Log Partner Review: OshKosh Corporation
Ivy joined Oshkosh Corp. in 2005 in the Integrated Logistics Support group working with Army customers to tailor maintenance and parts programs to improve readiness of heavy-truck fleets. He led a team that included a corporate partner to establish Oshkosh Corp.’s first regional service center to support defense business customers near Fort Hood, Texas.
Prior to joining Oshkosh Corp., Ivy was an active duty Army officer, retiring in 2005 with more than 27 years of commissioned service. For most of his career, Ivy was an ordnance officer. He has extensive experience in maintenance of large tracked and wheeled vehicle fleets, including Oshkosh Corp.’s heavy vehicles, in operational environments.
Ivy finished his career at the Combined Armed Support Command at Fort Lee, Va., where he directed a team designing future Army supply chain and logistics concepts and organizations. Prior to that, he commanded the 43rd Area Support Group at Fort Carson, CO.
After more than 27 years of service in the Army, I have come to appreciate the military’s latest logistics vehicles more than most people, and I know from firsthand experience the importance of these vehicles’ ability to deliver in the field.
For most of my Army career, I was an ordnance officer working in fleet maintenance and training for tracked and wheeled vehicles for tactical units. In downrange areas and operational theaters, the focus was always on the mission, whether it was delivering fuel, water or ammunition. It didn’t matter the conditions or the time of day.
Some of the highlights of my Army career included commanding the 43rd Area Support Group at Fort Carson, Colo. At the time, the 43rd included about 3,000 soldiers who provided various services and support both at Fort Carson and in operational theaters worldwide. I finished my career at the Combined Armed Support Command at Fort Lee, Va., directing a team designing future Army supply chain and logistics concepts and organizations, with an emphasis on Future Combat System formations.
Maintaining a focus on delivering what the soldiers and Marines need is something I brought with me to my work at Oshkosh Corp., which I joined in 2004 following my retirement from the Army. I was, and still am, proud to associate with Oshkosh’s Defense products, particularly the heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT), the Army’s primary heavy-payload logistics vehicle since the early 1980s.
I was fortunate to come to Oshkosh, a company that already had a great reputation for supporting its products both in training and operational environments. I didn’t have to come in and try to change the culture—I just had to reinforce and sustain it.
I consider my main priority for Oshkosh’s Aftermarket business continuing our emphasis on the soldiers and Marines in every corner of the globe, ensuring they have what they need for uninterrupted maintenance and repairs of their logistics vehicles. Along those same lines, I also want to ensure the company is always tailoring its products and service programs to provide the U.S. military with the best possible fleet readiness.
Coming from the Army, I understand the desire to maintain a high operational ready rate and the challenges that can come with that. The Army benchmark for an acceptable ready rate at the fleet level is more than 90 percent for a battalion or a brigade. What Oshkosh has done and continues to do with our global aftermarket capabilities is provide U.S. forces with an extensive vehicle-support and service network that is designed to meet their needs. We currently have service centers around the world and CONUS and are willing to add others in or near theaters of operations as requirements dictate. As a corporation, Oshkosh is very familiar with maintaining high readiness rates for all of our various types of vehicles. For example, our Airport Rescue Fire Fighting vehicles can be found at most major airports, and these airports cannot afford to have a vehicle that is not ready 100 percent of the time, or they could shut down the airport.
Whether working with the soldiers and Marines to service vehicles and help maintain fully operational fleets, or providing fast turnaround on vehicles that are highly worn but can be returned to the theater of operations in like-new condition, I see our aftermarket services as an ideal service for our military partners. We want to do everything we can to ensure the military always has the highest ready rate possible, and that means providing 24/7 technical support, parts supplies and various vehicle-support services, including recapitalization and remanufacturing services.
One of the things I’ve seen both while in the Army and at Oshkosh is an investment by the Army to equip its formations with highly reliable, capable and mobile logistics platforms that can go where they are needed. Closely related to that, I’ve seen the Army continue to invest in improving that equipment over the years to keep it mobile, maintainable and reliable.
Since joining Oshkosh, one of my early accomplishments was leading an industry team to establish Oshkosh’s first regional service center to support Defense customers near Fort Hood, Texas. Another great success has been Oshkosh’s maintenance facility in Kuwait, where we coordinate with multiple military departments to repair and refurbish vehicles from the Iraq theater of operation.
The program has been a great success and continues to evolve. Providing major repair services in field has helped reduce the maintenance cycle time by weeks, allowing vehicles to return to service sooner while also reducing refurbishment costs. There will be other opportunities, and I want to ensure we are positioned to perform those activities as well. ♦