MLF 7-4 (May 2013)

MRAP Programs O DLA Hiring Practices O Predictive Maintenance Collaboration with South Korea O Public-Private Partnerships

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COCOM Sustainer

Brig. Gen. John F. WhartonCommanding GeneralU.S. Army Sustainment Command

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Brigadier general John F. Whartoncommanding General

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May 2013Volume 7, Issue 4

Departments Industry Interview2 editor’s PersPective10 suPPly chain19 resource center

Mitch stevensonSenior account manager, logistics Solutions operationSaic

4routine Predictionsplanning ahead now includes better forecasting of equipment failure. a comprehensive life cycle maintenance plan ensures safe, reliable and mission-capable operations.By J.B. Bissell

10the three “P”spublic-private partnerships create a direct link between industry

best practices and government requirements. together with an industrial partner, the work is divided among the two, providing advantages to each.By Peter BuxBaum

12 MaxiMizing the it investMentWhat is the life cycle of a desktop or laptop computer, and where is the tipping point between repair or replace? Whether it’s a new

service offering, a component swap out, an extended warranty or an upgrade, the goal is to achieve maximum return on investment.By Cheryl GerBer

24looking ForWard tacom and Red River army Depot collaborate to expand the Republic of Korea army’s depot capabilities as part of a pacific pivot strategy.By Kellin szKuBie

25investing in Qualitythe logistics enterprise recognizes the critical role of workforce. Dla, in order to provide support to all the agency’s customers, employs a cadre of logisticians, acquisition specialists, technicians, mission support specialists and other support staff. By susan lowe

AIr Force SuStAInMent centerSpecIAl pull-out SuppleMent

lt. gen. Bruce litchFieldcommanderu.S. air Force Sustainment center

MILITARY LOGISTICS FORUM

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“Supporting

COCOM

operations is

our number

one priority,

and sustaining

Army and

joint forces in

combat is the

absolute most

important thing

we do.”

- Brig. Gen. John F. Wharton

1

exclusive intervieW With

long live the MraPmajor sustainment decisions still need to be made. How many mRaps will be retained, and in what configurations? How will their life cycle be managed and what role, if any, will private firms play in life cycle management of mRaps?By henry Canaday

7

By using a target in the budget as a snapshot, you can always draw conclusions that take you in the wrong direction. If you were to take a look at the Army’s procurement budget for construction equipment and watercraft, for example, you could argue that the world is fine. In 2012, construction equipment received $166 million. It received only $134 million in fiscal year 2013, but the request for FY14 tops $206 million. A similar trend follows watercraft. Receiving about $10 million each year for FY12/13, funding jumped more than four-fold to over $48 million.

But if you turn the page, you’ll see the bigger picture. Overall, Army procurement funding falls about $3 billion from FY12 to FY14—from about $9.5 billion to $6.4 billion. As history repeats itself, procurement will see tough times. Operations and maintenance should fare better: It’s always easier to slap on a fresh coat of paint and new tires to keep the wheels turning—and the wolves from the door. Research will be the middle child; it will probably only receive its due if it makes enough noise. Program performance will play a bigger role in RDT&E than the others. Projects that fail to hit their goals will not be carried along like some in the past. “Cut early and cut deep” will be the banner of the day.

That being said, during the past few budget downturns, U.S. military equipment had not been pushed to the limits as much as it has this go-around. The equipment has been used harder and longer than anticipated, meaning that it will take more time and money to bring the platforms back to meet future operational readiness.

To save some transportation money and earn some pocket change, it might also be a good idea to put a few “for sale” signs up on a couple (hundred! thousand?) MRAPs in Afghanistan before we pay to ship them back to the States. The retrograde from Afghanistan will be similar to Iraq in name only. The geography, politics and environment are all more significant factors than they were in Iraq—and there is an added expense that goes along with each of those factors. Fortunately, the drawdown is not a surprise, not without significant planning and certainly not without the review and study of lessons learned from Iraq.

Jeffrey D. McKaughaneditor-in-ChieF

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When you’re dealing with multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art military vehicles such as Navy submarines and Air Force fighters—or even inexpensive-by-comparison HMMWVs—the old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” does not apply.

In general, the U.S. military’s receptiveness to replacing/repairing components before they fail varies greatly from program to program. “Those programs that have embraced predictive maintenance are reaping significant cost avoidance savings—and some MRO contrac-tors are seeing this in reduced repair volumes,” said Dan Gonzales, StandardAero’s vice president of business development-U.S.

Predictive maintenance involves statistical algorithms. Often, the recommendations from predictive maintenance are counter-intuitive. Consequently, there is must be a degree of education to prospective predictive maintenance users and provide case studies to build their trust in predictive maintenance methods.

“Predictive maintenance allows us to confidently forecast the number of MRO arisings, reasons for removal, and material needs,” said Gonzales. “More importantly, it allows us to optimize workscopes to help achieve customer operating cost and reliability goals. We have demonstrated savings of many millions of dollars for our customers through predictive maintenance.”

As a business intelligence tool, predictive maintenance not only allows a company to accurately assess the size and timing of emerging MRO markets, but it also allows them to develop proactive solutions for emerging customer issues. “Our reliability engineering team is viewed as a critical company resource. Looking forward, StandardA-ero would not likely enter new engine MRO markets without first conducting a predictive maintenance assessment of the opportunity.”

StandardAero employs predictive maintenance techniques on many of the engines it repairs—and several types that it does not repair. “We have also developed predictive maintenance tools for entire aircraft,” said Gonzales. “To date, we have developed and validated predictive maintenance tools on over ten different engine types and two aircraft types. Frequently, operators of under-performing systems approach us to use our predictive maintenance tools to determine how reliability can be restored cost-effectively. In most cases, the corrective actions are not intuitive and surprisingly inexpensive.”

The company has found that both new and mature systems ben-efit from predictive maintenance. While mature systems tend to have more data available to support modeling efforts, StandardAero’s view is that large amounts of programmed money can be saved through the application of predictive maintenance early in a system’s life cycle.

There can never be too much information and history when it comes to this process. “We are fortunate in that our internal sys-tems collect an enormous amount of high-quality MRO data,” said Gonzales. “We also mine customer data sets and even collect data for customers.”

According to StandardAero, a typical project could involve over one million maintenance records. “By harnessing ‘big data’ we are

able to produce high-fidelity, validated predictive maintenance tools,” Gonzales added. “We have developed a whole range of software tools to help us develop and validate predictive maintenance tools. Some of our innovations are patented.”

To further their capabilities, StandardAero is looking at three areas.

“We are building on predictive maintenance methods to improve the accuracy of material forecasts,” said Gonzales. “We know that linear consumption models don’t produce satisfactory results. By accurately modeling the aging of components and systems, we are improving our material forecasts.”

“We are starting to develop methods to update predictive main-tenance tools with recent information about a system’s health,” he continued. “This creates many new possibilities that could change the way maintenance programs are designed and executed.”

“We are finding inexpensive ways to collect data,” he concluded. “For example, with the Royal Canadian Air Force and MacSema Ltd, we have developed a bolt-on, vibration-powered monitoring system. The system is entirely powered through energy harvesters and elimi-nates the need for wiring, making the addition of a monitoring system to a legacy engine much simpler.”

“Our military fleets require a well-planned schedule of mainte-nance, overhaul, repairs and upgrades,” said Susan Hebrank, market-ing services coordinator with CribMaster. “The Navy, for example, has a comprehensive life cycle maintenance plan for their submarines to ensure safe, reliable and mission-capable operations. Periodic mainte-nance and modernization begins immediately after construction and continues throughout the life of every vessel. On-time completion of these and other maintenance-type tasks plays an important role in being mission-ready.”

In other words, military mechanics can’t wait around for some-thing to malfunction; they’re charged with fixing things before they’re broken. And while it’s impossible to always accurately predict mechan-ical futures, the advent of certain predictive maintenance technologies makes the task much more feasible.

According to Hebrank, the company’s software contains a suite “of features that can be used to organize and assign scheduled main-tenance tasks that need to be done.” That’s oversimplifying things, of course. In addition to functionality for scheduling work, logging labor, forecasting cost and pre-ordering materials for upcoming jobs, the robust package has tools that allow users to track asset downtime, manage repair records, follow inventory status and more.

“It also stores repair and purchase records as they relate to each asset being maintained, including tools, time and any materials used,” added Hebrank. “Plus, work orders can be scheduled to run at regular intervals or set up ad hoc to support unplanned jobs.”

In all, the CribMaster preventive maintenance module can provide more than 190 standard upkeep-related reports to help create seam-less timetables for essential routine service.

Planning ahead now includes better forecasting of equiPment failure.by J.b. bissell, mlf corresPondent

www.MLF-kmi.com4 | MLF 7.4

That routine begins with mechanics and their teams inputting all the vital information about what each vehicle needs and when it needs it. “Work orders are created using a template that is composed of tasks and the spare parts and inventory required to perform those tasks,” said Hebrank. Once this is completed, the software takes over predicting future routine maintenance needs.

“The system automatically monitors all preventive maintenance schedules for each asset in the fleet, and provides easy access to all historical data related to repair records,” continued Hebrank. “It ensures that there is reserved inventory available based on upcoming work orders, and the predictive ordering feature ensures arrival of the inventory prior to the work to be done. Finally, work orders may be scheduled against one or multiple assets.”

Ultimately, staying a few steps ahead of the maintenance needs of one or multiple assets not only keeps military vehicles mission ready, but it also helps reduce emergency repair costs. “Whether it’s a tanker or a submarine, the goal is simple: Get it returned to the fleet as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Hebrank said. “CribMaster’s Inven-tory Management Solutions, including the preventive maintenance module, streamlines the management of these processes to save time and money.”

Part of getting a tanker or submarine back to the fleet as quickly as possible, though, is maintaining an efficient work cycle while it’s actu-ally in the shop, and as much recording and tracking and predicting as CribMaster’s software does before the real work begins, it’s just as helpful—maybe more so—once the tangible labor starts.

“When paired with secure point-of-use inventory dispensing devices that utilize advanced technologies and CribMaster inventory management software, the system reduces unproductive time search-ing for tools, ensures optimum inventory levels and increases user accountability,” Hebrank explained.

“Transactions are recorded in real time for increased visibility, and the workflow process is streamlined by eliminating the walk-and-wait time to get project materials from the tool storage area. Additionally, authorized users have 24/7 access to inventory to complete the task at hand, which greatly reduces work stoppage.”

This, coupled with the system’s ability to manage work order instructions, PPE, MRO or any other type of indirect material, along with the wide range of critical data displays, creates a nearly automated process throughout which authorized users can easily locate the prod-uct, part or tool they need without hindering the overall workflow.

Keeping track of tools not only is important for maintaining an efficient workflow, it’s a crucial piece of operational safety.

Enter CribMaster’s tool tracking package. It’s a complementary piece of the inventory management software that uses RFID technol-ogy and secure dispensing devices to monitor tools as they go in and out of their cabinets—and move throughout an entire maintenance facility.

“Anytime an authorized user removes a tool from the cabinet, an ‘Items Out’ icon appears on the touchscreen,” explained Hebrank. “Pressing this button will display critical information—such as the items missing, the person that removed it, the time it was removed, where the mechanic is working, and more—directly on the screen. A running history of the tool is kept, and when something is missing, the search to find it is drastically reduced.” O

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CribMaster, the complete solution.visit www.cribmaster.com/missionreadyor call us at 1.888.419.1399 for more details

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at [email protected] or search our online archives for related stories

at www.mlf-kmi.com.


Mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles were deployed fast to meet critical needs and successfully upgraded and maintained in the field under difficult conditions. With the Iraq war over and the U.S. part of the Afghanistan conflict ending, some of these highly special-ized vehicles will be scrapped, some pre-positioned abroad, some sold, some used for training and some stored at U.S. depots.

mraP life cycle shifts toward organic management by the services.

by henry canaday

mlf corresPondent

Special Section: Life Cycle Management

Long Live the MRAP

www.MLF-kmi.com MLF 7.4 | 7

Major sustainment decisions still need to be made. How many MRAPs will be retained, and in what configurations? How will their life cycle be managed and what role, if any, will private firms play in life cycle management of MRAPs? These deci-sions will be made under severe budget stress. And they will increasingly be made by the services—chiefly the Army and Marines—that operate MRAPs.

“The MRAP family of vehicles continues to make tremendous, life-saving contribu-tions across the joint force,” emphasized Michael Clow, spokesman for the Program Executive Office Combat Support & Combat Service Support. Since the program’s incep-tion, the joint program office (JPO) has fielded over 27,000 MRAPs to the services, regularly upgrading them based on threat changes and testing data.

On October 1, 2012, the MRAP pro-gram entered a one-year transition phase designed to identify enduring, service-spe-cific requirements and to transition pro-gram responsibilities and oversight from the JPO to the services that operate MRAPs. “As part of assuming responsibilities for specific variants and configurations, indi-vidual services are evaluating requirements and implementing appropriate sustainment plans,” Clow said. “For the Army, MRAP family vehicles may support a range of future mission requirements and will be integrated into Army units for convoy pro-tection, network integration and training activities, as well as for Army pre-positioned stocks.” Clow said standardized configura-tions of MRAP vehicles in the Army force structure and sustainment processes should enable more regular sustainment planning and execution.

Clow said the major challenges the Army faces at present are sustaining ongo-ing support to warfighter requirements while ensuring the smooth transition of enduring program functions to the Army and other services. “This includes mov-ing sustainment activities from existing contractor support to a pure organic main-tenance and depot repair and overhaul sus-tainment structure, consistent with Army practices and available funding.”

The Marine Corps has developed a life cycle sustainment plan to manage and maintain its enduring requirement of MRAPs, which includes a mix of Cougars, M-ATVs and Buffalo variants. Jerrilee de

Geus, deputy product manager for MRAP logistics at Marine Corps Systems Com-mand, said the approved requirement for the foreseeable future includes 401 Cougar CAT Is, 24 Cat I Cougar TOWs, 273 Cat II Cougars, 15 Cat II Cougar ambulances, 28 Cat III Buffalos and 490 M-ATVs.

“The Marine Corps is working right now on selecting the best vehicles to meet the enduring requirement, divesting excess MRAPs and determining the best level of preservation, while maintaining stored vehicles in a high readiness state,” de Geus explained. “The Marine Corps is also working diligently on the coordination of vehicle retrogrades, the closure of JPO MRAP repair sites in theater, and the reuti-lization of tools and equipment procured and required to support the urgent MRAP requirement.” To date, the JPO has pro-vided contractor logistics support (CLS) for maintenance and repairs, both in theater and in the United States, for all services. De Geus said that during the first two years of transition from JPO to service-led life cycle management, the Marine Corps will continue to use CLS support. She reported that the Marine Corps has performed a performance-based logistics (PBL) analysis to determine the best way forward for the best value. The result is a hybrid strategy that will become fully organic by fiscal year 2016.

It looks like both the Army and Marines will shift toward organic life cycle manage-ment. But private firms have played a vital role in MRAP sustainment to date. Several are eager to help where they can with future MRAP life cycle management.

Navistar makes the Maxx-Pro MRAP family, including the lighter MaxxPro Dash and the MaxxPro wrecker. Judy Boeding, director of logistics, operations and ful-fillment at Navistar, believes that the government and industry will look at improv-ing life cycle planning for the MRAP fleet by focusing on upgrading vehicles with enhanced capabilities and streamlining configurations. “Having fewer, more capable configurations will result in lower life cycle costs in many areas, includ-ing facilities, part supply, retrogrades, and even routine and preventative maintenance

as maintainers become intimately familiar with fewer configurations.”

Boeding noted that PBL contracts could provide the government with fixed, steady-state costs that would enable it to forecast budgets more accurately. In addition to providing services such as parts and routine maintenance, PBL allows the government to upgrade capability and performance, overhaul major assemblies or reset fleets, all without spikes in spending when enhance-ments occur. “The customer could select from many services and determine where their sweet spot is to enhance the effective-ness of both operational readiness and cost.”

Boeding stressed that Navistar is ready to do whatever it takes to support U.S. and allied militaries with field service represen-tatives (FSRs), capability insertions, resets, supply support and stock optimization. “Our FSRs are bumper-to-bumper subject matter experts who work with military per-sonnel to ensure high levels of operational readiness,” Boeding said. “We have instruc-tors who ensure military personnel have the proper training and knowledge to operate and maintain vehicles.” Navistar also pro-vides expertise for mechanics, welders and engineers.

In addition to helping with routine maintenance and repairs, Navistar staff can assess battle damage to determine whether a vehicle should be repaired, reset or decom-missioned. Boeding said Navistar FSRs per-form upgrades and capability insertions, and the company offers products such as truck-in-a-box and knockdown kits, which

can be assembled in the field. In addition to direct support, Navistar has a dedicated mili-tary dealer network that sup-ports the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and local mili-tary bases.

“To further enhance operational readiness with supply support, we have a Defense Distribution Cen-ter dedicated to our military customers,” Boeding noted.

“This is in addition to our nine commer-cial parts distribution centers.” Navistar recently partnered with the DLA, signing a strategic supplier alliance that elevates its relationship from that of a customer and supplier to a strategic partnership with DLA.


Judy Boeding


“We will be in Afghanistan to support our warfighters as long as there is a require-ment,” Boeding stressed. Navistar will con-tinue to be on the ground in 26 countries to support its products, all 34,000 of them.

“Forward support of vehicles and for-ward storage of spare parts improves the efficiency of MRO operations and ensures the military gets their vehicles back faster,” she said.

DynCorp’s primary role in MRAP life cycle management is repair and mainte-nance of vehicles. Its FSRs in the U.S. and abroad offer a global presence, providing the critical support needed to keep vehicles functioning at high mission-capable rates, explained Communications Vice President Ashley Burke. “Our FSRs have been trained and know how to work on the dozens of variants currently being fielded by the U.S. military and our allies,” Burke emphasized. “Our support stretches from CONUS Army and Air Force bases and U.S. maintenance depots to the front lines of ongoing overseas military operations.”

Burke sees the biggest challenges in MRAP support in maintenance and logis-tics issues associated with having so many MRAP variants, plus the transition of the MRAP fleet from the JPO to the service branches, scheduled for late 2013. “These challenges, in conjunction with decisions on the drawdown in Southwest Asia and what to do with more than 20,000 vehicles, will need to be resolved before we can effectively plan a long-term MRAP life cycle strategy.”

DynCorp believes that, given the urgent need for MRAPs, both government and industry did an excellent job in producing, fielding and maintaining the vehicles. For the long term, the company argues that suc-cessful life cycle management will require articulating a clearly defined end-state “in which all parties have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities,” Burke said. “Obviously, current events can reshape that end state almost overnight. Continual coordination and communication between the parties will help ensure that MRAPs are ready to support warfighter missions any-where, anytime, for years to come.”

PBLs could meet performance goals for a weapon system like MRAPs through a support structure based on long-term performance agreements with clear lines of authority and responsibility. “This strategy

takes into account everything from variant locations and availability of repair parts, to the associated footprint of the weapon sys-tem itself,” Burke said. “Trade-off decisions are based on cost, useful service life and the effectiveness of the individual system.” DynCorp thinks the military services may initiate a PBL-like strategy for MRAP sup-port when the challenges and necessary decisions come into clearer focus.

For the U.S., BAE Systems produced the RG31 and RG33 families of MRAPs. It makes three MRAPs operated by the U.S. Marine Corps, the Caiman, RG31 and the RG33. BAE has a long, rich history of build-ing and providing maintenance support for MRAP vehicle programs, noted spokesper-son Shannon Booker. “We will continue to work with our customers as they determine the life cycle management needs for the MRAP variants.”

Oskosh Defense manu-factures the MRAP all-terrain vehicle (M-ATV). The M-ATV contract was awarded on June 30, 2009, and Oshkosh ramped up production to more than 1,000 vehicles per month by the end of 2009, recalled John Bryant, senior vice president of defense pro-grams at Oshkosh.

“In concert with this accelerated delivery timeline, warfighters in the field needed life cycle support that could be delivered as rapidly as the vehicles, which began arriving in Afghanistan only three months after contract award,” Bryant said. “Oshkosh was there to provide those capabilities.”

Support included delivering training materials, which are typically developed in 18 to 24 months, within one month. Osh-kosh staff members were also in theater as vehicles arrived to provide expert training for vehicle operators and mechanics. “Addi-tionally, we supplied hundreds of authorized stockage list and prescribed load list part kits in tandem with the vehicles,” Bryant noted.

Oshkosh has continued to support M-ATVs in theater. It worked with the military to design and deliver underbody improvement kits (UIK) to enhance the M-ATV protection capabilities in response to evolving threats in theater. More than 5,000 UIKs were installed on M-ATVs in-theater.

The company is also prepared to sup-port the vehicles as they return home. Many returning M-ATVs have been modified, either to counter evolving threats or for specific uses. Bryant said Oshkosh can help the mili-tary bring these differently modified vehicles into a common configuration to improve supportability over the long term.

“Oshkosh could also work with Army and Marine Corps depots to reset the returning M-ATVs,” Bryant said. “Resetting vehicles would help insert M-ATVs into the mainte-nance structure of the military at home and optimize the life cycle cost of the vehicles.” Oshkosh has extensive experience with vehi-cle reset and recapitalization, having mod-ernized more than 11,000 vehicles for the U.S. military in the last 15 years.

“As the U.S. military transitions por-tions of its MRAP fleet to its core force

structure focused on a new strategy, long term life cycle plans will need to be adjusted to optimize support,” Bryant said. “Oshkosh stands ready with the systems, processes and experience to optimize life cycle support.”

Bryant said Oshkosh experience stretches over the complete range of life cycle support, both for its own tac-tical wheeled vehicles and for

those produced by other manufacturers. He said Oshkosh has delivered cost-saving solu-tions to military customers from procure-ment stage through life cycle.

Due to tighter budgets, force restruc-turing and tens of thousands of returning vehicles, Bryant argues the military could consider a PBL approach to MRAP fleet sustainment. PBL contracts allow the mili-tary to define outcomes, such as readiness or availability, and then measure the costs of reaching them. If the military uses PBLs to sustain MRAPs, Oshkosh would ensure objectives and deliver best-value sustain-ment. “Given current fiscal challenges, a PBL approach could significantly reduce govern-ment infrastructure and process demands and shift costs and risks on industry instead,” Bryant said. O


at www.mlf-kmi.com.


John Bryant


The main thrust of the Army Materiel Command’s public-private partnerships (PPPs) is to support the overhaul Army equip-ment. Together with an industrial partner, the work is divided among the two, providing advantages to each. But AMC’s partner-ship program goes beyond that. Army industrial sites are actually put to use to perform subcontracting work to civilian companies making civilian products.

That may sound like it has nothing to do with military logistics, but there is a connection. AMC officials point out that this civilian subcontracting work keeps the organic Army industrial workforce busy and trained in skills similar to what they use for their military work. It also defrays AMC overhead and reduces marginal labor costs, allowing AMC to control prices it charges to its military customers. These advantages, along with others, underlie the AMC partnership program, which, as noted, typically is involved in pro-viding goods and services for military, and not civilian, purposes.

AMC defines a public-private partnership as an “agreement between an Army facility and one or more private industry to per-form work or utilize the Army’s facilities and equipment.” This can take many different contract forms, including performance-based logistics (PBL) contracts, which are properly thought of as quasi-partnerships. Now that the wars in southwest Asia are over or wind-ing down, Army industrial site workloads are declining and AMC is making a big push to sustain and grow its partnership program.

“The mission of the AMC Partnership Program is to improve capabilities and performance of AMC’s industrial sites through cooperation between the public and private sectors,” said James Dwyer, deputy chief of staff for logistics at the Army Materiel Com-mand. “There are a number of benefits to partnering with AMC, including gaining access to advanced technology industrial equip-ment. We have invested $1.3 billion in our industrial sites in the last decade.” Other advantages cited by Dwyer include the use of hard-to-receive hazardous waste permits, decreased capital investment cost for the industry partner, and access to a trained and competent workforce.

“In most instances, today’s public-private partnerships are limited to defense depot-level maintenance and repair activities,” noted Daniel Cernoch, senior manager for logistics and sustainment at Lockheed Martin Corporation, “yet there is significant room to expand this model to assume additional responsibilities.”

Both the Army and its industrial partners have goals and objectives that they seek to derive from their partnerships. “For the Army, it helps us improve operational efficiency,” said Dwyer. “The more work we get, the more we can defray our overhead costs so our rates go down. This lowers the costs for products we produce for soldiers. We also learn best business practices from industry partners, which helps us to be more innovative in the future.”

In the case of most PPPs, a facility of the Army organic industrial base produces products or provides services that are sold to a company that has a defense contract. In other words, the Army facility acts as a contractor to the prime defense contractor. AMC runs 20 industrial facilities around the country, including depots, arsenals, and ammuni-tion plants and centers. These facilities have capabilities in overhaul and remanufacturing, engineering and fabrication, heavy and light machining, and heat treatments and finishes, among other things.

“As part of an integrated product support strategy, we believe we can reduce risk and create an agile, highly effective defense logistics operation through a partnership that incentivizes performance and leverages industry’s strengths in inventory management, supply chain execution and new technology implementation,” said Cernoch. “The public-private partnership model can reduce the government’s long-term costs of support by enabling industry to reduce product support capacity investments, such as labor, plants and equipment resulting in improved operating efficiencies for industry by using a government partner’s capacity. The government’s benefit is improved capacity utilization. Investing in or leveraging a partner’s capabilities makes good business sense both for the government and its industry partner.”

The first legislation allowing the military to enter into PPPs was the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, which allowed federal laboratories to enter into cooperative research and development

The Three “P”sPublic-Private PartnershiPs create a direct link between industry best Practices and government requirements.by Peter buxbaum, mlf corresPondent


agreements with private companies and academic institutions. A 1993 law allowed Army facilities to sell manufactured articles to or perform services for entities outside of DoD under certain conditions. The first contract under that provision came in 1996. In 2000, Congress directed the Army to conduct a demonstration program that would “encourage commercial firms, to the maximum extent practicable, to use these Army arsenals for commercial purposes.” Full-blown authorization to engage in those types of partnerships came in 2005.

“We are not restricted to partnering with defense firms,” noted Dwyer. “At the Rock Island Armory in Nevada, they make products for Caterpillar that go into their bulldozers. They also make castings that are used by steel and aluminum companies.”

“Two basic contract vehicles are used to document partnership agreements: direct sales and work share, which is also known as team-ing,” said Cernoch. “The primary difference between these methods is how payments flow to the government in its role as public partner and the impact these different contracting arrangements can have on government and industry’s ability to establish an effective working relationship as partners.”

In a direct sales agreement, the private partner pays the public part-ner for work that is performed. With a work share contract, the public partner is paid by the government program office for work performed. Cernoch believes that direct sales agreements foster the proper level of accountability on behalf of both parties.

Among AMC’s public-private part-nerships is an arrangement with Gen-eral Dynamics for the overhaul of the M1 tank. “The tank goes to Anniston [Army Depot in Alabama], we take it apart, clean it up, do the repair on some of the secondary items,” said Dwyer. “Then we ship the parts to General Dynamics in Lima, Ohio, where they reassemble the tank and upgrade the technology.”

A similar arrangement prevails with BAE Systems for the overhaul of the Bradley fighting vehicle. In this case, the Army does the pre-liminary work at Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas, before the vehicle is send to a BAE plant near York, Pa. “In this case, Red River is a subcontractor to BAE,” noted Dwyer.

AMC has partnerships with Honeywell International for the over-haul of the M1 Abrams engine at Anniston and for the T55 engine which is used on the Chinook heavy-lift transport helicopter. “In the case of the M1 engine, we turn the wrenches and they provide the parts,” said Dwyer. “We turn out an engine of much higher quality than before the contract started.”

In the case of the T55 engine, Honeywell provides engineering services and parts supply to the Corpus Christi Army Depot while Army workers do the repairs. The engine is disassembled and the parts are cleaned, repaired and routed back to the assembly shop. Once the engine is reassembled it is sent for testing before being returned back to assembly where they are packed into engine containers for final sale.

Over 500 T-55 engines have been overhauled under this program at CCAD. The updated engines have the abilities to better withstand harsh weather conditions.

Honeywell advocates the use of more performance-based logistics contracts with the military that take an enterprise approach, accord-ing to company spokesperson Nathan Drevna. PBLs usually involve

long-term logistics support contracts that were based on incentives to achieve specific performance goals.

“Honeywell stands ready to support the next generation of PBL programs that implement effective commercial sustainment strategies focused on common components used by multiple services under one contract,” he said.

Drevna said that PBLs should be long-term contracts of 10 years or more, be focused on warfighter-defined outcomes, and use a fixed price plus incentive fee contract based on defined performance metrics. “Contractors should be incentivized to invest in reliability, process and other improvements,” he added. “Contractors should address obsoles-cence challenges during contract period. Accelerating the award of PBL contracts under these tenets will generate significant savings, providing a best value sustainment solution for the government while supporting DoD’s austerity efforts.”

Some of Lockheed Martin’s military partnerships also involve PBLs. “An example of this is the collaborative partnership we have with Hill Air Force Base for maintenance of the F-22 Raptor fighter,” said Cer-noch. “This public-private partnership received a Secretary of Defense PBL award for innovative practices that drove 15 percent improved mis-sion rates and reduced repair times by 20 percent. We are proving that these partnerships, when effectively managed, pay dividends both in cost savings and higher levels of readiness for our government’s forces.”

Lockheed Martin’s contract with the Defense Logistics Agency Defense Supply Center-Philadelphia is an example where a PPP rela-tionship can be expanded, according to Cernoch. “This end-to-end supply chain management program leverages best-in-class commercial market practices for inventory forecasting and management and cost-effective parts availability for a stock-bin fill rate of 97.1 percent,” he said.

In 2008, DoD established an Industrial Integration Integrated Prod-uct Team (IPT) to improve utilization of public and private industrial capacity. “The IPT and other government-industry working groups are focused on PPP implementation, business case analysis and metrics,” said Cernoch. “Lockheed Martin has contributed ideas and other support to this work. These teams will help define and refine DoD’s guidance so there is a more consistent interpretation of the law as it applies to public-private partnerships. We expect this to improve the collaborative process between industry and its government partners. Partnerships that incentivize performance and leverage industry’s strengths in inventory management, supply chain execution and new technology implementation will reduce risk while fostering agile and highly effective defense logistics operations.”

As for AMC, “we are looking to grow the number of partnerships geometrically,” said Dwyer. “Our workload is declining because the wars are coming to an end, and we have fixed costs and overhead just like everybody else in business.” In fact, an AMC document shows that while the number of its partners has grown from 430 in 2008 to 481 in 2012, its revenues from partnerships have dropped from over $700 million to $200 million in the same period.

“We would like to double or triple our partnerships over the next four years,” said Dwyer. “If business is declining for us it is probably also declining in the civilian sector. We think we can combine to make it a win-win. They can do some work for us and we can do some work for them.” O


at www.mlf-kmi.com.

James dwyer


Technology providers have developed innovative ways of delivering maintenance and repair to extend the lives of installed fleets and postpone the need to buy entirely new systems. Whether it’s a new service offering, a component swap out, an extended warranty or an upgrade, the goal is to achieve maximum return on investment.

Most suppliers of military computer sys-tems establish a contract with Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD), the largest full service electronics maintenance and repair facility in DoD. Dell, DRS, Getac and Panasonic all have contracts with TYAD to maintain and repair their systems, including parts, repair and refurbishment, in theater.

However, for nonvolatile military situ-ations, technology providers are now offer-ing the option to issue return merchandise authorizations (RMAs) through novel and expanded service offerings, making the deci-sion to sustain existing systems easier.

One of the most pioneering initiatives is the recently formed partnership between Getac and Federal Express TechConnect. Another, just launched in April, is Dell’s Pro Support Plus Enterprise Class Service. Pana-sonic and DRS have shaped their approaches to maintenance and repair in other ways to accommodate requests to maintain existing systems rather than buying new ones.

Leveraging its record of reliability in commercial logistics, FedEx TechConnect began in September 2012 to manage the warranty service for Getac’s rugged note-book and tablet PCs. Getac provided onsite training to TechConnect technicians and certified them to perform repairs on Getac’s systems using a 70-point inspection method.

Getac is the first OEM to partner with TechConnect for the repair, refurbishment and delivery logistics of Getac systems. The FedEx TechConnect service is open to all Getac customers, including the Air Force in Germany, which contains a FedEx location.

“FedEx could not rely on hardware manufacturers with their slow turnaround time so they set up their own technology repair and maintenance system internally. It’s located at the end of the runway at their main hub in Memphis for overnight delivery of repairs,” said Jim Rimay, president of Getac.

The repair and shipping ticket are one and the same. “They embedded the repair ticket in their track package system,” he noted.

“It was challenging for us to get parts so we got in the OEMs’ sandbox where, here-tofore, they alone have owned service and support,” said Tod Taylor, managing director of sales and marketing, FedEx TechConnect. “We have always been an early adopter of technology. We put as much emphasis on information flows as physical flows,” he said. “To facilitate the RMAs at our repair service center, we use our transportation network to get them in and out within 24 to 48 hours,” he said.

While Getac still runs the call center, TechConnect launched the web portal last year and has continued to build it out. “We’re in the process of implementing the full portfolio of our service offering with chat, email, text, video conferencing and whatever they want to do,” said Taylor.

Dell’s Pro Support Plus Enterprise Class Service offers robust reporting, technical

account management, senior engineers available for resolution and proactive main-tenance. “We’ll monitor the environment with alerts in advance, then dispatch the labor and fix it before you knew it was bro-ken,” said Marco Martinez, services market-ing manager, Dell Public.

Dell also trains and authorizes personnel to certify systems in Dell’s Tech Direct repair and maintenance program, which also offers basic repair/replace service with 10/5 sup-port or pro with 24/7 support. Accidental damage is an optional overlay. “We now put Dell Sky technicians on planes for mission critical warranties and next business day response,” added Martinez.

Panasonic experienced the same con-cerns as FedEx when trying to obtain parts from manufacturers to extend the lifetime of systems. “We are stocking parts beyond seven years from the end of the manufac-turing date because many manufacturers don’t have the part to do the repair,” said Kyp Walls, director product management, Panasonic North America.

DRS approaches maintenance and repair with a focus on future proofing, active upgrading and persistent training. As the sole provider of the FBCB2 (Force Battle Command Brigade and Below-Army) or Blue Force Tracking (Marines) ultra rugged, JV-5 systems, mounted in military vehicles and helicopters, DRS builds for specific mis-sion critical situations. The vehicle comput-ing and display systems contain expansion capability to allow for future technology improvements. “The systems are purpose-built for specific missions. We design them to fit the exact needs of the environment

what is the life cycle of a desktoP or laPtoP comPuter and where is the tiPPing Point between rePair or rePlace?

by cheryl gerber

mlf corresPondent

Maximizing the IT Investment



at www.mlf-kmi.com.

they are going into,” noted Bill Guyan. DRS, vice president of strategy.

To maintain and repair these systems in theater, DRS is engaged in persistent train-ing. “We work closely with Tobyhanna to be sure that their U.S.-based and deployed service teams are trained to conduct system repairs and upgrades whenever and wherever they may be required,” said Guyan.

With an awareness of life cycle cost, DRS designs systems to allow for the insertion of capability upgrades and expansion. “Upgrad-able system designs can permit significant expansion of the serviceable life of a system, limit the variation in fielded fleets and permit the refresh of a fleet of systems for a fraction of the cost associated with fleetwide replace-ments,” he said.

In recent years DRS has been upgrading the Army’s Movement Tracking System MRT tablet computer fleet of about 25,000 systems to enable interoperability with a new high capacity BFT-2 SATCOM system. DRS also has been upgrading the U.K. Army’s Bowman fleet of 13,000 rugged data terminals from Pentium III to Core 2 duo processor. “Each of these upgrades avoided the need to procure new replacement computers and has pro-vided savings to our customers,” said Guyan.

The majority of maintenance and repairs seems to consist of hard drives, screens and cases. “Hard drives are the one item that is most likely to fail, the very thing you don’t want to fail—your data,” said Walls.

Rugged laptops and tablets can be exposed to extreme temperatures and vola-tile, unpredictable battlefield situations. In the event of a failure, hard drives can default to their replicated, partitioned data or spare drives can be swapped in. “We store a golden image of the system configuration, replicated and partitioned in the same hard drive with a restore/recovery image,” said Rimay. “We run a utility to restore it with a copy if the disk image has been corrupted.”

A partition separates a section of a physi-cal disk into another virtual device, creating two partitions the operating system treats as a different drive letter, although both are physically located on the same drive.

Just as a spare tire can prevent lost time in travel, so can a spare hard drive prevent lost data in transit. “We recommend that our customers keep pre-imaged spare hard drives on site. If they don’t, we overnight a replacement from one of our 170 worldwide distribution centers,” said Martinez.

When hard drives are damaged, they often just get replaced, like cases and screens.

Although hard disk drives (HDD) have been standard in many systems, solid state drives (SSD) have been displacing HDDs in recent years, to the point where most technology providers now offer both. SSD are faster, lighter and consume less power than HDD. They can be more resistant to shock and vibration, since there are no moving parts in them. Still, several issues with SSDs have stalled their full adoption. SSDs have less capacity and are more expensive than HDDs. Encryption with an HDD is easier than an SSD. HDDs can overwrite encrypted data on top of old data, while data in an SSD must be erased first a with a “secure erase” feature or have total partition encryption.

“Solid state drives are not guaranteed to survive rugged conditions. They have an issue with low temperatures. For both SSD and HDD, we use hard drive heaters on fully rugged laptops to preheat the drives to pre-vent damage to the drive itself so they don’t have an issue with data corruption. If you try to turn on the drive when it’s frozen, you’ll damage the drive,” said Walls. “We make the hard drives removable so the user can lock them up at night or swap them out.”

Once a case cracks, the technology it held together is exposed and there is no choice but to replace it. Consequently, rug-ged laptop and tablet providers pay extra attention to case design. “We use aircraft-grade lightweight aluminum to provide rug-ged housing that will not crack in cold weather, like magnesium housings found in industrial solutions can,” said Guyan.

Panasonic uses a combination of materi-als depending on the degree of ruggedness required. “We use magnesium alloy cases on our rugged and semi-rugged laptops. It’s 20 times stronger than the ABS plastic used in consumer electronics and five times stron-ger than titanium. But it’s difficult to mold and must be molded under high pressure, so it’s used sparingly,” noted Walls.

The reliability of touchscreens has improved in recent years with chemically-strengthened and/or Gorilla glass. But touchscreens also now carry additional lay-ers of functionality. “If you crack a screen on your laptop, there are other electronics in that screen, like wireless antennas and touchpads, that have added a level of com-plexity to computing,” said Walls.

“We include not only a touch layer on top of the LCD but also a digital layer called a digitizer so you can do note taking, annotations and signature capture. More than the common, fat-tipped stylus, we give

the customer a pointed pen that makes it feel like they are writing with a real pen on paper,” he said. Digitizer screens are an optional upgrade in the Toughbook series.

The increased complexity of touch-screens carries additional risk. “The dif-ficulty of repair hasn’t changed with the increased complexity. But screen failure rate is higher now that they are more prone to failure with more components in them,” he said.

Customer usage also greatly impacts the rate of repair and maintenance. Technology providers sometimes see customers using systems in ways they weren’t meant to be used. A commercial-grade laptop cannot hold up to rugged conditions, for instance. “The acquisition cost perspective can be short-sighted when the reliability and lon-gevity won’t be there in extreme conditions you can’t always predict,” said Walls.

Toughbooks were made and tested for 6-foot drops, although they can sometimes take more than that. “They weren’t made for 12- to 18-foot drops repeatedly over the course of months if people are literally throwing the equipment around. Service people recognize that technology is sensi-tive, but they don’t always have the option to treat systems with sensitivity,” he said.

Rugged computers can outlast their war-ranties if they aren’t subjected to repeated impact that exceeds their tested parameters. “Many of our customers have the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality, so they have no reason to rush out and buy the latest tech-nology every three to five years when it goes off warranty. Even out of warranty, Tough-book failures are still pretty low,” he said.

Dell sees customers max out their three to five year warranties, purchase one or two year extensions then max out the extensions. Specific technologies drive the choice to buy new technology and stop maintaining existing systems. “The iPad changed the game—and not the functionality as much as the expectation in how I do my job,” said Martinez. “There’s a touch capability entitle-ment, an ingrained expectation of having a touchpad on a computing system now,” he said. Mobile touchscreen technology seems to be one point at which customers choose to stop maintaining their existing systems and start to buy new ones. O


Effectiveness Deliverer

Lt. Gen. Bruce A. Litchfield

CommanderAir Force Sustainment Center

Air ForCE SuStAinmEnt CEntEr

2013

Lieutenant General Bruce A. Litchfield is commander of the Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC), Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. As AFSC com-mander, he ensures the center provides operational planning and execution of Air Force supply chain management and depot maintenance for a wide range of aircraft, engines, missiles and component items in support of AFMC missions. He is respon-sible for operations which span three air logistics complexes, three air base wings, two supply chain management wings and multiple remote operating locations, and incorporating more than 32,000 military and civilian personnel. In addition, he oversees installation support to more than 75,000 personnel working in 140 associate units at the three AFSC bases.

Litchfield entered the Air Force in 1981 as a distinguished graduate from the ROTC program at Norwich University, Vt. His career spans diverse logistics and acquisition assignments supporting weapon systems at wing, major command, Air Staff and the Joint Staff levels. He has commanded squadron and group levels in addition to commanding two wings and was the director of logistics, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Prior to his current assignment, he was the com-mander, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker AFB.

Litchfield earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Norwich University, and a Master of Science degree in administration, Georgia College in 1983. He attended the Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala., in 1985 and the Program Management Course, Defense Systems Manage-ment College, Fort Belvoir, Va., in 1992. In 1995 he was a dis-tinguished graduate, Master of Arts degree in national strategy, at the Naval Command and Staff College, Naval War College, Newport, R.I. He attended the Air War College, Maxwell AFB, in 1998. In 2004, he attended the National Security Management Course, Syracuse University, N.Y., and in 2009 the Program for Senior Managers in Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Litchfield’s major awards and decorations include: the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters; the Defense

Meritorious Service Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters; the Air Force Commendation Medal; and the Air Force Achievement Medal.

Q: The Air Force Sustainment Center has had operational time under its belt. Is the center performing the mission as expected?

A: I’d like to make an unequivocal statement. We operated better on day one under the new sustainment center construct than we did under the previous construct, so I’m very pleased with how things are going and how we’re executing our mission. If you look at what the Air Force expects of us, I believe they want two things—they want effective delivery of readiness and they want it in an efficient manner. I call that cost-effective readiness.

In order to do that, there are two things that we have to get right in the sustainment center: that’s our ability to plan, and then our ability to execute that plan. We’ve gone to great extent to improve our planning process, the integration between our supply chain and the maintenance operations, and to get a high-confidence plan that we can execute.

Lieutenant GeneralBruce A. Litchfield

CommanderAir Force Sustainment Center

Effectiveness DelivererDelivering Daily Cost Effective Readiness to the Air Force

Q&AQ&A

www.MLF-kmi.com Air Force Sustainment Center | MLF 7.4 | 1

AiR FoRCE LiFE sUsTAiNMENT CENTERAiR FoRCE sUsTAiNMENT CENTER

2013

Gen. Janet C. WolfenbargerCommander

Lt. Gen. Andrew E. BuschVice Commander

Dr. Steve ButlerExecutive Director

Chief Master Sgt. Michael J. WarnerCommand Chief

Headquarters

Maj. Gen. H. Brent Baker Sr.

Commander, Ogden Air Logistics Complex

Col. Frederick D. Thaden

Vice Commander, 75th Air Base Wing

Col. Kathryn L. KolbeCommander, 75th Air

Base Wing

Chief Master Sgt. Jason L. France

Command Chief, 75th Air Base Wing

OGdeN aIr LOGIstICs COmpLex &

HILL aIr FOrCe Base

Colonel Walter J. LindsleyDirector of Staff

AiR FoRCE sUsTAiNMENT CENTER

aIr FOrCe sustaINmeNt CeNter

Colonel Mitchel H Butikofer

Commander, 78th Air Base Wing

Brig. Gen. Cedric GeorgeCommander

Robins Air Logistics Complex

Colonel Patricia RossVice Commander,

78th Air Base Wing

Chief Master Sgt. Sandra K. LepineCommand Chief

rOBINs aIr LOGIstICs COmpLex & rOBINs

aIr FOrCe Base

Brig. Gen. Donald E. “Gene” Kirkland

Commander, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex

Col. Steven J. Bleymaier

Commander, 72nd Air Base Wing

Col. Stephen D. WoodVice Commander,

72nd Air Base Wing

Chief Master Sgt. Brian D. Lavoie

Command Chief, 72nd Air Base Wing

Steven AlsupDirector

448th Supply Chain Management Wing

OkLaHOma CIty aIr LOGIstICs COmpLex

& tINker aIr FOrCe Base

Lt. Gen. Bruce A. Litchfield

Commander

Angie TymofichukDirector

Engineering & Technical Management Directorate

Ross E. MarshallExecutive Director

Col. Allan E. DayVice Commander

Chief Master Sgt. Kevin D. Vegas

Command Chief

William SwigertDirector

Personnel

Robert BroylesDirector

Contracting Directorate

Don DavisDirector

Financial Management Directorate

Gilbert MontoyaDirector

Logistics Directorate

JoAnne DavisDirector

Small Business Office

Col. David HaaseCommander

635th Supply Chain Operations Wing

Tangible results show that we’ve produced approximately 45 percent more aircraft in the first two quarters of FY13 than we did in FY12. To a great extent, this is because of the way we put together our sustainment center. Our mantra is the AFSC Way—and I think the AFSC Way is turning out to be a formula for success at all of our sustainment bases.

Q: Have there been any immediate and noticeable effects of the budget reductions and limitations on the center? Have you expe-rienced—or do you expect to experience—a brain drain of key skills?

A: The immediate effects really come in terms of our infrastructure support. We had to reduce the budget to our infrastructure, which had an immediate effect on our ability to do preventive mainte-nance and repair facilities. You can walk around the facilities and see places that aren’t being kept up to the standards that we nor-mally associate with the Air Force.

In terms of “brain drain”, we are seeing the fact that some of our highly skilled engineers are looking at other options. We have, right now, a small number who have taken jobs in the private sec-tor that we haven’t expected.

The other thing that we’re seeing is when we offer a job to a new employee, the acceptance rate is below what we are used to. We can clearly see the uncertainty and the instability in our fiscal environment, manifested by furloughs and sequestration, is having an impact on hiring. The longer this goes on, my assessment is you’re going to see that spread to a broader part of our workforce, but right now we see it in small numbers in our highly skilled positions.

Q: How would you characterize the meshing of the cultures of the former centers into the single organizational structure?

A: I’m going to spin your gyros a little bit on this one. I think what we did is create a new culture. We didn’t try to mesh old cultures. Earlier, I mentioned the AFSC Way. That “new culture” comes complete with a leadership model that we implemented at the stand-up of the sustainment center—and that was new to all the organizations, all the commands, all the eight wings that we have in the center.

This really starts with what I would consider the leadership focus that we want to have, creating an environment for success.

We put in place the priorities that we want—speed, quality and safety, along with cost effectiveness. Then we defined how we could achieve those targets through the people we have on board, through the resources we manage, and through the processes that we can focus on in terms of how we get our work output.

All of that is targeted against a common goal across the sustain-ment center.

I just visited all three of our sustainment bases, and whether I was at Robins, Tinker or Hill, whether I was talking to management or the workers on the floor, we were speaking the same language, we were measuring things the same way, and we were executing our workload in a standard fashion. It really has been a textbook way of merging the organizations. I fully believe that this is directly attributed to the wonderful planning effort that we had in place

before the stand-up. It didn’t come after the stand-up; we worked for many, many, many months to ensure that we had everything right on day one. It was a great team that I can attribute to that success.

Q: Do you expect any significant capital improvement either to facilities and/or equipment during the next 12 months?

A: Let me break that question down a little bit. We don’t have any new MILCON [military construction] that we’re projecting in the foreseeable future.

We do have modernization efforts that are going on that will allow us to stand up new capabilities that are nearing completion. If you go to Hill, you have the new radar cross-section testing facility that’s being put in place for the F-22 and F-35. If you go to Robins, they’re just opening up a new plating facility to handle the workload down there, and of course at Tinker we’re still ongoing in the conver-sion of the GM plant into a state-of-the-art maintenance and repair operation.

These projects are allowing us to take on new capabilities and new workloads as systems come into the depot. These are significant improvements and that will allow us to maintain our competitive-ness in the business.

Q: Has the center gained any additional work, added capacity or responsibilities since activation?

A: Yes, we have a big growth area in our software environment. At all three centers, software is a growing concern, which you can very well expect. When I came into the Air Force, roughly 15 percent of our weapon systems were controlled by software; today it’s somewhere close to 80-90 percent. Software is very expensive, and it’s a growth area that we really have to get into in order to sustain the readiness of our force.

We’re also looking at the F-35 coming on board this year, both in terms of the aircraft, the F-135 engine, as well as some of the com-ponents to go along with the aircraft.

Modification work is another area of growth for us. The old weapon systems that we’re keeping on board are continually being upgraded, and we’re doing a magnificent job on those modifications and turning those systems back to the field more capable than when they came in.

One of the other areas that we’re growing into is the remotely piloted aircraft, and we expect to see more growth in this arena.

Q: How are your supply chain wings organized?

A: We have a supply chain wing [a management wing] at Tinker AFB, and it has groups at Tinker, Robins and Hill. We have a supply chain operations wing at Scott AFB.

The 448th Supply Chain Management Wing at Tinker is respon-sible for ensuring the Air Force has all the parts that it manages, bringing them into the inventory whether it’s through new buys, organic maintenance or even contract maintenance.

The 635th Supply Chain Operations Wing at Scott AFB is responsible for distributing the Air Force inventory to all the bases, ensuring they have all they need to keep their weapon systems and aircraft operational.

www.MLF-kmi.com4 | MLF 7.4 | Air Force Sustainment Center


The 448th is more of the strategic wing to bring the Air Force assets into the inventory, and the 635th Supply Chain Operations Wing is responsible for distributing across our Air Force, to all the bases that need those supply end items.

Q: Is the center involved in any ‘going green’ initiatives as far as energy con-servation?

A: I have three priorities that I talk about every time I go to any one of our bases, and one of them is energy reduction/consumption. If I look at our sustainment bases, I believe we’re ranked first, third and seventh in terms of total energy use at Robins, Hill and Tinker respectively.

I don’t think that’s a good thing and I want to find ways to reduce our energy consumption.

You would expect us to be high energy consumers because of the enor-mity of the bases and the industrial operations that we do. What we’re really focusing in on is not only the normal in terms of energy consump-tion, heating and lighting and such, but we’re really working on process energy as well. We’re also looking at the ability to control the consumption of energy and what it takes us to produce the end items that we do—and we’re finding great successes there.

We’re finding that we’re the indus-try leader in process energy analysis and reduction. We’ve even briefed the National Academy of Science on the work that we’ve been doing, so I’m very proud of how we’re reducing the overall consumption of our energy.

I don’t necessarily call that ‘green,’ because a lot of people would say that green is building new. What we’re really trying to do is better utilize what we have by reducing our consumption. We’re also reducing cost, and that fits into one of our strategic priorities of cost-effective readiness, so if we can reduce the cost of what we produce, it’s better for our Air Force all around.

Q: You recently talked about preparing for the future and look-ing out for your wingman. What is the center doing to help its employees do those things?

A: I’d like to draw you a visual picture in that you’ll find when we start out talking about our employees, we put them at the center

of our intentions. The mechanic or the supply chain manager or the contract manager or the engineer that is actually doing the work is in the center of our bull’s eye: that’s who we are here to support, that’s what the leadership model is all about.

What we really want to do is to enable the person at the cen-ter of bull’s eye, not only in the job that they do, but ensuring when they come to work, they’re in a safe working environment. I don’t believe that anybody who comes to work, anywhere in our Air Force, should accept the risk of maybe long-term health problems or losing a finger or a toe.

To that end, we run a program that we operate with OSHA called the Voluntary Protection Program. The program focus is to get engagement of the workforce so that they help us

Top: A Coast Guard C-130 undergoes maintenance at Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, Robins Air Force Base, Ga. [Photo by Sue Sapp, courtesy of U. S. Air Force]Above: F-22 life cycle management will fall on the Sustainment Center. [Photo by Staff Sgt. William P. Coleman, courtesy of U.S. Air Force]

www.MLF-kmi.com Air Force Sustainment Center | MLF 7.4 | 5

AiR FoRCE LiFE sUsTAiNMENT CENTER

ensure a safe working environment. In areas where we are at a high level of maturity, we’ve received the OSHA ‘star status’ for our workforce—which exceeds industry standard for safety.

As we look at our workforce, we want to make sure they have the resources they need to do the job. No one will have everything they want, but we want to ensure they have what they need. Our responsibility is to ensure that we under-stand the work they’re doing, and that they have all the tools, the equipment, the safety procedures, in place to make sure they’re effective in what they do. The bottom line is that when our folks are at work, they have an environment they’re comfortable and confident in.

In terms of the wingman construct, we look at resiliency. If I were to break that down for you, there are four dimen-sions to what we do: mental, physical, spiritual and emotional. We work with our employees, if someone has a prob-lem, whether it’s financial, emotional or family, to make sure they have the coun-seling available and we can get them the help they need.

If you ask me about how we care about our people, how we take care of our people, I think it’s through a mul-tidimensional approach in terms of put-ting them at the center of our attention. How we keep them safe while they’re at work and make sure that their work environment is as safe as practically possible. We also want to make sure that they can handle the ups and downs that come in any person’s life. This is the multispectral approach to how we take care of our people.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: I believe that the cost of readiness will determine the size of the Air Force that we can afford, and the size of the Air Force that we can afford determines our ability and preparedness to fight and win the next war. Across the sustainment center, our primary responsibility is to deliver readiness to the Air Force, and do it in a cost-effective manner.

While we are heavily engaged, post-9/11—actually I would consider it the past 20 years, post-Desert Storm—but clearly since 9/11, we’ve been engaged in combat, there’s no doubt that we’ve been delivering effective capability to our warfighter. Now that we’ve pulled out of Iraq and we’re looking at the drawdown in Afghanistan, I think our focus now is on cost-effective readiness. I

think that’s what our sustainment center has been able to contrib-ute to our Air Force.

We work this on a daily basis—not only to deliver effective readiness, but do it in a cost-effective manner while still producing the high-quality products our warfighter needs

I’m very proud of the 33,000 members that we have across the sustainment center and what they’re doing and their contri-butions in those efforts. It’s really been remarkable the number of improvements we’ve been able to put in place and that the workforce has been able to execute—it’s something to behold. The more I get out and see it firsthand, the more impressed I am. Every day I come to work thinking that today is going to be a better day than yesterday. O

Top: Mechanical engineers demonstrate the sophisticated Leica laser scanner system at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. [Photo by Margo Wright, courtesy of U.S. Air Force]Above: Like the F-35, if it flies, it will pass through the hangar doors of the Air Force Sustainment Center. [Photo by Lawrence Crespo, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force]

www.MLF-kmi.com6 | MLF 7.4 | Air Force Sustainment Center


Compiled by Kmi media Group staffSUPPLY CHAIN

More Lift

The Product Manager, Engineering Systems, Marine Corps Systems Command, recently announced that they are seeking information from potential sources to satisfy its requirement for an extended boom forklift (EBFL) replace-ment vehicle.

The Marine Corps currently has a require-ment for 729 EBFLs, purchased through JLG Industries during the time period of 2001 through 2010. The existing fleet has reached its service life.

As part of the EBFL replacement effort, the Marine Corps has adopted new require-ments. Specifically, they have a requirement to ensure that all EBFLs are capable of loading and unloading rotary aircraft with standard warehouse and 7,000-pound, 463L pallets. This requirement necessitates the forklift have a reduced or reducible height not to exceed 84 inches when loading and unloading rotary wing aircraft. The PM also has a requirement for an armored solution for the EBFL operator cab. All EBFLs must be configurable to receive an armored cab. The Marine Corps will require 100 armored cabs.

AV-8 Engine ILSThe Naval Air Systems Command has announced that it intends to award a sole-source

delivery order to Rolls Royce PLC, Bristol, England, to provide integrated logistics support (ILS) for the Pegasus (AV-8) engine (F402-RR-408A/B) for the Joint Program Office, which consists of the United States Marine Corps, Spanish Navy and Italian Navy.

According to NAVAIR, Rolls Royce is the original designer, developer and manufacturer of the F402 (AV-8B) series engine and is the only source with the requisite knowledge, experience and technical expertise to continue to provide the required supplies and services. Rolls Royce is the only source with the technical data, facilities and capabilities required to provide the asso-ciated system and sustainment support for the F402 (AV-8B) series engine requirements. Rolls Royce maintains configuration control over the F402 engine and will not provide unlimited rights to the government. No other manufacturer could design, develop and properly integrate F402 engine upgrades to meet the contract delivery schedules required to resolve issues in the fleet with the current configuration. Rolls Royce was selected as the prime contractor for the original engine development resulting from full and open competition.

Afghan C-130H Support

The AFLCMC/WLNI, C-130 Foreign Military Sales Program Office planned an industry day for late April to obtain industry feedback associated with a potential initiative by AFLCMC/WLNI to acquire contractor logistics support in Afghanistan for four C-130H aircraft. Services would potentially include aircraft maintenance, on and off equipment maintenance, back shop operations, technical support, logistics support (supply, repair, transportation, etc.), manpower, training and mentoring of Afghan Air Force (AAF) personnel, and security of contractor personnel.

The main operating base being contemplated is Kabul, Afghanistan, where currently there is limited infrastructure in place to support the C-130 aircraft for sustained operations. USG supply operations and transportation are very limited, and there is no standard base supply system. The contractor would perform necessary maintenance on-site in Afghanistan; providing technical assistance and support to the AAF; building, obtaining and maintaining the supply system; and mentoring/training Afghan technicians to become self-sufficient. The duration of this effort is unknown but is possibly expected to be four years, commencing in calendar year 2014.


Compiled by Kmi media Group staffSUPPLY CHAIN

Spare Parts Keep the Abrams Moving

General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded a three-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with an estimated potential value of $9.5 million by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to provide spare parts in support of the Abrams main battle tank.

“The Defense Logistics Agency has a strategic goal of reducing costs by $10 billion in five years and General Dynamics Land Systems is committed to helping them achieve it,” said Graz Graziano, vice president of combat support and sustainment for General Dynamics Land Systems. “By aligning our approach to support their objective, we presented DLA with new ideas for significant material-cost reduction over the life of this contract. We look forward to additional opportunities to continue this partnership in the future.”

Through this contract General Dynamics Land Systems will provide DLA with spares for the M1A2 system enhancement package version 1 and version 2 series of tanks. This contract leverages the best practices of multiple General Dynamics Land Systems organizations: program management will be performed by employees at General Dynamics Land Systems-Force Protection in Ladson, S.C., while the parts will be manufactured at General Dynamics Land Systems’ Scranton, Penn., manufacturing facility. Work will begin immediately and will be performed through April 2016.

New DozerNew Holland has introduced its new C Series dozers, extending the

offering with an additional model at the low end of the range, which now offers three models ranging from 13 to 20 tons. Redesigned from the ground up, the new C Series makes a complete break from the previous generation to offer new features that will allow operators to work faster and save fuel: 10.5 percent fuel savings with SCR technology combined with 19 percent higher efficiency; 9 percent to 16 percent power back up best-in-class drawbar pull with hydrostatic transmission and new layout for perfect cooling. High-precision work with excellent visibility and controllability, and integration with GPS and laser guidance; quietest cab in the industry with just 76dBA; and advanced Track Life tracks for abrasive conditions last twice as long as standard lubricated tracks.

The three C Series models now feature a hydrostatic transmission that delivers best-in-class drawbar pull of 213 kN for the D125C, 311 kN for the D150C and 372 kN for the D180C. The entire system has been redesigned with a new layout that ensures perfect cooling even in the hottest climate. With the new layout the oil is delivered directly to radiators instead of the tank, which now operates as a reserve of cooled fluid to further improve performance (the air-to-boil level has been increased by 8 percent from 460C to 500C). The hydrostatic transmission ensures a constant power transfer

under load and the tracks’ counter-rotation allows the machine to turn easily in tight spaces. The reversing setting can be changed electronically, so that the operator can choose between soft, medium and aggressive reversing modes on the on-board computer.

Fleet Replenishment OilersThe Naval Sea Systems Command intends to issue an unrestricted competitive solici-

tation for trade-off studies to support a new class of the Navy’s fleet replenishment oilers [T-AO(X)].

The Navy requires replenishment oiler capabilities to support fleet operations across the full range of military operations. The concept for the T-AO(X) Class ships is to shuttle from resupply ports to station ships (T-AOE 6 Class). As T-AO 187 Class ships currently do, the T-AO(X) Class will provide the primary fuel pipeline linking Navy ships and their embarked aircraft, with logistics nodes ashore.

Additionally, when T-AOE 6 Class ships are unavailable, a T-AO(X), in conjunction with a T-AKE 1 Class ship, will operate as a station ship accompanying and staying on-station with a carrier strike group or amphibious readiness group to provide fuel as required to customer ships.

The trade-off studies seek affordable system design solutions that may be considered for the new class while supporting program goals of: energy efficiency, equipment reliability, and cargo handling efficiency. A DoD initiative, Better Buying Power, challenges industry to design and manufacture products that have the lowest cost of ownership at an affordable price.


Brigadier General John Wharton serves as commanding general of the United States Army Sustainment Command (ASC) and as commanding general, Rock Island Arsenal Garrison, Rock Island. As commanding general, he leads a global organization responsible for sustaining Army and Joint Forces in support of combatant commands.

The ASC organizes, trains and sustains a quality deployable force, while integrating materiel and services for warfighters. ASC provides the U.S. Army with materiel readiness, strategic depth, flexibility and power projection to meet its worldwide contingency missions. Wharton commands seven Army field support brigades in support of combatant commands, the Army’s Distribution Management Command, the Army Sustainment Command: Army Reserve Element, and 20 Army field support battalions consisting of more than 65,000 military, civilian and government contrac-tors.

He also provides oversight for logistics operations at CONUS and OCONUS Army installations thru 73 Directorate of Logistics organizations. Wharton came to the Army Sustainment Com-mand from Army Materiel Command, where he served as chief of staff.

Wharton was commissioned a second lieutenant follow-ing graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1981. His first assignment was Fort Hood, Texas, where he served as main supply platoon leader and company commander, 15th Supply and Transport Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. In 1985, he transferred to the Dragon Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C., and later deployed to Sinai, Egypt, with Task Force 3-502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) as part of the Multinational Peace Keeping Force and Observers (MFO). He remained deployed with TF 2-504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 82nd Airborne Divi-sion, becoming the first commander of the Support Company, Logistical Support Unit. In 1986, Wharton assumed duties as an inspector general to the United States Army Western Command at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Following that tour, he served as battal-ion S3 in the 25th Supply and Transport Battalion, 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. From 1992 to 1994 he was the lieutenant colonels’ assignments officer at the United States Army’s Personnel Command (PERSCOM), Alexandria, Va., and then moved to Fort Drum, N.Y., to be battalion executive officer in the 210th Forward Support Battalion, 10th Mountain Division (Light) and later deployed to Operation Restore/Uphold Democracy as the battalion commander (forward). Following the deployment, he remained at Fort Drum as chief, Division Materiel Management Center, 10th Mountain Division (Light)

Support Command from 1995 to 1996. For the next two years he served as a joint strategy planner in the Logistics Directorate, J4, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C. In 1998 he took command of the 1st United States Army Support Battalion, 507th Corps Support Group (Airborne), MFO, Sinai, Egypt. After com-mand, he served a second tour at PERSCOM as the Quartermaster Branch Chief. In 2001, Wharton assumed command of the 55th Theater Support Command, Eighth United States Army. He led the CSA’s Task Force Logistics from 2003 to 2004 and was subse-quently selected to be deputy commander for futures, U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command. In 2006 he became director, Army Initiatives Group, Army G4, followed by executive officer to the HQDA Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, G4, Washington, D.C. In 2008, he deployed to Kuwait as commanding general, AMC-SWA/U.S. Army Central G4/CFLCC C4 for Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

In addition to his degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, his education includes the Quartermaster Basic and Advanced Courses, the Inspector General’s Course, the Command and General Staff College, and the Naval War College. He holds a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies.

His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit (with two Oak Leaf Clusters), Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Meritorious

Brigadier General John F. WhartonCommanding General

U.S. Army Sustainment Command

COCOM SustainerSustaining Army and Joint Forces in Support of Combatant Commanders

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Service Medal (with Silver Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Commenda-tion Medal, Army Achievement Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clus-ters), Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal (with Service Star) and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. He also wears the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge, the Army Staff Identification Badge, and the Airborne and Air Assault Badges.

Q: The Army Sustainment Command has evolved over the years. Can you explain where the command is now and how it will sup-port the Army and joint forces of 2020 and beyond?

A: Today, approximately 42 percent of the Army Sustainment Com-mand is either forward stationed or forward deployed in a combat command area of responsibility, executing our mission: to sustain Army and joint forces in support of combatant commanders.

The Army Sustainment Command was formed in 2006 as the operational arm of the Army Materiel Command, and we have been ensuring readiness of Army and joint forces since our inception. We bridge the national sustainment base capabilities and forward-deployed combat units. Looking forward to 2020 and beyond, our overarching mission will not change; we will continue to sustain Army and joint forces in support of combatant commanders and combat command [COCOM] operations.

We are headquartered at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill. ASC’s pres-ence on the arsenal, and the presence of other key logistical com-mands and agencies, has made this installation a major logistics command and control hub for the Army and Department of Defense. Located in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa, ASC has global reach to our Army field support brigades and battalions in places such as Afghanistan, Southwest Asia, Korea, Germany and across the United States and is ‘The Home of United States Army Logistics.’

Created in an Army, and by an Army at war, ASC and its prede-cessor commands [Army War Reserve Command, the Army Field Support Command] have always achieved success in providing logistics support to the forces doing the fighting, with no short-falls in our mission for the past 12 years. We’ve sustained opera-tions in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting joint reception, staging, onward movement and integration [JRSO&I] for an average of 110 brigade combat teams per year rotating in and out of the Central Command [CENTCOM] area of responsibility. We’ve also ensured the highest readiness for combat systems in the world’s tough environments; sustained Army and joint forces on the ground; provided equipment and constructed base camps in both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of the surge of troops into each joint opera-tions area; and supported the drawdown and retrograde in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

We also support our Army at home station, ensuring it is equipped for contingency operations as well as for pre-deployment training. At home stations across the globe, we are helping transi-tion our Army from a forward-based force to one that can project power from bases in the continental United States and at overseas duty stations. Today, ASC has a presence in 17 nations and 28 states, with a workforce of nearly 70,000 civilian employees, mili-tary personnel and contractors.

So, we do not see our mission or the level of our contributions changing as we move toward 2020 and beyond. We do recognize that the strategic environment is dynamic and ever-changing;

but we believe the responsiveness, flexibility and scalability this command displayed over the past seven years will continue to enhance our Army in the future.

ASC, along with the AMC and the U.S. Army, have begun the transition to sustainment. Just as we did in the drawdown and completion of Operation New Dawn in Iraq, we are playing a key role in the downsizing of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan while simultaneously sustaining Army and joint forces in combat. Along with our top leaders, we believe that the Army is at a strategic inflection point and that it will become a force of many missions, at many speeds and under many conditions.

In discussing the Army of the future, General Raymond Odi-erno, the chief of staff of the Army, said, ‘As we face an uncertain security environment and fiscal challenges, we know that we will probably get smaller, but we must maintain our capabilities to be a decisive force.’ The Army of 2020 and beyond will likely be smaller in numbers, but even more effective in delivering combat power where needed through a global focus, joint interdependency with other services and agencies, and more reliance on multinational partners.

Our role will become increasingly important as we provide combat commanders more flexibility to meet the needs of the Army of the next decade and beyond, and I believe that we are doing exactly that. We must become even more effective and effi-cient than we are today, and we must make these improvements within resource limitations.

Q: Clearly, ASC has a big mission. What is on your plate right now?

A: As a global Army logistics command, our priorities and daily work reflect the priorities of the six COCOMs, the six Army service component commands, and the three Army commands—Forces Command; Training and Doctrine Command; and our own higher headquarters, AMC. The sun never sets on the United States Army and it never sets on the United States Army Sustainment Com-mand.

Supporting COCOM operations is our number one priority, and sustaining Army and joint forces in combat is the absolute most important thing we do. We have two Army field support brigades in CENTCOM’s AOR today, equipping Army, joint and multinational forces through the management of theater provided equipment; erecting, operating and removing base camps; ensur-ing combat system readiness through the operation of forward repair activities; and enabling the retrograde of equipment and the redeployment of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Even though combat operations have ended in Iraq, we have been there since the conclusion of Operation New Dawn, sustaining the U.S. Department of State [DoS] and the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq [OSC-I] continuing mission there. Today, we are enabling the retrograde of equipment from Iraq as both OSC-I and DoS right size for their enduring missions.

ASC augments the Army’s combat service support [CSS] force structure by providing contracted CSS capabilities to meet the requirements of COCOM commanders. Today we provide the equivalent of 14 sustainment brigades in support of U.S. CENT-COM and U.S. Army Africa Command [AFRICOM] operations. We do this with contracted CSS capabilities that we oversee and integrate into COCOM operations.


Our second priority is to provide the Army strategic depth and flexibility. We support Army forces at home station by ensuring Army materiel readiness, maintaining and modernizing Army prepositioned stocks and maintaining our Army’s ability to rapidly project combat power from our flagship power projection platform bases within the United States.

The Army measures materiel readiness in two major ways: Do units have the equipment they are authorized, and does the equip-ment they have operate the way it was intended? ASC ensures the answer to both these questions is yes. ASC equips the Army by dis-tributing new equipment from manufacturer production lines and redistributing Army equipment already in the inventory in accor-dance with Army priorities to fill units to their authorizations.

Once equipment is on hand in a unit, ASC provides field-level maintenance and repair at home station and on the battlefield to ensure the equipment operates the way it was intended. ASC mon-itors both the equipment on hand in the units and the functional readiness of that equipment in near real time, using advanced information technology systems and predictive readiness tools.

The Army Prepositioned Stocks [APS] program provides the Army with responsive strategic reach while simultaneously reduc-ing the inherent strain felt on the strategic transportation system during the initial weeks of a conflict. ASC modernizes, stages, stores and maintains brigade capability equipment packages for-ward in COCOM areas of responsibility, both on the ground and afloat in ships, to ensure our nation can react quickly in support of our allies. We also set the logistics conditions to enable the persistent rotation of U.S.-based forces into our partnered coun-tries for training and theater engagement activities. We do this by establishing theater-based sets of equipment for use by these rotational forces.

Our third priority is to help to shape Army logistics in support of the Chief of Staff of the Army’s vision for our Army in 2020 and beyond under the guidance of the AMC commanding general, Dennis Via, and both the TRADOC and FORSCOM commanders. As the Army’s Sustainment Command, we really work or are in direct support to all our ACOMs. I’ve already mentioned several ways we shape Army logistics in order to meet future requirements.

One of our newest missions—delivering installation logistics support to our Army at home stations—spans our top three pri-orities. The Installation Management Command transferred com-mand and control of 73 directorates of logistics [DOLs] worldwide to ASC on October 1, 2012. This transition was the culmination of close to six years of hard work aimed at aligning Army core capa-bilities to the proper command. This transition brought installa-tion logistics to AMC as the single, strategic logistics provider for the Army. By doing this, we can realize both efficiencies and effec-tiveness by cross-leveling capabilities. For example, when the 4th Airborne Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division returned to Alaska from deployment, we were able to rapidly surge civilian mechanics from the Fort Hood DOL to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to help bring this unit back to a high state of readiness. This simple example shows one way that we ensure Army readiness in a cost-effective manner.

ASC now provides installation logistics support to Army units stationed both in CONUS and forward stationed overseas in COCOM areas of responsibility. We’ve consolidated the field level maintenance historically provided by the DOLs with the distributed AMC-provided maintenance support to eliminate

redundancies and overhead. We’ve also consolidated installation logistics support to Army force generation within AMC; again, reducing redundancy while simplifying the process and increasing synchronization.

DOLs are essential to the 16 Army installations that are desig-nated power projection platforms [PPP]. We have partnered with Surface Deployment and Distribution Command [SDDC] in an ongoing, detailed assessment of the 16 PPPs in order to ensure the long-term viability of this important capability. As we help shape Army logistics for the future, we are developing a concept to transform installation DOLs into Army logistics readiness centers by continuing to consolidate installation logistics functions with AMC functions on each installation.

Q: What is your assessment of the Army’s ability to meet the retrograde timeline from Afghanistan? Are the processes and systems in place to meet the pace of the drawdown?

A: General Via recently visited retrograde sites in Afghanistan. He stated that commanders on the ground in Afghanistan ‘have embraced retrograde as an operational mission.’ I also believe that a properly managed and executed retrograde mission can have a big positive impact on Army operations, and I see us making that happen every day in Afghanistan as retrograde continues. Retrograde is not only important to meet presidential drawdown mandates but just as important to return our equipment to units and depots where it can be reset.

I believe we are on track to meet the retrograde timelines. We have processes and systems in place and ASC continues to work hard with the U.S. forces in Afghanistan and all stakeholders to improve the retrograde processes. In fact, the entire AMC team is working to continuously improve those processes and systems in support of CENTCOM and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Having said that, I do think we can do more to increase the velocity of retrograde, and our AFSB in Afghanistan has been doing superb work across its nine redistribution property assis-tance team [RPAT] sites to streamline the processes while main-taining a high standard of property accountability. By the end of March, the 401st AFSB retrograded a record number of rolling stock pieces—more than 1,200. They achieved this through team-work with the combat units they support, AMC’s Responsible Reset Task Force and SDDC. Incorporating lessons learned from Iraq has proven invaluable in the retrograde from Afghanistan.

Retrograded theater provided equipment [TPE] flows through ASC’s nine Afghanistan-based RPAT yards. Each RPAT is multi-functional and staffed by soldiers, civilians and contractors with a broad range of specialties and backgrounds in various logistical organizations. RPAT members provide full accountability for ret-rograded weapons and equipment and make disposition decisions. Some items are sent to depots in the United States for repair and maintenance, others are sent to units for maintenance, and others stay in Afghanistan for use by local forces.

Every item that leaves Afghanistan is packed properly and ready to go. Retrograded TPE not only increases unit readiness at home stations, but also sustains the Army industrial base by pro-viding depots with equipment for repair and maintenance.

Q: The Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or LOGCAP, played a key role in providing base camp and logistics support in


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Iraq and Afghanistan. Can you talk a bit about LOGCAP and how it might be used in future operations?

A: I’ve already mentioned that ASC augments the Army’s com-bat service support force structure by providing contracted CSS capabilities to meet the requirements of COCOM commanders. Although not the only mechanism, LOGCAP is one of the pri-mary ways we execute this augmentation. Let’s also keep in mind that the ‘P’ in LOGCAP stands for ‘Program,’ which tells us that LOGCAP is more than a service contract—it’s also an overarching logistics program designed to augment combat service support shortfalls and deliver a full range of services to combatant com-manders.

LOGCAP is most appropriate when the mission requires a high degree of complexity and a high degree of uncertainty; that is why LOGCAP was used to build base camps in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of LOGCAP, combat commanders in Afghanistan are freed from base support responsibilities and able to concentrate on their combat missions. I base this statement on the positive feedback we’ve received on LOGCAP from commanders in the field, which tells me that the program is operating as intended.

Adaptability and flexibility have been built into LOGCAP, which is designed to support any type of overseas contingency, including training and humanitarian missions as well as combat deployments. LOGCAP relies in large part on host nation support, and we’ve seen that in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The presence of LOGCAP can provide economic and job training opportunities to local nationals, which has the effect of advancing U.S. interests in these nations. The drawdown of Afghanistan base camp operations continues, and this is one area where lessons learned in Iraq have proven valuable. So far we have closed 44 of the 84 LOGCAP bases there.

It’s difficult to predict how LOGCAP might be used in future operations, because we can’t accurately predict where these operations will take place, their size and duration, etc. But I can confidently predict that LOGCAP will be used if and when U.S. forces are deployed, because the program has become critical to our nation’s success in combat. Because LOGCAP is flexible and scalable, it can be adapted to any operation, large or small, in any location, no matter how remote. We’ve proven this over the past decade, and I fully expect that LOGCAP will pass any test it faces as we move toward and past 2020.

Q: Does the Army Sustainment Command have any particular requirements for improved asset tracking tools that create more transparency within the supply chain? How does your command use and manage asset tracking systems and devices to maintain Army readiness?

A: First, it’s important to note that ASC is part of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, and AMC has long led the way when it comes to tracking and accounting for the Army’s inventory. We work closely with the other commands and agencies within AMC to obtain a complete picture of assets, and we share information and methods with our AMC partners to assure that all assets are tracked from initial fielding to final disposal—from cradle to grave, so to speak.

On March 22, 2011, the Secretary of the Army designated AMC as the Army’s lead materiel integrator [LMI] effective February 15,

2012. AMC further designated ASC as the LMI executing agent responsible for the mission.

As the executing agent, ASC synchronizes the distribution and redistribution of Army materiel to ensure Army readiness. The Distribution Management Center [DMC] on Rock Island Arsenal coordinates the distribution and redistribution of Army materiel between Army commands all in accordance with Headquarters, Department of the Army priorities. We assumed this distribution mission from the Army staff in the Pentagon and are executing it today with an asset planning and tracking tool we developed in conjunction with HQ AMC and the Logistics Support Agency.

As the Army transitions to sustainment, we are faced with almost a wholesale rebalancing of equipment across the Army. We use state-of-the-art asset visibility and management systems to enable rapid decisions and complex problem solving as we distrib-ute and redistribute thousands of pieces of equipment to hundreds of Army units every week. Of course, automation is only a useful tool if placed in the right hands, and we have an outstanding team of experienced professionals on Rock Island and within our global command who are experts in materiel management and using this tool to quickly solve very complex problems.

We can now make good decisions on the spot about equipment distribution because of our world-class workforce, our IT systems and our partnerships across the materiel enterprise. We are doing this with a level of fidelity we could not have imagined just a few years ago. As we work with Army units to increase asset visibility, we are seeing an average increase of 5-7 percent in equipment on hand after their property records are optimized using advanced analytics. I need to emphasize that readiness, while measured in percentages and numbers, isn’t just a numbers game; it’s all about getting equipment to wherever it’s needed to enhance the Army’s ability to carry out its combat mission.

As you see, we have all the components of an integrated and transparent supply chain in place just one year after being desig-nated the LMI executing agent. Feedback I’ve received from units in Korea, here in the States, and from our partners across the enterprise tell me that our asset tracking and equipment distribu-tion efforts are paying off in terms of unit readiness.

Q: We’ve heard a lot lately about a new initiative called EAGLE that is managed by ASC. What can you tell about EAGLE and where it might go in the future?

A: Let’s start with the basics. EAGLE stands for Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise. It’s a contracting strategy designed to provide high-quality sustainment services to combatant com-manders. Under EAGLE, we’ve aligned our contracting strategy with the overall Army and Department of Defense contracting strategy, which calls for reduced costs, increased competition, and streamlined, efficient acquisition vehicles.

Under EAGLE, we’ve been able to carry out this strategy by consolidating multiple contracts, standardizing performance work statements and reducing administrative costs. Though task orders issued under EAGLE may be standardized, they are also designed for open bidding among many large and small companies, which has greatly increased competition and driven down costs.

One of the main advantages to EAGLE is its benefit to small business, in accordance with the President’s initiative to increase small business participation in government contracts.


The program uses an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity [IDIQ], strategy to fill task orders, which companies that hold a basic ordering agreement can bid on. Of the 112 companies that currently hold BOAs, 65 of them are small business prime contrac-tors, an increase of 160 percent over other contract strategies.

The logistics services covered by EAGLE include maintenance and supply operations and transportation services. It does not include aviation maintenance or base sup-port functions such as dining and laundry facilities.

Like LOGCAP, EAGLE can be scaled and adapted as needed. This makes it a good fit for our strategy of becoming more flexible and more responsive, which of course fits in to the overall defense strategy set by our leaders.

Q: How does ASC’s mission tie into the nation’s overall defense strategy as we draw down from Iraq and Afghanistan and move from battlefield to peacetime missions?

A: We are inextricably linked to the Army strategy as part of our national military strategy, and to the vision of future forces as seen by top leaders in the Department of Defense and the Army. All of the missions I’ve talked about so far—LMI, LOGCAP, APS, RPAT retrograde support, and more—are linked directly to our national defense strategy. Going forward, all those missions will owe their very existence to that strategy, and everything we do will be strategically focused.

As we’ve previously stated, the Army will become a smaller, lighter force as we move toward 2020, but smaller and lighter cannot and will not translate to less lethal. These smaller, lighter forces will, for the most part, be permanently based in the United States, while remaining able to move any-where on the globe at a moment’s notice. In effect, this means that our own nation has become the Army’s largest theater. Through our Directorates of Logistics, our LMI mission, and other aspects of our operations, we are the primary provider of support within this theater, meaning that ASC has effectively become the Theater Support Command for CONUS.

The past decade-plus of combat has forced us to be flexible, and we’ll need to flex and stretch even more in the future to match the adaptability of the Army units of tomorrow. We are integrated into the support structure of the major combat units that use large installations such as Fort Hood and Fort Bragg as home base. We stand beside them as they train and prepare for their combat mis-sions and, when and if the time comes to deploy, we deploy with

them. The Army can’t fight and win on the battlefield without us, and that’s why ASC needs to move and change in lockstep with our nation’s defense strategy.

We have been successful in the past and continue to succeed in our vital mission to support the combat commanders because of our talented workforce, our soldiers, civilians and contract employees. Without their expertise and commitment to our logis-tics mission, we could not have conducted multiple operations in theater while supporting our soldier at home station.

We are very proud of the ASC team and very proud to sustain the best Army and joint force our country has ever seen. O

top: The mission of the Army Sustainement Command is to bridge the national sustainment base capabilities and forward deployed combat units. Bottom: ASC has a presence in 17 nations and 28 states, with a workforce of nearly 70,000. [Photos courtesy of the Army Sustainment Command]



at www.mlf-kmi.com.

In November 2012, the Obama adminis-tration announced a national security strat-egy called the “Pacific Pivot.” This strategy calls for rebalancing the U.S. military pres-ence from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region and focusing on building regional security alliances.

General Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, recently quoted in the LA Times, said “The Army has a vital role in building relationships [that] will help us in the long run in the Pacific.”

As the Army looks to the future and its role in the Asia-Pacific region, building global partnerships and operations that will enhance teamwork and commitment in support of the U.S. priorities in the Korean peninsula and the Western Pacific is of vital importance.

One element of that forward-looking strategy comprises the work that the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Com-mand and Red River Army Depot (RRAD) have been doing since 2009 with the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) to develop a turnkey facility that will overhaul and repair the mul-tiple launch rocket system (MLRS) and heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT) vehicle components. The Consolidated Main-tenance Depot (CMD) located in Changwon, South Korea, will improve the ROKA’s readi-ness, reduce its logistics footprint, reduce the repair cycle time, enhance organic mainte-nance capabilities and will continue to foster an important relationship between TACOM and the ROKA.

Changwon is a major South Korean cen-ter of heavy industrial manufacturing and the site of several advanced technology firms. The CMD facility there, as a result of this inte-grated program, will feature state-of-the-art vehicle diagnostic and maintenance equip-ment operated by a highly trained workforce.

TACOM Industrial Base Operations, For-eign Depot Support Operations (IBO-FDSO) Program Management Office brings to the

project its depot-level maintenance capabil-ity experience in such areas as oversight of the schedule, budget and performance of the program. The IBO-FDSO works closely with the U.S. Army Security Assistance Com-mand to execute the foreign military sales requirements and coordinate with in-country counterparts. In conjunction with RRAD, the IBO-FDSO initiated training plans that include arranging for training personnel to gain certification as TACOM instructors.

According to Steven Torssell, TACOM IBO-FDSO program lead, this project is a per-fect example of TACOM’s worldwide respon-sibilities. “The efforts of my teammates at Warren and Red River, along with our con-tracting partner DUCOM,” Torssell said, “are providing the Korean army the capability to sustain its MLRS and platforms. I believe this project showcases TACOM’s global reach and partnership with our allies and is helping to build and enhancing the ROKA maintenance support capabilities.”

Begun in 2009 and projected to run through fiscal year 2013, the $15.7 mil-lion program has targeted major milestones, including: 1) upgrading existing electrical systems to support new test equipment; 2) procuring test equipment in support of the overhaul of generators, angle drives, fan con-trol valves, power takeoffs, final drives, trans-missions, engines and interface assemblies; 3) building test rooms (including installation of ancillary support equipment and test stands); 4) translating associated technical manuals from English to Korean; 5) upgrading the existing engine dynamometer test room for the MLRS and engines; 6) providing inter-preter services during training; and 7) train-ing ROKA CMD personnel in the overhaul and testing of the identified MLRS and LRUs.

The second phase of the project will focus on transmission dynamometers, interface assembly, engine dynamometer test proce-dures and installation of a new cooling tower.

With IBO-FDSO support, RRAD’s trainers will provide their expertise to Korean counter-parts, who will gain a thorough understand-ing of the overhaul process and use of the test equipment.

This preparedness will ensure that the ROKA-CMD can provide the same caliber of depot overhaul services and products to ROKA soldiers that RRAD provides the U.S. warfighters. At the conclusion of training, the ROKA will have $6 million worth of new equipment and the ability to independently operate its MLRS and HEMTT depot facility.

The enhanced ROKA organic capability eliminates 90 days of shipping and its associ-ated cost to have larger line replaceable units repaired at RRAD. This reduces the need for a pool of serviceable assets by decreasing repair cycle time and increasing readiness.

The teaming and support effort of the RRAD team and the IBO personnel will not only result in a better postured mission-capa-ble workforce but enhances South Korea’s capability to become an independent opera-tor and continue to develop their skills and expertise in support of their fleet and indus-trial base operations.

This effort is an important partnership between the two nations because it under-scores the significance of the Pacific Pivot to the security of our nation and the world. We never forget our ability to support our global responsibilities is built on long and lasting relationships and partnerships such as these. We continue to look forward to the opportunity to serve with our ROKA partners well in to the future. Mission success is near. Committed to excellence! O

Kellin Szkubiel is with TACOM’s IBO-FDSO team.

tacom and red river army dePot collaborate to exPand the rePublic of korea army’s dePot caPabilities.

by kellin szkubiel

Looking Forward


With a workforce 27,000 strong, Defense Logistics Agency leaders understand the value and necessity of hiring and retaining quality personnel.

“DLA must continuously invest in the development of its workforce to ensure they have the skills and capabilities needed to sup-port DLA’s current and future mission objec-tives,” Brad Bunn, director of DLA Human Resources, said. “The needs and expectations of the warfighter, along with those of DLA’s other customers, continue to evolve.”

DLA, in order to provide support to all the agency’s customers, employs a cadre of logisticians, acquisition specialists, techni-cians, mission support specialists and other support staff.

“Our customers expect the same, if not a better, level of service than what they received in the past,” Bunn said.

“DLA Director Navy Vice Admiral Mark Harnitchek supports workforce development, and encourages employees to seek out and take advantage of the professional develop-ment opportunities that have been made available to them,” he added.

The challenge is in continuing to invest in employee development while reducing the cost.

“DLA has established a comprehensive and systematic approach to building our workforce’s knowledge and skills to best serve our customers,” Bunn said. “Significant cost savings are reinvested to maintain a consis-tent level of employee development.”

Efficiencies are created through econo-mies of scale, utilizing enterprise training rather than unique conventions, prioritiz-ing and focusing training on mission-related work, targeting the right training to the right employees, and leveraging online learning where possible.

DLA has benchmarked with the American Society for Training and Development and Bersin and Associates studies, two research and consulting organizations in the training and development, analysis, and benchmark-ing fields.

In a review of the research by these organizations, there was a decline in human capital development/investment due to the economic environment for both private and public sector organizations from 2008 to 2010.

Bunn said the research indicates that companies have slowly begun to increase their investments as the economy recovers.

Bersin and Associates reported the aver-age annual investment per employee for com-panies with more than 10,000 employees in fiscal year 2012 was $424. DLA invested $16 million in employee training and develop-ment, with an average of $658 per employee, which is up from $643 per employee in FY11. This represents an overall 2.3 per-cent increase and an increased investment of approximately 36 percent over other compa-nies of DLA’s size.

“This demonstrates DLA’s commitment to developing its workforce,” Bunn said.

In FY12, ASTD recommended 40 hours of training a year for every employee. DLA invested 47 hours per employee.

“From an overall human capital invest-ment perspective, this information tells us that DLA is very competitive and is ahead of the pack in these areas,” Bunn said. “DLA consistently provides workforce development avenues to support its workforce.”

Bunn highlighted some of the avenues available to the workforce.

DLA Pathways to Career Excellence Pro-gram: This centralized program, also known as PaCE, supports DLA’s workforce replenish-ment needs. The intensive, two-year program involves a variety of training experiences, and employees emerge with both functional competence and a broad understanding of our mission requirements. Based on perfor-mance, employees progress from entry to journey level. The program has evolved over time to accommodate more occupational fields and geographic locations, which is par-ticularly important as our agency’s footprint has expanded under the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005.

Functional Training: DLA develops and delivers functional training worldwide for DLA personnel in such areas as contracting, supply, quality assurance, environmental and safety. In the last several years, we have focused on equipping employees with the ability to carry out enterprisewide trans-formational initiatives such as Enterprise Business Systems, eProcurement and Retail Integration. Success has involved timely training coupled with appropriate attention to change management and organizational alignment requirements.

Tuition Assistance Program: DLA pro-vides tuition assistance to employees who have completed one full year of federal ser-vice to take mission-related courses from an accredited school on their own time. Employees have an annual cap of $4,700 for undergraduate level courses and up to $7,000 annually for graduate and waiver-approved postgraduate level courses. The program is flexible, cost effective, supports retention, and promotes capability develop-ment and a culture of learning.

Career Mapping and Career Guides: As part of DLA’s talent management strategy and as a means of providing structured guid-ance and support tools to the workforce, DLA created a Career Guide applicable to all its employees. The guide describes career paths, competencies, and training and development activities to build and strengthen individual and organizational capabilities. DLA is also creating career-specific maps and guides in partnership with various functional com-munities and subject matter experts. These documents help to identify training and developmental activities available to employ-ees supporting DLA’s mission-critical occu-pations at every stage of their careers.

Enterprise Leader Development Pro-gram: This program is DLA’s approach to building and enhancing leadership skills at all levels in order to enhance the agency’s overall performance and to support devel-opment of tomorrow’s leaders. This pro-gram was recently refreshed to acknowledge

logistics enterPrise recognizes critical role of workforce.by susan lowe


the leadership demands inherent in leading teams and projects, as well as to encour-age non-supervisory employees to develop leadership competencies by providing a structured framework for their deployment activities and training.

DLA Rotation Program: Classroom training is not the only solution for satisfy-ing learning and development needs. This program provides participants with training and developmental activities to expand their functional, cross-functional and leadership abilities through varied and practical experi-ences. This program is executed on an orga-nizational and enterprise level. Participants are able to apply for experiential assignments outside of their current job, business area or organization for a period of time. The goal of the program is to meet current employee and organizational needs, while promoting long-term workforce capability and agility development.

Executive Development Program: This competitive program is designed to develop current and future leaders and leadership competencies critical to maintaining sup-ply chain excellence. Nominations for the program are solicited annually and managers are encouraged to nominate high-poten-tial, highly motivated employees. Selections are made by our DLA Executive Resources Board.

Skillsoft: DLA invested in a commer-cial eLearning provider in order to provide high-quality, timely and affordable training to our workforce. We are able to offer a vast

library of courses and books to our employ-ees in areas such as logistics, acquisition, information technology, project manage-ment, leadership and other business-related topics that can be delivered on demand through DLA’s Learning Management Sys-tem.

While he noted these examples of employee training and development, Bunn also said that two major challenges exist for workforce development. They include fiscal constraints and retiring experienced employees.

“Given the current austere fiscal envi-ronment, as well as our ongoing respon-sibility for good stewardship, we must strategically apply our limited resources as we seek to attract, develop, recognize and retain a workforce equipped to meet DLA’s evolving mission requirements,” Bunn said.

Disciplined workforce planning will identify where competency gaps lie and where the agency must focus recruitment and development efforts.

“We’ll also need to seek efficiencies in how we train and develop employees by strategically combining various approaches, including on-the-job training, cross-train-ing and rotational assignments, in addition to formal training like classroom learning, distance learning, Web-based training, con-ferences and seminars,” Bunn said.

Bunn pointed out that DLA’s current turnover rate is modest, but a substan-tial percentage of DLA’s workforce will be retirement-eligible over the next 10 years.

“To prepare for anticipated retirements, we must make sure we have a continuing pipeline of diverse, well-qualified appli-cants, as well as workforce development programs, including our PaCE program and leadership development program, which can accommodate increased demand,” he said.

“We also need to leverage the experi-ence of our seasoned employees through robust knowledge transfer efforts. In short, we must have a comprehensive approach to succession management,” Bunn said. “We recognize that our workforce is our greatest asset,” he added.

The 27,000 employees of the DLA, a Department of Defense combat logistics support agency, provide the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, other federal agencies, and joint and allied forces with a variety of logistics, acquisition and technical services. Nearly 100 percent of the consumable items America’s military forces need to operate, from food, fuel and energy to uniforms, medical supplies, and construction and barrier equipment, are procured by DLA employees. O

Susan Lowe is a public affairs specialist with the Defense Logistics Agency.


at www.mlf-kmi.com.

The Navy’s shift to the Pacific inspires our twelfth title and website...

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Who’s Whoat DlA

with exclusive interview with Vice admiral mark Harnitchek

Bonus distributionnDIA national logistics

Forum

cover and in-Depth interview with:

Maj. Gen. Kenneth s. DowdDirector logistics operationsDefense logistics agency

Features• SDDC• Cases and Containers• Success in Inventory management• Fuel & Energy

specIal sectIontransportation and logistics (Air, Land & Sea)


Q: How would you describe your compa-ny’s positioning within the DoD logistics enterprise?

A: We are well-positioned to continue to be a preferred logistics solution provider for DoD. We understand that, due to a number of factors, the DoD budget will be smaller in the future than it has been in the past 10 years.

However, we anticipated a decrease in the DoD budget and have taken steps internally to position ourselves for that eventuality. We’ve developed adaptive busi-ness models which enable us to deliver proven, performance-based and outcomes-focused logistics solutions to DoD custom-ers, while remaining highly competitive within the market space.

These adaptive business models, com-bined with our highly experienced people, processes and tools, allow us to balance efficiency, effectiveness, speed and cost of our logistics solutions, based on customer priorities. We are ready.

Q: What are your strengths and how best can you partner with the military to meet logistics objectives?

A: One of our greatest strengths is our ability to help our customers focus on outcomes. Our preferred logistics work is work that is fixed price, to achieve a given end state—it allows us to put our thinking caps on and help come up with innovative solutions to particularly vexing logistics challenges.

Given that, we welcome performance-based logistics opportunities—we know how to work in such a setting, and believe we are quite good at it.

Q: What are the primary challenges facing your military logistics operations?

A: Logistics work, whether military or commercial, is always challenging—that’s what makes it so exciting. The primary challenges facing SAIC are similar to those

of our DoD logistics customers—how to do more with less, while accomplishing the mission on time and on budget. Internally, SAIC has embraced a similar rigorous process-driven approach to meeting these challenges.

In August 2012, SAIC announced it was planning to separate into two indepen-dent, publicly traded companies to remain competitive and unlock the potential to be even more of a leader in the markets in which we operate. After the split, the technical services and enterprise informa-tion technology business will continue with the SAIC name and will be focused on the delivery of services primarily to the U.S. federal government—both defense and civilian agencies.

The national security, health and engi-neering solutions business, expected to be named Leidos, will combine the inno-vative application of technology, science and engineering with deep mission and domain understanding of its customers and markets.

Our military logistics operations will be primarily focused within the solutions company. Leidos is designed for exactly what our military logistics customers need going forward in this era of austerity and focus on outcomes.

Q: What do you bring to the table in help-ing DoD meet their efficiency and budget-ary challenges?

A: We bring to the table more than 30 years of DoD logistics experience and lessons

learned, supporting the United States and allies in times of war and peace. Not only does that enable us to support DoD better, but it also translates into the capability to support logistics requirements of other facets of the government and the commer-cial sector as well.

Q: How are you positioned to move for-ward and grow in the coming year?

A: We are increasing our technical talent, improving our IT toolsets, streamlin-ing internal processes and improving our virtual teamwork capabilities. These changes are making us more agile, flex-ible and responsive to current and future customers, military and commercial.

Q: Do you see industry partnerships as a part of your strategic plan?

A: Absolutely. As the saying goes, two heads are often better than one, and so we see great benefit in partnering with others to ensure that we take advantage of each other’s strengths.

We also see government partnerships as part of our strategic plan. We know that DoD needs to workload its organic industrial base, and where there is oppor-tunity, we’d like to partner to achieve a win-win for both of us.

Q: What are specific goals that you hope to achieve in the coming year?

A: We’d like to be part of the [logistics] solution for both our government and non-government customers. We know that there will be lower budget dollars, and so we want to help our customers get the most out of the dollars they have.

Internally in SAIC, we’ve been work-ing very hard to reduce our costs and intend to continue to do so—we believe we have lessons learned we can share with our customers and, in fact, help implement. O

[email protected]

Mitch StevensonSenior Account Manager

Logistics Solutions OperationSAIC

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW Military Logistics Forum


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MLF 7-4 (May 2013)

Documents

Transcript of MLF 7-4 (May 2013)