Supply and Command

In the wake of the 2005 BRAC and support recommendations, DLA is working to support the warfighter at Defense Supply Center Columbus through the addition of more effective end-to-end supply chain solutions.

by Christian Sheehy, MLF Editor

DSCC AND BRAC

DSCC has actively implemented 2005 Base Realignment and Closure mandates in the areas of commodity management privatization; consumable item transfer; supply, storage and distribution; and depot level reparables.

“Each BRAC mandate requires different requirements and actions. With the commodity management privatization of tires, DSCC is now tasked with the worldwide logistics management functions of tire procurement for the Department of Defense, delivered through a DSCC-awarded contract,” said Don Schulze, chief of the DSCC BRAC office.

“The Supply Storage and Distribution BRAC requirement results in DSCC assuming responsibility for the supply, storage and distribution functions within Army maintenance depots, Marine Corps logistics bases and Navy shipyards. Under a separate BRAC depot level reparables requirement, DSCC has assumed the procurement management and related support functions for the services with regards to DLRs,” added Schulze.

FIELD SUPPORT

Through a program called Forward Execution, DSCC is sending employees to work side-by-side with customers at service depots and naval shipyards. The program has placed customer support representatives and other specialists at Army and Marine Corps maintenance facilities, forts and other installations to put “eyes and ears” physically forward to provide direct interfaces with customers and direct access to DLA systems to improve demand planning, order fulfillment and teaming.

DSCC also provides civilian associates and military members serving alongside DLA field activity representatives as members of DLA Support Teams (DSTs) in Europe and Southwest Asia. DSTs coordinate with DSCC associates in the United States to requisition, expedite and exchange information relevant to critical repair parts and programs that are managed within the land and maritime supply chains.

DSCC is the lead organization in DLA for many unique programs. One of these is the Joint Regional Inventory Materiel Management (JRIMM) initiative, a DoD-sponsored activity to improve warfighter support by improving efficiencies and cost effectiveness. Commissioned by DoD, JRIMM is an effort to regionalize materiel distribution and eliminate duplicate resources at multiple locations that receive, store and ship materiel.

“The goal of JRIMM is to improve support to the warfighter by improving efficiencies and cost effectiveness across the DoD logistics enterprise,” said John Shaw, chief of the DSCC JRIMM Office. “The fundamental objectives are to minimize logistics infrastructure within a geographic region, consolidate DLA-managed materiel, reduce or eliminate intermediate retail stocks and unnecessary ‘touches,’ reduce transportation costs, and decrease customer wait time,” said Shaw.

PAY AS YOU GO

DLA has partnered with AM General, a mobility solutions company based in South Bend, Ind., to integrate a program, in cooperation with Army depots and DSCC, called Customer Pay, to respond to depot-level production line stoppages due to incomplete HMMVW assembly. A novel solution to the backlog of parts paid for but unused, Customer Pay has depots only pay for the parts they actually use once vehicles are put back on line. A pilot program in January 2006, Customer Pay began in response to military depots dealing with high volumes of work brought on by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Production line stoppages due to incomplete vehicles were becoming a daily problem.

Through the program, AM General takes responsibility for getting the right number of parts to military depot assembly lines at the right time so that refurbished and rebuilt humvees come off the line 100 percent complete. Unlike new production, each humvee returning from duty has a different set of parts needs. While some parts replacements are mandatory, most of the parts that need to be replaced on humvees vary depending on the widely varying condition of the battle-weary vehicles when they come in.

“To grasp the nature of Customer Pay, it is important to visualize what is happening at the Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pa., Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas, and, on a smaller scale, the Maine Military Authority in Limestone, Maine,” said Denise Richards, director for Customer Pay, AM General. “These are not mere repair bays where damaged vehicles come in for an overhaul. This is full-up vehicle remanufacturing that has much more in common with an automotive assembly line than with regular maintenance. Incoming humvees are stripped down to the frames. Parts that can be reused are cleaned and refurbished while new parts queue up for assembly.”

“Customer Pay is a collective effort of government and industry partners dedicated to achieving excellence in Army recapitalization of the HMMWV weapon system,” said Brigadier General Patricia McQuistion, commander of Defense Supply Center Columbus. The key to Customer Pay’s success, she said, lies in “the flexibility provided by having both a commercial and a government supply chain available to back up each other.” Second, she said, is the “cooperation and intense dedication” of the government-industry team. “These two factors provide nearly seamless support, at significantly reduced costs.”

The system requires AM General to find the lowest available price, which might, at times, mean using government inventory rather than buying from subcontractors. And if for some reason one responsible supplier runs short of a needed part, the Customer Pay system enables AM General to move easily to other options. In that way, the key participants, AM General, DLA and TACOM, backed each other up in supporting the flow of parts to the line.

The challenge at the depot level is in determining what AM General terms average daily use of certain parts on the line. While some parts such as drive train and suspension must be replaced, greatly simplifying planning, others are replaced as needed. AM General calls these unpredictable parts. Parts needs on the line vary from week to week. In 2007, logistics operations in theater saw a sudden need for body and frame parts because of the kind of damage two wars were inflicting on ground vehicles. “To address this, the Customer Pay system helped depots and suppliers, such as Dana Spicer Driveshaft, Bremen Castings, Magna Powertrain USA and Prestolite Electric Inc., to get the right combination of parts to the depot floors when needed,” Gray noted.

Chris Emery of W.W. Williams, a company whose main business is servicing interstate trucking, said a key to the success of Customer Pay is not only smart forecasting of spare parts needs at the high end but also regular interaction with the workers doing the assembly. “We have direct contact with what’s happening on the floor,” Emery said. “Trends in spare parts needs, ‘right down to a bolt,’ come to light in this way and help provide critical information that feeds into the decisions about what parts of the returning trucks need to be replaced,” Emery added.

HMWWV reset involves rebuilding a Humvee so that it emerges from the depot as the same model that came in. Humvees destined for war zones are coming off the line brand new at AM General’s assembly plant in Mishawaka, Ind. But later iterations of Customer Pay, beginning in January 2009 under a new, extended contract, will involve remanufacture of armored Humvees.

MANAGING MRAP

DSCC has been designated by DLA to manage the agency’s mine resistant ambush protected vehicle program. Although national stock numbers for the MRAP cross numerous supply chains, the center of gravity is in the land supply chain located at DSCC. DSCC stood up a matrixed team under its existing organization structure, under the leadership of the DLA project manager. This team was designed to support what the Secretary of Defense called his number one priority—fielding and sustaining the MRAP.

“The challenge is unique because the initial DoD emphasis has been placed on fielding the MRAP as fast as possible in order to save lives, leaving the traditional logistics of providing initial spares to catch up,” noted Dan Bohn, DLA’s MRAP project manager. “This forced DSCC to simultaneously procure both initial and replenishment spares support with the original equipment manufacturers.”

Through its Land Customer and Supplier Operations Directorates, DSCC supports the fielding and sustainment of MRAPs in Southwest Asia. The joint program office has established initial parts lists, known as push packages, to coincide with each MRAP delivery to theater. Defense Distribution Depot Red River ships each push package to fielding sites in Iraq. Approximately 18,000 parts have been rapidly catalogued by DLA’s Defense Logistics Information Service, from original equipment manufacturers. Procurement actions are under way across the DLA enterprise to build inventory levels in order to sustain high MRAP readiness. “Establishing the right sized inventory and partnering with in dustry to accomplish this task are at the top of DSCC’s priority list,” said Bohn. “DSCC continues to support the fielding and sustainment of nine MRAP variants in Southwest Asia.”

SOFTWARE SUPPORT

In an effort to bypass the hurdles presented by acquisition backlog, DoD is partnered with a strategic sourcing solutions company called IHS for maintenance and repair and integrated logistics support (ILS) functions, for identifying alternate sources for parts and components. IHS offers software solution called Haystack, which provides DoD with critical information throughout the product life cycle—from design, through procurement, material management and into maintenance and repair, and finally into disposal. Through IHS partnerships with the military services, much of the data content shared across IHS/DoD-linked platforms is channeled into third-party tools to support the enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment.

“Haystack provides direct access to logistics and supply information on over 100 million items that are, or have been, procured by the U.S., Canadian and U.K. MoD organizations,” said Keith Doubleday, senior director for product development and management, IHS. “This information is consolidated from approximately 70 independent databases and includes both current and historical information.”

“One of the most disruptive situations within the DoD supply chain is the impact of component obsolescence,” said Doubleday. “Within our product solutions, we provide early warning for parts monitoring within our systems so that the ‘time to react’ period is maximized. By providing this early warning, our customers can use the vast resources of the IHS databases to find alternatives to this event—such as identification of procurement history of these items within the Haystack procurement history database.”

In the case of Haystack, information is also provided on forged part tooling that might be used if there is no available inventory, and the part must be manufactured. This information helps identify potential replacement parts from different suppliers within the IHS Parts Universe or Fasteners eCatalog or MRO eCatalog by using a replacement analysis capability to identify potential alternate parts that may be available. Another area of concern for the supply chain is the ever-changing environmental regulations. These regulations have a direct impact on the availability of parts within the supply chain— specifically for DoD applications. The environmental directives primarily focus on the removal of lead, upon which the DoD applications are somewhat dependant for the products they support. As demand moves to non-lead parts, the supply of lead-based parts has started to diminish—having a direct impact on the supply chain.

IHS has been working to provide 360-degree visibility to critical supply chain issues. Through a combination of product solutions and internal customer business systems, IHS provides end-to-end supply chain visibility. “The ability to understand what inventory you have and if you have that inventory in the right place at the right time is how you regulate your supply chain successfully,” said Doubleday. “The concept is to tie functions into a single platform in best determining where you’re going, when you’re going and how you’re getting there.”

MANAGING LIFE CYCLE

DSCC also manages the Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) Program and the Defense Standardization Program for electronics. DMSMS is best defined as the loss or impending loss of manufacturers of items or suppliers of items or raw materials that may cause material shortages that endanger a weapon system’s or equipment’s development, production or post-production support capability. The focus of the program is to provide continued support to the military services when a manufacturer no longer makes an item or family of items, which primarily involves electronic items such as microcircuits, semiconductors and passive components.

In many cases, DMSMS and parts obsolescence are used interchangeably. Either way, loss of part supportability creates tremendous pressure on program manag ers to manage the entire life cycle. DSCC is very pro active in mitigating the risks associated with DMSMS and uses emulation tech nology, advanced life-of-type buys, and encouragement of existing sources to continue production.

Under total life cycle management, program managers weigh the traditional responsibilities for cost, schedule and performance with the long range goals of support and sustainment. “With proper planning and ample DMSMS support, pro gram managers can field more sustainable and more reliable systems without compromising cost, schedule and performance. DSCC’s DMSMS office provides DMSMS planning to allow for the best that DoD can give to our service men and women. ♦