, and 41st chief of Supply Corps from August
1999 to July 2001. He also served as vice commander, Naval Supply Systems Command from August 1999 to
July 2001.
Lippert earned his commission through the regular U.S. Navy ROTC program, graduating from Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio, with a B.A. in mathematics in 1968. Additionally, he holds master’s degrees from the
Naval Postgraduate School in management and in operations research.
Improving the Effectiveness and Effi ciency
of Military Logistics
civilian management and leadership expertise;
knowledge of commercial off-the-shelf information
technology systems; and
joint logistics solutions.
Throughout my career and continuing today, I have
observed a lack of emphasis on the proper education
and training of the Department of Defense’s civilian
logistics work force. While some of the education and
training is well thought out, structured and effective,
most is not. This problem is not unique to DoD,
but prevalent throughout the federal government. The
Annenberg Leadership Institute commenced leadership
training for mid-level civilians from many departments
of the federal government to address this issue. I believe
programs like these—either internal to the departments
of the federal government or like the Annenberg
Leadership Institute—will result in a more effective and
efficient federal government. This must be a priority for
DoD logistics organizations.
The military services and the Defense Logistics
Agency are in various stages of implementing Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) systems. These systems will
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the military
logistics system by reducing logistics response time,
requiring data integrity, improving financial accountability
and reducing inventories. The ERP systems
are large and complex, requiring expertise to take
full advantage of their benefits. Military and civilian
logisticians must become very knowledgeable on these
systems and develop new approaches to solving problems.
Change management training also is essential for
these systems to reach full potential. For example, there
are extensive inventory savings as a result of improved
demand forecasting from these ERP systems.
Finally, I have had the opportunity to participate in
a red team effort with the joint staff, which describes the
ideal logistics system in 2016–2028. Obviously, much
needs to be accomplished to achieve this goal. Certainly
a renewed emphasis on “jointness” is required. IT
systems that address total asset visibility, integrated data
environment and an enterprise approach, to name a
few, should be implemented where practical from a joint
perspective, to speed implementation and reduce costs.
The bottom line is that DoD must renew its efforts on
leadership and management skills of the civilian logistics
work force. The organic expertise of the COTS ERP
systems must be improved, and joint IT solutions should
be implemented where practical.
For more information, contact Keith Lippert at
keith.w.lippert@accenture.com.
MLF 3.7 | 5