Mlf 9 8 final

Army Depot Contributions O GCSS-Army O Army ResetCounterfeit Parts O Shelters O Redstone Arsenal Energy Plans

The Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community

Readiness Provider

General Dennis L. Via

CommanderU.S. Army Materiel Command

www.MLF-kmi.com

October 2015Volume 9, Issue 8

Who’s Who at U.s. army materiel Command

Special Supplement

AUSA ANNUAL ISSUE

Exclusive interview with:

Maj. Gen. SuSan DaviDSonCommanderU.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command

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ALL CHANGE BUT NO CHANGE!Shephard Media acquires Military Logistics Forum

This is the last issue of Military Logistics Forum published by Kerrigan Media International, as the ownership transfers to Shephard Media.

Already known for industry-leading titles such as Unmanned Vehicles, Defence Helicopter and Land Warfare International, Shephard Media will continue to publish Military Logistics Forum in the United States.

Continuity is assured with Jeff McKaughan staying on as Editor and we’d like you, the reader, to know that Shephard Media is pleased to continue the great tradition of this publication as the go-to magazine for the military logistics community.

MLF_Shephard_Media_213x276mm.indd 1 01/10/2015 16:13:55

Cover / Q&AFeatures

General Dennis l. ViaCommander

U.S. Army Materiel Command

12

Departments Program Update2 eDitor’s PersPectiVe3 loG oPs10 suPPly chain19 resource center

Gcss-armyGlobal Combat Support System-Army update.By James mcDonough

October 2015Volume 9, Issue 8MILITARY LOGISTICS FORUM

20

4shelter & shelter suPPortShelters with which the u.S. military deploys must be just as high-tech as their weapons, comms and other essential war-fighting gear, according to several of the companies providing the services with shelter and shelter support.By scott nance

7DePot excellencethe u.S. army system of depots has evolved into a series of installations specializing in a field of technical skills. the centralization of those skills by system type has created synergies that have increased efficiencies and productivity which in turn better serves the warfighter and the taxpayer.

15takinG the army throuGh resetthe end to u.S. ground operations in the middle east leaves tens of thousands of pieces of equipment to be shipped back stateside for reset, a process that brings a vehicle back to its configuration before it was deployed.By Peter BuxBaum

17secure anD sustainable enerGyOver the past five years, Redstone arsenal, ala., has adapted to meet the challenges of energy reliability, security and sustainability during a period of declining resources.By craig northriDge, mark smith anD JorDan matthews

“Moving forward, we must ensure our soldiers are trained and ready to preserve

operational effectiveness

and reinvigorate

soldier ownership for

maintaining and sustaining their

equipment.”

— General Dennis L. Via

Who’s Who at u.s. army materiel commanDsPecial suPPlement

C2

Major General Susan Davidsoncommander, u.S. army military Surface Deployment and Distribution command

Your single-source solution for material and services.

www.SupplyCore.com

Exclusive interview with:

Several weeks ago, the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces conducted a hearing on the Air Force bomber force structure (current requirements and future vision). Of course, the intent from the service perspective was to further lay the groundwork for funding to support a new long-range strike aircraft. As would be expected, beyond the basic operational requirements of the current and future force, much of it centered on logistics and maintenance.

When speaking about the new aircraft, Lieutenant General Arnold Bunch Jr., military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force, said the Air Force has “carefully balanced cost and considerations across the life cycle—development, production and sustainment.” Later, he said that sustainment is a key element of this aircraft, which is expected to have a service life of more than 30 years.

During the same hearing, General Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, talked about some of the issues with the current bomber fleets and was particularly insightful when talking about the sustainment and industrial base. “We are striving to maintain the proper balance of fleet sustainment efforts, testing, aircrew training and combat readiness. The dynamics of a small fleet continue to challenge our sustainment efforts primarily due to vanishing vendors and a diminishing source of supply. Air Force Materiel Command is working to ensure timely parts availability; however, many manufacturers do not see a strong business case in supplying parts for a small aircraft fleet. Problems with a single part can have a significant readiness impact on a small fleet that lacks the flex-ibility of a large force to absorb parts shortages and logistics delays.”

Being old doesn’t necessarily mean that something doesn’t work ... look at the B-52 radar. Last updated in the early 1980s, it now suffers from a mean time between failure rate of 46 hours. With the advancements in radar technology, I’m thinking it must be tough getting parts for a 35-year-old radar.

Switching gears, turn back two pages to the inside front cover. KMI Media Group is excited to announce the sale of Military Logistics Forum to Shephard Media in the U.K. The arrangement, just finalized before this issue went to press, will mark a new era for Military Logistics Forum as it moves into its 10th year. The strong editorial, analysis and coverage of the logistics community that the maga-zine built its reputation on will only strengthen as it begins its second decade.

Many details are still to be announced, but providing a continuous and stable magazine moving forward is the goal of everyone involved. Watch the KMI Media Group (www.mlf-kmi.com) and Shephard Media (www.shephardmedia.com) websites for more details.

2016 will be a banner year for the military logistics community, and Military Logistics Forum will be there to cover it.

Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community

editorialEditor-In-ChiefJeff McKaughan [email protected]

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Military Logistics Forum

Volume 9, Issue 8 • October 2015

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

Jeff McKaughanEDiToR

compiled by kmi media group staffLOG OPS

Members of the 92nd Civil Engineer Squadron and the 92nd Contracting Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base are working toward an Air Force goal of reducing our building footprint by demolishing 1950s-era munitions bunkers here and saving the Air Force approxi-mately $3.5 million in the process.

The project, originally a group of five separate projects estimated at a cost of $6.5 million, was consolidated into one demolition project saving the United States government approximately $3.5 million and supporting the Air Force’s “Make Every Dollar Count” campaign.

“One of the reasons for this project is to help meet the Air Force’s goal of removing 20 percent of our building footprint by the year 2020,” said Jay Logan, 92nd CES project manager.

The project is scheduled to take a year to complete, and is currently in phase two, or the physical demolition. Phase Three, which includes closing out the contract and final submittals, is scheduled to begin in December and be completed in April 2016. Phase One began in the summer of 2014.

Fairchild Air Force Base was previously part of Strategic Air Command and utilized these bunkers in storing munitions as part of the mission. More than 60 years later, the majority of the original buildings are being demolished, recycled or reused. The project will demolish 33 munitions storage bunkers and portions of four different roads throughout the grounds.

Article by Airman 1st Class Mackenzie Richardson, 92nd Air Refueling Wing public affairs.

Twelve trucks loaded with supplies left Bagram Airfield and headed toward Afghan busi-nesses after a “white goods” sale at the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Yard on August 7. Sale items included a Bobcat, forklifts and refrigerator containers.

DLA Disposition Services, responsible for the disposition of military excess property, held its first sale at U.S. sites across Afghanistan in June 2014. Since then, DLA Disposition Services has been selling non-military items used largely for base support to Afghan businesses. Total sales to date at BAF equal 37 with proceeds totaling $2,729,860. All proceeds are turned over to the U.S. Treasury.

“I enjoy my job because it’s always different,” said Eric Robie, a property disposal specialist in DLA Disposition Services. “We have a huge responsibly here at Bagram to save the U.S. government money and try to do our part to help the local economy. When our usable sales are prepared, we take time to really go over the property and make sure it’s properly researched and will be well within our sales guidelines. All of the deployed DLA Disposition Service employees, past and present, have done a great job.”

According to Russell Manuel, DLA Disposition Services deputy director in Afghanistan, DLA Disposition Services advertises the usable goods contracts through the federal government’s contracting website, FedBizOpps; the DLA Disposition Services website; and regional Afghanistan contracting offices. Criteria for contract awards include that the company be based in Afghanistan and owned 100 percent by Afghan citizens. The final details for releasing the property to buyers is worked out with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Minister of Finance and the Afghanistan Customs Department for taxation of the imported goods.

“The usable goods sales program is one of the best platforms the U.S. govern-ment uses to stimulate the Afghan economy,” Manuel said. “The program helps DLA avoid property disposal costs associated with disposal operations and the equipment is used by local business owners to support economic development. Overall, the program is a quick-win effort for the U.S. and the Afghan government.”

By Vanessa Villarreal, 3rd ID

Southern Comfort Shelters has released a line of blast-resistant heavy-duty tents for use in a variety of heavy industries in Texas and Louisiana.

The company’s portable blast-resistant shelters are specifically designed to improve the safety of the environment in hazard-prone industries such as petroleum and chemical production. Testing has shown that these blast-resistant structures can minimize damage from explosions, shock waves and aural disruption in certain situ-ations. While the heavy-duty tents help protect workers and create

space for a variety of activities, many clients also use them as storage for sensitive equipment, since the structures create a controlled environment free from external environmental fluctuations and disturbances.

According to Southern Comfort Shelters, “Our blast-resistant shelters are a step above other heavy-duty tents in terms of increased durability and environmental control. We place a high premium on reliability and consistency to make sure our clients get the best service out there.”

Blast-Resistant Shelters

Dunker Demolition Saves Millions

Excess Property Disposition in Afghanistan

www.MLF-kmi.com MLF 9.8 | 3

Shelters with which the U.S. military deploys must be just as high-tech as their weapons, comms and other essential war-fighting gear, according to several of the companies providing the services with shelter and shelter support.

“HDT continues to drive innovation toward technical solutions that are focused on increasing the battle density of the shelter system,” said Ronnie Simmons, manager of product integration at Buena Vista, Va.-based shelter provider HDT Global. “HDT is focused on lighter, faster, more durable, man-portable and highly energy-efficient shelter systems that have a reduced logistics foot-print. HDT’s innovations are developed with the intent to reduce the amount of time it takes to become fully operational in a tactical environment, while increasing the duration of self-sustainment.”

The major innovation on soft-wall shelters is energy efficiency and insulation, Simmons said.

“HDT does extensive research and testing on fabrics and fabric insulations to get the most durable and energy-efficient materials available for our shelters,” he noted.

HDT has improved the durability of its frame shelters using a stronger aluminum and has reduced its shelter weights by using a lighter liner fabric, Simmons added.

“As the industry leader of soft-wall shelters, HDT is continuously working to improve today’s technology to provide the warfighter of tomorrow with the right technical solution,” he said. “HDT’s soft-wall shelters provide a durable, energy-efficient, lightweight, rapid-deploying, flexible solution with an ever-expanding portfolio of user-friendly options.”

The services have a continuing requirement for portable, rapidly deployable, energy-efficient shelters to keep the cost of logistics and fuel consumption at a minimum, Simmons said.

“A highly deployable force needs the ability to rapidly establish itself in a tactical environment, and [must] be prepared to jump to the next location at a moment’s notice,” he said. “In this scenario, scalability and flexibility of the configuration is extremely important.

A highly deployable force has unique requirements for shelters that can meet the mission in a wide range of environments without adding to the logistics burden. Examples of the highly-sought-after requirements of a deployable force are: rapidly deploying with mini-mal personnel, intuitive design, scalability of configuration, energy-efficient, lightweight, reduced cube/packed dimensions and overall system reliability.”

As for the benefits and challenges to developing a family of com-mon shelters among the services, “every branch of service has differ-ent needs and deployment requirements,” Simmons said.

“Trying to have a system achieve such a wide range is the biggest challenge,” he added.

Maximizing energy efficiency has also been key for other provid-ers, including Fort Walton Beach, Fla.-based UTS Systems, accord-ing to Adam Bement, the company’s business development manager.

“Over the last several years we have been working with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army to come up with an overall improved shelter system that can reduce energy consumption significantly,” he said.

It’s also also true for the Cadillac, Mich.-based Mobility Systems unit of AAR Corp. In recent years, AAR Corp. has focused on using technologies such as LED lighting which use less power, and “smart power systems—wind, solar, those kinds of things to integrate into support for a shelter,” said J. Jason Raffaele, vice president of busi-ness development and chief engineer within the business unit.

“We’re also looking at some of air-frame shelters, packing them into some of our containers—making them a system instead of just a tent, so they have a small footprint for shipping and a larger deployed footprint when deployed,” he added.

Customer requirements

AAR Corp. also focuses on providing lightweight shelters, Raffaele said.

Keeping the elements at bay for deployed forCes. by sCott nanCe, mlf Correspondent

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“The shelters we’ve sold have been our own design so they’ve been off-the-shelf to us. We customize them for different mission profiles, so they have a good track record—some longevity in the field—so there’s a good logistics tail,” he added.

At UTS Systems, other improvements have been driven by meeting customer requirements, Bement said.

“One way we accomplished that was by discussing what the customer really wanted to accomplish with their shelters and trying to meet that need,” he said. “For example, we have reduced the packaged footprint of one of our shelters to allow the customer to pack it into the bed of a HMMWV military vehicle. We have also created new shelters that are based on our standard shelter line yet incorporate modifications to meet certain customer require-ments. We made our very popular TM Tall shelter line in response to Air Force Medical Corps’ desire to have increased headroom for their field hospitals. Part of our core strategy is to work with the customers and try to get them what they need to make their mission easier or better.”

Aside from energy efficiency, durability and speed of setup also help set UTS Systems shelters apart, Bement said.

“We have a very rugged and durable frame that is made of extruded aluminum and solid aluminum components; our shelters can be set up in 10-15 minutes with virtually zero training and are very energy efficient,” he said. “In addition to an internal liner, our standard shelter system includes an external Thermal Fly that simply rests on top of the external frame, and, as tested by the U.S. Air Force, increases the energy efficiency over 25 percent as com-pared to the baseline Air Force shelter. If you add all of those traits together, it’d be hard to find something more complete.”

With so many different types of missions across the various services, it’s hard to think they would be satisfied with a common shelter type, according to Bement.

“There are a lot of shelter companies out here and I think all of us have value. It’s hard to choose one thing across the board and expect everyone to be satisfied,” he said.

In terms of the U.S. military’s anticipated needs for shelters, AAR Corp.’s Raffaele said he is thinking in terms of efficiency and scalability.

“Certainly, they are looking for a 25-percent reduction in fuel resupply; a 75-percent water resupply reduction; 50-percent reduc-tion in waste generation or backhaul. So, shelters that can support those goals,” he said. “Also, if you look at their encampment profile, they have small 50- to 150-man encampments that scale up to 150- to 600-man that are usually initial and temporary. Then, the ability to scale that up even to bigger, 1,000-man encampments that are more semi-permanent. I think the idea is to be able to build on what you have, meeting those efficiency guidelines or goals, and start small and build up.”

heating and Cooling

Effectively heating and cooling deployed shelters—particularly where commercial systems simply won’t cut it—can provide its own challenges.

“HDT’s self-powered convective heaters are the state-of-the-art heaters on the market today. Once started, these heaters power

themselves by using excess heat to generate the power required to keep the heater running without the need for external power,” Simmons said. “Ease of use, portability, durability and reliability are the biggest challenges related to heating and cooling systems today. HDT heaters and air conditioners are built to operate in rug-ged environments. Operations in bitter cold, with requirements for heaters to start and operate in the -40°F to -60°F range, or in desert environments for cooling systems to operate in the 120°F to 130°F range, are challenges not met with commercial-grade heaters or air conditioners.”

Containerized shelters

Rome, N.Y.-based Deployed Resources (DR) specializes in the deployment of temporary scalable life-support facilities for military and other agencies, including “containerized” showers, restrooms, laundries, kitchens, sinks and soft-wall, engineered tents used to provide temporary augmentation of a training site or sustaining support for an enduring mission, said Victor DeMasi, the company’s director of strategy.

“When a site lacks the organic infrastructure to support that rotational force, DR is tasked to provide necessary life support, leav-ing no footprint behind when the mission ceases,” he said.

“Typical engagements are brigade-size support, but DR does have a SOF-specific camp called the Small Expeditionary Camp that delivers a turnkey package of life support, to include showers, rest-rooms, laundry, kitchens, gym tactical operational centers, dining facilities, all potable and non-potable water storage, pump systems, power generation and distribution and forklifts for set-up, opera-tion and removal, all on two truck beds,” he added. “This camp is also capable of air and sea transport using commercially available transport assets.”

One of the more commonly procured items from DR’s suite of products is the containerized kitchen unit, DeMasi said.

“Available in multiple configurations and footprints, these units are complete plug and play units that include commercial-grade cooking equipment, exhaust systems, ANSUL fire suppression, diamond-plate flooring, prep space, refrigeration and freezer space, and full sanitation bays,” he said. “Like all of our containerized equipment, DR can custom-fabricate to the end-user’s specific requirement.” O

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.

Examples of the highly-sought-after requirements of a deployable force are: rapidly deploying with minimal personnel, intuitive design, scalability of configuration, energy-efficient, lightweight, reduced cube/packed dimensions and overall system reliability. [Photo courtesy of DoD]


grouping of teChniCians and sKills for better results.

Anniston Army Depot (ANAD) has played a vital role in our nation’s defense mission for more than 70 years—mak-ing us a national treasure and enabling sustainable readiness for our Army and joint forces.

Located just a few miles from the Talladega Superspeedway, the depot was dubbed the Pit Crew for the American Warfighter, to ensure the warfighter stays in the race. If our military shoots it or drives it in combat, there is a good chance it has come through the doors at ANAD.

Since opening in 1941, ANAD has provided world-class mate-rial readiness and support to our nation’s warfighters by perform-ing maintenance on both heavy and light-tracked combat vehicles, small arms and secondary components.

Our commitment extends well beyond Anniston, Ala., as we provide deployed and home-station support in various locations throughout the continental United States and in countries around the globe. As a subordinate organization to the Tank and Automo-tive Command (TACOM), ANAD team members have provided critical support in major military operations from World War II through Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Designated as the Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for combat vehicles, assault bridging, towed and self-propelled artillery, small-caliber weapons, locomotives, rail equipment and non-tactical generators, ANAD has built a reputation on providing quality products at cost and on schedule.

With a workforce of approximately 3,000 professional main-tainers, these artisans continuously seek creative ways to improve and remain competitive. Through the use of Lean Six Sigma methodology, the Value Engineering Program and the Army Sug-gestion program, the depot has completed 85 process improve-ment initiatives through fiscal year 2015.

The financial benefits associated with these improvements total $13 million—a significant portion of which was realized through the M777 towed howitzer Slipper Pad process improve-ment. This effort alone generated a cost avoidance of $3 million over a three-year period, and was made possible thanks to the combined efforts of ANAD and BAE System engineers. The next largest cost savings was realized through correcting workstation requirements for assembly mechanics, leading to a 38-percent reduction of time required to complete their work. This resulted in a return of investment of $1 million over a three-year period.

As the Department of Defense leader in Public-Private Part-nership efforts since 1993, ANAD has established more than 140 different partnerships with industry leaders. The depot has a highly skilled workforce with tremendous facilities and equip-ment. Coupled with our ability to develop and sustain industry relationships, partnering with ANAD enables increased synergy and an ability to leverage our expertise and best practices. Working closely together, we are able to preserve critical technologies and core capabilities and generate cost avoidance across both sectors.

Among our key partnerships are those with General Dynam-ics Land Systems supporting the M1 Abrams and Stryker combat vehicles; BAE Systems for the M113 and M88 vehicle platforms; Honeywell in manufacturing recuperators for the AGT 1500 engines; and Raytheon, in support of the U.S. Marine Corps Repairable Program.

Each of these partnerships allow the Army’s organic industrial base, of which ANAD is a part, to deliver the best equipment to our warfighters, on time and on budget, as we capitalize on the strength of the combined public and private industrial base.

After more than 70 years of excellence, ANAD’s Pit Crew continues to proudly support the American warfighter—at home and abroad—with the very best combat equipment our nation can provide.

Anniston Army DepotPit Crew for the American Warfighter

The U.S. Army system of depots has evolved into a series of installations specializing in a field of technical skills. The centralization of those skills by system type has created synergies that have increased efficiencies and productivity, which in turn better serves the warfighter and the taxpayer.

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At Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD), Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is more than a just another program; its Continuous Process Improve-ment (CPI) principles are interspliced into the very DNA of the Depot. For an Army Working Capital Funds organization, finding innovative ways to save time and money is an essential part of doing business.

In order to meet scheduled commitments with its custom-ers, CCAD must carefully manage assets, materiel, tools and labor to execute more than 640 simultaneous programs. Controlling expenditures is critical to keeping labor rates as low as possible for consumers of the Depot’s components and aircraft services. To tackle this formidable task, CCAD leverages program managers and operations professionals in business and finance alongside a team of experts from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Aviation Logistics Center to focus on cost avoidance and audit readiness as it manages billions of dollars in annual programs and contracts.

From FY10 to FY15, the success of CCAD’s CPI program has been self-evident. CCAD achieved $335 million in cost avoidance and continues to leverage LSS to refine processes and eliminate waste. LSS is the key enabler in maintaining the lowest labor rate possible, providing the tools, training and approach necessary to streamline processes and fully embed CPI in the organizational culture. In FY14, CCAD exceeded its CPI financial target of $36 mil-lion by an impressive $12.8 million, as illustrated by several major projects led by depot employees:

Cesar Garcia, a LSS Yellow Belt and Program Manager on UH-60 Black Hawk recapitalization (RECAP), significantly reduced materiel and labor costs associated with OH-58 crash damage repairs by reutilizing an available (no-cost) fuselage from a divested program. His project not only reduced labor hours by 96 percent, from 7,527 to 304, but also achieved a 100-percent cost avoidance by averting the purchase of a $6 million aircraft cabin.

By addressing sizeable revenue losses associated with poorly processed Product Quality Deficiency Report (PDQRs) materials, Pamela Janek, PQDR Cell Team Lead and LSS Green Belt, generated a cost avoidance of $888,000 in 2014 and $7.1 million over a three-year period. Her team analyzed root causes contributing to poorly

processed material, took corrective actions and developed Standard Operating Procedures clearly defining roles and responsibilities for processing PQDRs for financial credit.

For FY15, CCAD aimed for $32 million CPI cost avoidance and is on track to meet—and possibly once again exceed—that goal. As of March 2015, CCAD artisans and CPI professionals have joined forces to complete significant cost-avoidance projects with notable achievements.

The bulk of CCAD production involves UH-60 Black Hawk RECAP, a program that touches almost every process at the depot. LSS Yellow Belt Rodrick Dunham, an AVIM Pave Hawk Work Leader at the HH-60 Crash Damage Division, introduced a project to repair UH-60 Black Hawk landing gear wheels. Repairing the wheel halves instead of purchasing new units reduced costs by over 64 percent per main wheel, adding up to a total cost reduction of $1.1 million over two years.

For AH-64 programs, developing innovative methods of reduc-ing Apache component costs is crucial to the depot. Matthew Lapointe, a composite fabricator and LSS Yellow Belt, focused his efforts on a project to purchase AH-64 main rotor head pitch hous-ing shims rather than manufacturing them locally. The rotor head pitch housing requires 100 percent replacement of shims during the composite repair process. The local manufacture cost of a single shim is $611.71, while the same newly manufactured part costs only $8.16. Purchasing shims resulted in a 99-percent cost reduction, a savings of more than $1.4 million over three years.

Corpus Christi Army Depot CCAD realizes cost savings from Lean Six Sigma implementation.

At Red River Army Depot (RRAD), public-private partnerships (P3s) are an important part of our business strat-egy. In the last seven years, RRAD entered into 49 partnering agreements that generated more than $200 mil-

lion in revenue for the depot. These P3s allow both industry and the organic industrial base (OIB) to work together, rather than compete and capitalize on the strengths of both organizations. As defense budgets decrease, the funding available for depot-level maintenance will decrease. In this era of decreasing resources,

the smart approach is a partnership between industry and the OIB. In this environment, both entities can share rather than compete for workload. The end result is a “win-win” for both partners and ultimately our nation’s warfighters.

Beyond the obvious financial advantages to partnerships, you cannot overlook the tremendous technical and process advantages that both the OIB and private industry gain through partnerships. A benefit of the partnership effort is the sharing of expertise, process improvements and manufacturing techniques. Both organizations gain tremendously from this process and ultimately come away at the end of the partnership with a better-

Red River Army DepotValuing public-private partnerships

Eric Andreas, an equipment specialist and a nine-year CCAD artisan, overlooks work done an AH-1 Apache. Photo by Ervey Martinez


Success in a budget-conscious and competitive business environment requires a focus on reduced costs while delivering a quality product on-time. For Tobyhanna Army Depot, four key factors propel a successful business strategy: internal fiscal con-trols, continuous process improvement/innovation, partnering with private industry and modernization of its facilities.

Tobyhanna’s corporate philosophy, dedicated workforce and electronics expertise ensure the depot is the joint command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) provider of choice for all branches of the armed forces and industry partners.

Judicious management of internal controls and resources pays dividends by ensuring that the depot continues to be the best value to its customers. Labor costs, far and away the largest expense, require careful monitoring of end strength require-ments, especially for supporting functions. All requests to fill vacant positions are carefully reviewed and must have merit. Contracts are also justified and, following award, are reviewed for potential cost savings. For workload, Tobyhanna’s labor and material costs are carefully monitored. These efforts have increased visibility of projects while reducing overhead and material costs, as well as cost overruns on customer programs.

“We actively manage costs to ensure the depot maintains a stable customer rate,” said James Antonelli, director of resource management. “Controlling overhead and equipment expenses, utility consumption and other cost-saving initiatives reduce our expenses.

“It is engrained in our corporate philosophy,” added Antonelli. “Cost management, as well as maintaining/increasing customer workload, is vital to keeping our rates competitive and ensuring long-term stability and success.”

Along with fiscal control, continuous process improvement and innovation is critical to developing efficient processes to stay competitive. Initiatives, often identified by employees, streamline methods and reduce repair cycle time while providing superior products to maintain existing customers and generate new ones.

Recently, a value engineering project team for the NETT Warrior radio program replaced an outmoded charging kit with a new power adapter. The power source exceeds mission require-ments increasing operational readiness while reducing the sol-diers’ carrying payload.

By eliminating three batteries per unit—a cost savings of $1,000—for the entire scheduled production run of 7,500 units, cost avoidance totals more than $8.4 million through fiscal year 2017.

Partnering with private industry, another key factor, reduces long-term sustainment costs. Developing private-public part-nerships (P3) early in the acquisition lifecycle ensures weapon systems in development meet key objectives and are designed to reduce lifecycle costs.

“Successful P3 are when the organic base and private sector leverage the best capabilities of each organization,” said Nathan Thomas, chief of the Strategic Initiatives Office. “We work together to provide a product or service that is better than either organization could have produced on their own.”

The ultimate effect is increased operational readiness and reduced cost for the warfighter. This shift creates stronger relationships between the organic and private sector as the capa-bilities and expertise are combined for optimal support, Thomas explained.

Underscoring its commitment to P3 within Army Materiel Command, Tobyhanna hosted its first industry day event in June with more than 170 attendees. Guests included Commu-nications-Electronics Command’s commanding general, Major General Bruce T. Crawford, Kenyata Wesley, acting director of the Department of Defense Small Business Office, and Joseph Spielbauer, representing the governor of Pennsylvania. Plans are underway for next year’s event.

To sustain and increase operational capacity, facility modern-ization is a key component in positioning the depot for future workload. During the past 10 years Tobyhanna has invested more than $590 million. Recently, it embarked on a multi-million dol-lar project to transform the installation’s main industrial center, which includes electronics and production work centers and major infrastructure upgrades. O

Tobyhanna Army DepotFour key factors propel depot success

trained and more capable workforce. Additionally, a mutually beneficial relationship with our commercial partners facilitates the establishment of future partnerships; success breeds success. Many of our partnerships have been quite lengthy, some in excess of 15 years. We can successfully partner for future workloads because we know each other’s organizations and have developed a level of trust that assures we will both be successful in current as well as our future endeavors.

Not only do the organizations receive the benefit of shared workload; they also learn from each other. For example, in a

recently concluded partnership, Red River Army Depot received assistance in quality control procedures that enabled a signifi-cant reduction in defects in the depot’s production process; the depot provided our commercial partner with assistance in their remanufacturing process.

In short, these partnerships are a tremendous benefit for the entire industrial base (both the organic and commercial sector). They allow both sectors to maximize their core competencies and ultimately provide the best value to the Joint Force and the nation in an era of diminishing resources.


at www.mlf-kmi.com.


Compiled by KMI Media Group staffSUPPLY CHAIN

AECOM has been awarded a prime contractor position on the Air Force Contract Augmentation Program (AFCAP IV) from the United States Air Force.

The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quan-tity contract outlines the full range of base, life, operating and logistical support services AECOM will provide for the Air Force and any other U.S. federal entities operating in support of Air Force missions, which could include National Command Authority, joint or combined U.S. military forces, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and multina-tional forces utilizing U.S. government appro-priations.

The six-year contract has a $5-billion aggregate maximum value for the eight awardees and is estimated to reach comple-tion by 2021. AECOM will provide services, to be determined by individual needs, at multiple locations worldwide.

“We are thrilled to once again be supporting the U.S. government on this crit-ical program,” said Randy Wotring, presi-dent of AECOM’s management services group. “Our company is proud of its long-standing relationship with the U.S. Air Force, and is excited to further strengthen that partner-ship by providing innovative and effective worldwide contingency solutions as part of our commitment to global resilience and humanitarian relief.”

AFCAP is a rapid-response contingency contract tool for use by U.S. government agencies requiring urgent assistance. AECOM currently supports to the U.S. Air Force on five AFCAP III task orders.

AFCAP IV Prime Contractor

Naval Supply Systems Command SupportSerco Inc., a provider of professional,

technology and management services, has been awarded an U.S. Navy indefinite delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) indefinite-delivery contract to support the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Ordnance Information System (OIS). Serco was selected as one of two companies to compete for tasks under this contract with a $45.9 million ceiling value

over a five-year period of performance. Serco has supported services under this contract since 2010.

Under the contract, Serco provides program management and IT technical support services to continue the operations and enhancements of OIS modules and functional capabilities across all warfare enterprises. Work includes financial management, software development,

network engineering, cyber security, data center operations, Web design and portal manage-ment and project management services.

“Serco has a very strong and experienced team that delivers innovative services to this critical Navy program,” said Dan Allen, Serco Inc.’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We take pride in our continued support of the U.S. Navy warfighters.”

Sierra Army Depot is conducting market research to determine the availability of contrac-tors that have the capability to reset M1077 flat racks and M3, M3A1 and M1 (wood deck) container roll-in/out platforms (CROP).

The source must have a shop that has blast (metal and aluminum) booths, weld and paint booths capable of handling flat racks and crops of approximately 50-100 per month.

Flats Racks and CROPs

Chromalloy has been selected by the U.S. Air Force to provide repairs on low-pressure turbine modules for the F108 aircraft engine fleet in a contract valued at up to $74 million.

The one-year agreement was contracted by the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and includes four one-year options for additional repairs.

“With this agreement, Chromalloy is pleased to build on our long-standing relationship with the U.S. Air Force,” said Carlo Luzzatto, president. “Through our expertise in repairing gas turbine engine modules and components, Chromalloy offers military fleets significant cost savings over buying new parts. Our FAA-approved repairs have logged more than 1.2 million flight hours on this engine platform and are a proven source of reli-ability and durability.”

The contract covers overhaul of the low-pressure turbine shaft assembly, Module 14,

during scheduled maintenance events of the F108 engines.

Work will be performed at facilities within Chromalloy’s service network.

The F108 powers the KC-135 tanker aircraft fleet and RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft. The F108 CFM56-2B is the military variant of the CFM56-2 commercial propulsion system.

F108 Engine Work


U.S. Army mAteriel CommAnd

2015

trust deliverer

major General Susan A. davidsonCommanderU.S. Army military Surface deployment and distribution Command

Major General Susan A. Davidson assumed command of Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command on June 13, 2014.

Her military career began as a cadet at New Mexico Mili-tary Institute, followed by graduating from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. She received her commission in May 1983 and came on active duty in April 1986.

Davidson has held a wide variety of command and staff posi-tions. Previous to this assignment, she served as commander of Defense Logistics Agency Distribution.

Her key assignments include deputy commanding general/director of operations, SDDC; director, Integration and Strategy, G43/7 in the Deputy Chief of Staff Logistics, G4; executive officer to the deputy commanding general of Army Materiel Command; deputy G3, 13th Corps Support Command; joint mobility opera-tions officer, U.S. Transportation Command; executive officer and support operations officer, 524th Corps Support Battalion; Group S4, 45th Corps Support Group; Army reserve advisor, 78th Infantry Division; group plans officer, operations officer and chemical staff officer, 7th Transportation Group; and director of Human Resources Command, Logistics Officers Assignment Branch for Captains.

Davidson has commanded at company, battalion and brigade level in peace and war. She commanded the 870th Transportation Company for 17 months, including an 11-month deployment in support of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. As a battalion commander, she commanded the 49th Movement Control Battalion forward during Operation Iraqi Freedom at Balad, Iraq, and at Fort Hood, Texas. In 2007, she assumed command of SDDC’s 599th Transportation Group, and deployed forward to simultaneously serve as commander of the 595th Terminal Transportation Group in Kuwait for six months before returning to Hawaii to finish her 599th command time.

Her military education includes the Chemical Officer Basic Course, Transportation Officer Advanced Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, the Air Command and Staff College, Support Operations Course, Phase II, and the Navy War College. She holds a Master of Military Art and Science degree in Advanced

Military Studies, and a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies.

Davidson’s awards and decorations include the Defense Supe-rior Service Medal; Legion of Merit (with three oak leaf clusters); Bronze Star (with two oak leaf clusters); Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Meritorious Service Medal (with four oak leaf clus-ters); Army Commendation Medal (with four oak leaf clusters); Army Achievement Medal (with oak leaf cluster); Humanitarian Service Medal; and Army Staff Identification Badge.

Q: When you took command in mid-2014, what were the biggest challenges facing SDDC and how would you characterize progress towards addressing those issues?

A: The biggest challenge we faced was the retrograde of cargo out of Afghanistan within the required timeline. Due to transporta-tion routes that were closing or having reliability issues, our options to safely transit cargo back to CONUS were limited. We had to do some creative thinking and employ what’s known as R4D (review, reset, redeploy, redistribute and disposal), which are the options of what to do with cargo that needed to leave Afghanistan. R4D and other types of transportation routes and modes became even more important in weighing options due to increased costs.

Major General Susan A. DavidsonCommander

U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution

Command

Trust DelivererProviding Global Deployment and Distribution Capabilities to National Objectives

Q&AQ&A

www.MLF-kmi.com

U.S. Army mAteriel COmmAND

C2 | MLF 9.8 | U.S. Army Materiel Command

It was important to consider every avenue available, and we did that together with our CENTCOM partners, Joint transportation services, other government agencies and our two higher head-quarters (SDDC is a major subordinate command of U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) and the Army Service Component of U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)).

Another challenge facing SDDC was the uncertainty of the command’s future force structure and the frustration resulting from recent budget issues like sequestration and the Army’s 25 percent reduction of headquarters staffs at 2-star and higher Army commands. Employees were rightfully worried about whether their jobs were going away or moving. I came in with a mindset of rebuilding trust with the workforce by improving communica-tions. We conducted town halls and answered questions candidly, and I encouraged the same from my brigade commanders. In the end, it helped open those communication channels and calm fears. I’m incredibly proud of the way my staff accomplished the reductions we did have to make. We met our required reduction numbers without having to employ a Reduction In Force action by using a deliberate, thoughtful and concerted effort to place people in vacancies or other jobs and offering incentives to retire if they were interested in that option.

Q: How much of your force is deployed OCONUS at any given time? How do you see that changing in the next 12-18 months?

A: In total, SDDC has five brigades located around the world that are regionally aligned to support the Department of Defense’s geographic combatant commands. Specifically, SDDC has three transportation brigades and seven transportation battalions per-manently assigned in an OCONUS deployed capacity to support missions in the U.S. Central Command, European Command and Pacific Command theaters of operation. While I think that we are currently at the right force strength to carry out our mission, in the next 12 to 18 months we’ll be looking further at our brigades to standardize processes and capabilities.

Q: Last year you centralized regional storage offices into a single location. Tell me about the decision that led to that move, the lessons learned during the centralization and how you would describe the results.

A: The change was an effort to standardize Regional Storage Man-agement Office (SMO) procedures and meet mandated personnel cuts. We successfully stood up the SMO at SDDC headquarters on December 31, 2014, which has coverage of CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Canada. The SMO has been evaluating its current procedures and has already implemented many new initiatives to help streamline operations. In standing up the SMO, we were also able to establish an accelerated training program for newly hired storage specialists, which has allowed them to independently per-form facility inspections within four months of being hired. Fur-ther, the implementation of the Non-Temporary Storage Program into the Defense Personal Property Program will serve to make procedures even more efficient.

Q: Based on that effort, are there any similar plans for other aspects of the SDDC organization?

A: SDDC headquarters recently completed a major reorganization to better align our Operations Directorate and Strategic Sourcing Directorate to improve our business processes and provide better support to both our internal and external stakeholders. The com-mand also stood up our Business Process Management Integration Division (BPMI) to document, analyze, improve and standardize our business processes across the enterprise.

Currently, no other major changes are on the horizon, but there is always room for improvement as we strive to improve every day and continue to focus on ensuring audit compliance and cost-conscious decision making.

Q: How important are multi-modal capabilities to SDDC and how can the synergies of this capability be improved?

A: Multi-modal operations are incredibly important, as they pro-vide SDDC with operational flexibility to support the warfighter by balancing the cost-efficiency of sealift with the speed and reach of airlift. The multi-modal capability provided to SDDC by the carri-ers performing under the multi-modal contract is both invaluable and essential to moving military equipment and supplies to and from land-locked locations such as Afghanistan. More recently, those capabilities facilitated the return of military equipment from Afghanistan to meet critical drawdown schedules; the multi-modal capability continues to be a key enabler for sustainment shipments supporting residual U.S. forces there.

From a financial perspective, the multi-modal contract rep-resents an optimized business model wherein the carrier selects the most advantageous combination of transportation modes and simply provides the government with a price-per-pound quote for the entire move. The contract also employs best practices in the area of carrier entitlement practices, satisfying the requirements for auditability purposes and meeting all provisions of the DoD Financial Management Regulation.

Q: Two questions about railroads. First, much has been in the press about the lack of recent infrastructure investment. When looking at the nation’s rail network, are there areas of concern about the condition of the tracks, bridges and tunnels? What is SDDC’s role in protecting that commercial infrastructure with such strategic importance?

A: The railroads are unique transportation providers in that they largely own, and thus control, their own infrastructure. While infrastructure investment has been an issue, the existing infra-structure of the major railroads is in good condition, and the railroad industry has been able to invest in expanding capacity to meet increased demand. SDDC is a customer of the commercial railroad industry and has a congressionally mandated requirement to monitor the condition of commercial railroad infrastructure to ensure that it meets defense needs.

Through the SDDC Transportation Engineering Agency’s (TEA) Railroads for National Defense (RND) Program, we coor-dinate with the civil rail operators and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to ensure rail infrastructure meets DoD requirements and promote the consideration of national defense interests when establishing civil railroad policy. The RND program also coordinates with FRA to develop the strategic Rail Corridor

www.MLF-kmi.com U.S. Army Materiel Command | MLF 9.8 | 1


2015


Headquarters

Brig. Gen. Stephen E. Farmen

Joint Munitions Command/Joint Munitions and Lethality LCMC

Command Sgt. Maj. David M. Puig

Maj. Gen. James E. Simpson

Army Contracting Command

Lisha H. AdamsExecutive Deputy to the Commanding General

Maj. Gen. Edward DalyChief of Staff

Col. Brock HarrisDeputy Chief of Staff

G2

Maj. Gen. Clark W. LeMasters

Deputy Chief of Staff G3/4/5/7

Dr. Edward SiomaccoCIO/Deputy Chief of

Staff, G6

Sue GoodyearDeputy Chief of Staff

G8

Maj. Gen. Gwen Bingham

Command Sgt. Maj. James P. Snyder

Maj. Gen. John F. Wharton

Command Sgt. Maj. Jesse L. Sharpe, Jr.

Research, Development and Engineering Command

Tank-Automotive and Armaments LCMC Army Security Assistance Command

Maj. Gen. James M. Richardson

Command Sgt. Maj. Glen Vela

Command Sgt. Maj. William G. Bruns

Maj. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford

Maj. Gen. Susan A. Davidson

Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin A. McKeller

Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command

Maj. Gen. Kevin O’Connell

Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony M. Bryant

Army Sustainment Command

Communications-Electronics Command LCMC

Command Sgt. Maj. Dana S.

Mason, Jr

Maj. Gen. Mark McDonald

Col. Scott J. Lofreddo

Logistics Support Activity

Col. Nathaniel W. Farmer

Chemical Materials Agency

Command Sgt. Maj. Walton Jones

Gen. Dennis L. ViaCommanding General

Command Sgt. Maj. James K. Sims

Command Sergeant Major

Lt. Gen. Larry WycheDeputy Commanding

General

Aviation and Missile Command LCMC

Network or STRACNET, which represents the railroad lines most critical to national defense. The RND Program monitors the con-dition of STRACNET and conducts a major assessment of military activities/nodes requiring rail service and connecting civil sector infrastructure every three years. The most recent assessment shows that lines designated within STRACNET meet defense readi-ness requirements.

Q: Second, tell me about the Army’s railroad fleet of engines and cars. How has that inventory been impacted since 9/11 in terms of numbers, condition and need for reset or replacement?

A: There are really three different fleets. First, SDDC owns and manages the Defense Freight Railway Interchange Fleet (DFRIF), which is composed of all cars purchased by the services for interchange service (use on commercial tracks). The Army pro-cures cars that can be used by more than one service, such as flatcars to carry vehicles or containers. DFRIF cars are typically purchased to meet special requirements—for example, a num-ber of flatcars were purchased in the 1980s to transport large and heavy military equipment like the M1 tank. After the Gulf War, additional flatcars were procured as part of the Army Stra-tegic Mobility Program to enable the Army to “get to the fight” within required timelines. In addition to the DFRIF cars, DoD relies on commercially owned flatcars to meet deployment time-lines. The vast majority of the commercially-owned flatcars are now nearing mandatory retirement, which will create a deploy-ment capability shortfall. According to experts in the railroad industry, there is not sufficient commercial demand to justify industry investment in replacing all of the current commercial flatcars. Our subject-matter experts in SDDC’s TEA, in collabora-tion with Department of the Army G4, are currently conducting a cost-benefit analysis to examine the full range of options to mitigate the risk of the impending shortfall in commercially owned flatcars. Based on this analysis, we will provide recommen-dations to senior Army leaders for recommended future courses of action.

Second, there is the Army locomotive fleet that SDDC manages only to the extent of the locomotives it uses at its CONUS ammo ports (Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, N.C., (MOTSU) and Military Ocean Terminal Concord, Calif., (MOTCO)). Unlike the DFRIF cars, there is an active program which funds the purchase of replacement locomotives when required.

Finally, there is the captive fleet—cars used for intra-installa-tion movements. This fleet is declining as older cars age-out; how-ever, adequate capacity remains to meet current and anticipated intra-installation requirements. Additionally, like the locomotive fleet, an active program exists through which captive fleet cars can be procured when required.

Q: Staying with infrastructure in general, SDDC manages the military ocean terminals. Are current budget levels enough to keep the terminals in the condition required for day-to-day opera-tions and to meet projected surge requirements?

A: SDDC’s military ocean terminals are critical for supporting DoD’s ammunition movement requirements, and we put a lot of effort into ensuring these two terminals are mission-capable.

Much of MOTCO infrastructure dates back to World War II and requires substantial investment to address ongoing deterioration and allow the terminal to maintain operational readiness. SDDC is actively engaged with OSD, HQDA, USTRANSCOM and AMC to acquire funding for these infrastructure needs. MOTSU was established in the 1950s and has benefited from access to over-seas contingency operations funding, so its infrastructure is generally in good condition—although there are a few projects needed to ensure MOTSU’s long-term operational readiness. With the Army facing serious budgetary constraints in the next few years, securing the resources necessary to ensure the readiness of MOTCO and MOTSU is a significant challenge and one of my high-est priorities.

Unit-cargo movement requirements are typically met using commercial U.S. seaports rather than military ocean terminals. Strategic seaports are a subset of U.S. seaports that are officially designated by SDDC as those ports that DoD will principally rely upon to support surge deployment operations. SDDC works very closely with the Maritime Administration (MARAD), who admin-isters the Strategic Seaport program and issues port planning orders (PPOs) which identify the facilities SDDC is expected to be granted access to during surge deployment operations. SDDC and MARAD have visibility on the commercial seaport’s ability to accommodate DoD mission requirements through (1) annual PPO renewals, (2) quarterly port readiness reports, (3) port readiness committee meetings and exercises, (4) infrastructure improvement projects submitted for various grant programs and (5) regular visits from engineers, planners and other stakehold-ers in support of SDDC Transportation Engineering Agency’s Ports for National Defense program. Through our membership in the National Port Readiness Network, which is chaired by MARAD, SDDC communicates interest in transportation-related projects that would be beneficial to DoD unit-cargo movements—though at the current time, DoD has ample access to suitable commercial seaport capacity on all three CONUS coasts (East, West and Gulf).

Q: What are the challenges facing the shipping of personal prop-erty? How much of this function is contracted to commercial service companies?

A: As the executive agent for DoD’s Defense Personal Property Pro-gram (DP3), SDDC’s charter is to provide an outstanding personal property moving experience for every customer and family. To accomplish that mission, SDDC contracts 100 percent of personal property moves within DP3 through commercial transportation service providers (TSPs)—more than 500,000 household goods shipments every year. This amount represents approximately 25 percent of the commercial moving industry’s business, and DoD is their largest single customer.

The greatest challenge facing the shipment of personal property is the heavy volume of work that is compressed into the three summer months. This time period is known as peak season and the heavy volume of household goods shipments comes as a result of increased personnel moves that align with the school calendar. Additional challenges include a slow but steady decrease in the number of long-haul truck drivers available within the industry and decreased work availability resulting from

www.MLF-kmi.com U.S. Army Materiel Command | MLF 9.8 | 3


Department of Transportation-implemented driver safety require-ments in 2014.

To combat these challenges, we work very closely with the TSP community, maintaining constant communication. Regular engagements via committee meetings, moving industry confer-ences and personal property forums, supplemented by numerous individual meetings to solicit feedback on program business rules and address program concerns, provide us the capability to work together to develop solutions to known or developing issues.

Q: How would you characterize your relationship with your commercial industry partners? Any examples how those partnerships have delivered cost savings and/or benefited the warfighter?

A: The business relationship between SDDC and commercial industry is very solid and can best be characterized as a col-laborative and strategic partnership with the singular focus of providing end-to-end deployment and distribution services to the warfighter. This relationship has become more significant since the conclusion of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in an effort to maintain the readiness gains from over a decade of military deployment, redeployment and sustainment operations. Military cargo volumes have significantly declined and industry capacity has adjusted accordingly, so increased effort is required to maintain the readiness of both military and industry capabilities to ensure we are able to respond effectively to the next contingency.

Strategic programs such as the Voluntary Intermodal Sea-lift Agreement (VISA) help us to maintain that readiness in the commercial sector, which has enabled the military to effectively move troops, equipment and supplies over multiple decades and multiple contingency operations from Operation Desert Shield to Operation Enduring Freedom. Senior leaders from both DoD and the ocean industry meet regularly in multiple forums including the VISA Executive Working Group and Joint Planning

and Advisory Group. These partnerships are further solidified through contracts such as the Universal Service Contract (USC) and Multi-Modal Contract, which provide preference to carriers participating in the VISA (and CRAF for air carriers) programs. These two contracts have proven themselves to be operational and cost-effective partnerships that enable SDDC to deliver and sustain equipment and supplies to the warfighter on time and at the lowest cost.

Q: Why do you consider auditability important to SDDC?

A: I consider auditability important enough that I specifically included it in my organizational vision statement: “Employ a glob-ally postured, professional workforce using audit-ready processes so that SDDC is the preferred choice for deployment and distribu-tion solutions.”

It’s imperative that our actions are consistently auditable at every echelon of command—doing so allows for better manage-ment of resources; improves operational and fiscal effectiveness to better support the warfighter; better justifies Congressional funding requests; and increases our accountability to America’s taxpayers. Ultimately, our success in this endeavor will assist DoD in achieving an unqualified full-financial audit opinion by Septem-ber 30, 2017.

Within the command, I’ve implemented several initiatives to increase our auditability, including self-directed testing and business process mapping. Our internal audit team conducts monthly self-directed inspections to evaluate SDDC’s business practices—both in terms of processes and finances—to ensure audit readiness. Additionally, our internal auditors collaborate closely with our business process mapping team to identify and strengthen key internal controls within our various business processes. The synergy built between these two teams has helped to develop audit-ready business processes that ensure SDDC can appropriately account for the decisions we make and the actions we take.

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Q: How much does SDDC rely on its Reserve component?

A: SDDC’s Reserve component, the Deployment Support Com-mand (DSC), is absolutely critical to our success. Our active duty forces work together with DSC, melded into one total force, to exe-cute requirements. To put it bluntly, SDDC would not be able to accomplish its mission without the capabilities that DSC provides.

With close to 3,000 Reserve soldiers, the DSC serves as a military force provider for SDDC. Consisting of four transporta-tion brigades and 12 deployment distribution support battalions, the DSC is trained, equipped and staffed to provide a worldwide deployment support capability. Since its inception in 2007, DSC has deployed over 2,200 soldiers to the CENTCOM AOR in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom to perform terminal, rail and deployment/distribution support missions. In addition to numerous other CONUS missions, DSC is currently supporting SDDC’s ongoing retrograde and Resolute Support mis-sion requirements.

The supporting nature of a Reserve organization can’t be overstated during wartime. It’s critical. That said, you can’t expect them to come to war and provide the support you need without the proper training required to accomplish their mission. And, because SDDC relies upon DSC’s capabilities and readiness, their training must be aligned to the functions I need them to accom-plish in order for my core mission to be successful.

Q: Any closing thoughts about the men, women and mission of SDDC?

A: SDDC’s mission is to provide global deployment and distribu-tion capabilities to meet our nation’s objectives. With a relatively small workforce of approximately 2,400 people, SDDC books, ships, tracks and conducts port operations for surface movements worldwide, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Simply put, I continue to be amazed at the level of performance displayed by the men and women of SDDC and I could not be more proud of the work that they accomplish each and every day in support of our warfighters.

This year, SDDC celebrated its 50-year anniversary as an Army command. From our activation in 1965 through today, we’ve gone through numerous changes. Our organizational structure and mission have evolved, our headquarters and units have made numerous relocations, and we’ve changed our name three times: from Military Traffic Management and Terminal Service to Military Traffic Management Command to Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. But, throughout each of the past 50 years, one thing has always remained constant—our continued support of the warfighter.

Surface Warriors … Delivering Trust! O

www.MLF-kmi.com6 | MLF 9.8 | U.S. Army Materiel Command


Compiled by KMI Media Group staffSUPPLY CHAIN

KC-10 Delivered from DepotNorthrop Grumman Corporation recently delivered the 150th KC-10

Extender aircraft from a maintenance depot to the United States Air Force. “The delivery of the 150th KC-10 depot aircraft contributes to the

critical mission requirements of the United States Air Force by ensuring that the KC-10 is operational when the customer needs it,” said Matt Emerson, director, weapon systems operations, Northrop Grumman Technical Services. “The aircraft was accepted with zero defects, further contributing to the company’s proven track record for helping the Air Force achieve the KC-10’s highest fleet mission-capable rates in more than 16 years.”

Northrop Grumman has also made product reliability improve-ments in the aircraft’s CF6-50 engine overhaul program, contributing to a 15-year high in engine fleet performance. Additionally, the company achieved advancements in system modernization, engineering and depot production, which have helped produce a three-year sustained mission-capable rate that exceeds the Air Force’s 85-percent standard.

“Northrop Grumman’s demonstrated performance and quality on the KC-10 program is nothing short of exceptional,” said John Parker, vice president and general manager, integrated logistics and modernization division, Northrop Grumman Technical Services. “Deliveries were made on or ahead of schedule and met or exceeded quality expectations, which has been instrumental in the Air Force’s production of an untold number of combat refueling sorties.”

Northrop Grumman has served as prime contractor on the program since 2009. In partnership with its teammates TIMCO Line Care, AAR, Chromalloy and MTU Maintenance, Northrop Grumman

provides contractor logistics support, depot maintenance, engine

management and over-haul and supply chain

management for the aircraft.

Engility Holdings, Inc. has been awarded a $14 million contract to provide technical, policy and program management support for the Army’s Product Director Automated Movement and Identification Solutions (PD AMIS) program.

PD AMIS, a part of the Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Enterprise Information Systems, controls all aspects of Automated Identification Technology (AIT), which allows the Army to track assets and manage key elements of logistics, including the procure-

ment, expertise, training, customer support and the introduction of new technologies into all logistical operations. All U.S. Army organiza-tions and several other Department of Defense organizations procure AIT products and services through PD AMIS.

“Using technology to smartly manage and support such a complex logistics and supply chain management program demon-strates Engility’s support of the full spectrum of the technology life-cycle,” said Engility President and CEO Tony Smeraglinolo.

Separately, the company has been awarded a contract with the potential to be worth $12.5 million over five years to provide supply chain and logistics management—specifically reclamation, demilitar-ization and disposal of stricken aircraft—to the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Weapon Systems Support (WSS) Stricken Aircraft Reclamation and Disposal Program (SARDIP).

Since 1999, the Engility SARDIP team has performed reclamation and aircraft disposal efforts for NAVSUP WSS. NAVSUP

WSS SARDIP recovers items that are in short supply or have long procurement lead times, which provides a low-cost alternative for new procurement and for resolving system shortfalls.

“Reclaiming and reusing aircraft and helicopter items has significantly benefitted the Navy in terms of cost-avoidance and in making high-demand items avail-able. It is also a critical step in the life cycle of a program—systems engineering of a weapon system, its retirement and its replacement,” said Smeraglinolo.

Army PEO EIS and Navy Supply Command Support

Maneuver Support Vessel (Light)

The U.S. Army, Product Director, Army Watercraft Systems (PD AWS) intends to replace its fleet of Landing Craft Mechanized 8 Mod I and II (LCM-8) vessels with a vessel as described in emergent require-ment development called the Maneuver Support Vessel (Light) (MSV(L)).

The MSV(L) is an Army waterborne platform that will provide land maneuver forces with operational agility through tactically synchronized move-ment of combat-ready, tailored force elements. MSV(L) repre-sents a modernization of current Army Watercraft capabilities as provided by the aging LCM-8 that adds new capabilities intended to meet the Army’s future tactical and operational

movement and maneuver requirements.

This statement of work describes the requirement for the development, test, production, training, fielding and support of the Maneuver Support Vessel (Light) MSV(L). This SOW is intended to cover the 10-year period of this contract, the engi-neering and manufacturing development Phase, the low-rate initial production (LRIP) phase and the production phase. The successful contactor will produce one full-scale proto-type MSV(L) for developmental testing; four LRIP MSV(L)s for verification of logistic products, production verification testing and operational test; and 32 additional production MSV(L); 37 total vessels.


General Dennis L. ViaCommander

U.S. Army Materiel Command

Readiness Providerresponsibly shaping the Command and anticipating the Future operating environment

General Dennis L. Via assumed duties as the 18th commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) on August 7, 2012. AMC is the Army’s premier provider of materiel readiness to ensure dominant land force capability for the U.S. warfighter and our allies.

Via’s prior assignment was as AMC’s deputy commanding general. He deployed to Southwest Asia in October 2011 as the commander, AMC Responsible Reset Task Force, with the mission of leading the strategic integration of the Materiel Enterprise for the Retrograde of equipment and materiel out of Iraq at the conclusion of Operation New Dawn. Prior to that, he served as director for command, control, communications and computer systems, J-6, The Joint Staff, Wash-ington, D.C.

A native of Martinsville, Va., Via was commissioned on May 18, 1980, in the Signal Corps after graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate from Virginia State University. He holds a master’s degree from Boston University, and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Com-mand and General Staff College (class of 1991) and the U.S. Army War College (class of 1999). General Via is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

His command assignments include the 82nd Signal Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; 3rd Signal Brigade, III Armored Corps, Fort Hood, Texas; 5th Signal Command, U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army, Mannheim, Germany; and the U.S. Army Com-munications-Electronics Command (CECOM) and Fort Monmouth, N.J. His key staff assignments include aide-de-camp to the Chief of Staff, Allied Forces Southern Europe, Naples, Italy; Operations Officer, J-6, Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, Washington, D.C.; division chief, Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC), Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C., and principal director for operations, Defense Information Systems Agency/deputy commander, Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations, U.S. Stra-tegic Command, Arlington, Va.

His awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal; the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster; Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; Defense Meritori-ous Service Medal with oak leaf cluster; Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters; Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster; Joint Service Achievement Medal; and the Army Achievement Medal. He is authorized to wear the Master Parachutist Badge, Joint Staff Identification Badge and Army Staff Identification Badge. Gen-eral Via holds the distinction of being the only Signal Corps officer in U.S. Army history to be promoted to four-star general.

Q: After years of making the command more efficient, are there ways to deliver more cost savings/avoidance that can actually move the needle in a meaningful way without eliminating head count or significantly delaying or canceling programs?

A: The Army Materiel Command’s leadership remains focused on responsibly shaping our command and anticipating the future operat-ing environment, while remaining committed to our vision—to be the premier provider of Army and Joint readiness. We have been hard at work tailoring our organization in accordance with planned force structure changes, evolving mission sets and anticipated funding lev-els. We can continue to find cost savings and cost avoidance through several initiatives.

First, we must continue to maximize the Continuous Process Improvement program, leveraging Lean Six Sigma and Value Engi-neering across our 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants. These programs increase efficiency and effectiveness in our processes, ulti-mately resulting in improved equipment readiness and reduced rates across our organic industrial base.

Second, we must strike the right balance between contracted logistics support and soldier support when it comes to maintaining and sustaining equipment. We have relied heavily on contractor sup-port over the past decade so that our soldiers could focus on their operational mission. Moving forward, we must ensure our soldiers are trained and ready to preserve operational effectiveness and reinvigorate soldier ownership for maintaining and sustaining their equipment.

Finally, we continue to work closely with the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology to streamline the acquisition process and alleviate duplication of effort. We need seamless collaboration across the life cycle of our materiel, which will require our organizations—from Research, Development and Engineering Command, to the program executive offices, to Army

Q&AQ&A


Contracting Command and our life cycle management commands—to be completely in synch.

Q: Are there ways that the service’s materiel commands could har-ness their synergies more closely and jointly drive costs down even further? Do you see benefits from doing more there? Do you see challenges?

A: Since 2003, the Army’s organic industrial base has reset $5.7 billion of equipment for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Marine Corps M1 Abrams tanks are reset at AMC’s Anniston Army Depot. Navy missile launchers are repaired and refurbished at AMC’s Tobyhanna Army Depot. And more than a quarter of the entire U.S. military’s criti-cal munitions supply passes through AMC’s Crane Army Ammunition Activity. These examples showcase merely a few of the possibilities and capabilities of our Army OIB. Even more opportunities exist in the science and technology and research and development lanes. The Army’s wide network of laboratories, prototype integration facilities and research centers can provide a range of S&T and R&D solutions that could benefit our sister services. We must continue to work with our sister services to capitalize on the Army’s organic capabilities to equip and supply our joint warfighters.

The service materiel commands also have a great opportunity to learn from each other as we each restructure and prepare our orga-nizations for the future. On a visit to Air Force Materiel Command, I was impressed with their management of systems across the entire life cycle and continue to seek best practices that can be applied at AMC.

Q: Do you see an increased emphasis of FMS or other disposal means as a way to offset costs and generate a return on equipment?

A: Our Foreign Military Sales program provides many benefits—both tangible and intangible. The FMS program divests excess defense items, saving storage, transportation and demilitarization costs. FMS also keeps our industrial bases warm, providing workload to maintain critical workforce skillsets and economies of scale through increased production. Meanwhile, FMS shapes the security environment by sus-taining strong relationships with partner nations, building their capac-ity and supporting the combatant commands’ engagement strategies.

FMS has increased by more than 400 percent since Fiscal Year 2004, and we want to continue to grow the program. One area of growth that we emphasize is not just selling equipment, but sustain-ment and training services, as well. We offer the same “total package” of materiel, spare parts, training, publications, technical documenta-tion, maintenance support and other services through FMS that AMC provides to Army units.

Q: Where do you see the greatest opportunity to harness the power of the public-private partnership? Are there ways to quicken the pace of their implementation?

A: The greatest opportunity to grow public-private partnerships remains across the Army’s organic industrial base—the depots, arsenals and ammunition plants that have effectively manufactured, repaired and reset the military’s equipment for the past 200 years. From work shares that use both Army and private industry facilities and employees to perform work, to facility use agreements that capital-ize on the Army’s one-of-a-kind facilities and equipment, to direct sales for manufacturing and production services, our OIB offers enormous

opportunities for partnerships. Industry partners can build, repair and remanufacture everything from small arms, explosives and cannon tubes, to trucks and tanks, through the OIB.

We are also growing public-private partnerships with academia and educational institutions for research development. These partner-ships allow us to accelerate innovation and leverage the best scientific minds to better support warfighters.

In August, we hosted the first-ever AMC Business Development Training for our business developers across the enterprise. We con-ducted extensive training with our team and developed solutions to streamline the partnership process. Synchronizing our efforts and implementing a single process for our partners makes us more respon-sive and speeds the implementation of partnerships.

Q: As a priority, the Army wants to lighten the soldier’s battlefield load. What are the most promising efforts that will significantly impact results on this priority?

A: AMC’s scientists and engineers are laser-focused on enhancing sol-dier and unit lethality, survivability, mobility and network functional-ity. We are working hard on cutting-edge technologies to unburden, empower, protect and sustain the soldier. Fuel cell technology and rechargeable batteries will replace current bulky and heavy required items. Better helmet technology with a fully integrated headgear system will improve mobility, increase comfort and performance and enhance survivability. Advancements in body armor and lightweight small arms technologies will protect and empower our soldiers.

AMC is executing more than 700 funded Science and Technology tasks aligned to the Army Warfighting Challenges and Training and Doctrine Command’s technology imperatives. We will remain closely synchronized with the needs of our soldiers to develop and deliver the technological advancements to assure our competitive advantage on the battlefield.

Q: What will additive manufacturing add to AMC’s capability toolbox?

A: Additive manufacturing is one of our Army’s most promising tech-nologies. Advancements in 3-D printing give us the ability to produce items as needed on the spot. Essentially, additive manufacturing gives us the ability to make spare parts and components at the point of need.

Researchers at AMC’s various centers and labs are exploring next-level capabilities such as printing sensors directly onto weapons or articles of clothing, printing weapons and munitions components, and even printing high-quality food for soldiers. This technology reduces risk to soldiers by speeding the process to get them necessary parts and equipment while saving costs on supply chain overhead like transportation.

Q: I think the strategy of building forward-operating bases across Afghanistan highlighted the challenges and risks of operational energy. How would you characterize the Army’s efforts in power and energy, and what are some key programs AMC is focused on?

A: Power and energy is an Army priority, and as a result, the Army is developing new doctrine, policies, plans and technologies that will improve the management and use of institutional and operational energy to better support soldiers’ needs. To maintain our decisive edge, we must reduce energy dependence, increase efficiency and adopt renewable and alternative sources to remain operationally relevant.


AMC plays a critical role in Army Power and Energy. The Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), managed by AMC’s Army Sustainment Command, leverages existing task orders to identify energy reduction opportunities on forward operating bases, sup-porting energy savings initiatives and capitalizing on reductions in fuel consumption. LOGCAP efforts are reducing the demand for fuel consumption by optimizing power load of spot generators, identifying facility energy design inefficiencies and centralizing util-ity requirements. These initiatives reduce the demands on line-haul logistics movements and allow more combat power to be applied to critical missions.

Our Army Petroleum Center (APC) is AMC’s operational energy integrator. APC supports Army strategic, tactical and base operation petroleum capabilities to sustain weapon systems, soldiers and unit readiness. The center performs bulk petroleum requirements valida-tion, technical support, quality surveillance and fixed-fuel facility engi-neering support. Our research and development centers focus various R&D efforts to field new technologies and energy initiatives, while AMC’s Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity performs modeling and simulation of energy requirements for contingency basing and tactical operations.

Another area we focus on is partnerships. Through power and energy partnerships, we are able to reduce energy demands, expand our use of renewable energy and improve our operational capability.

Q: How strong is the Army’s—and AMC’s—culture in institutional approaches to building and growing strong leaders with the vision to adapt in today’s and tomorrow’s threat environment?

A: Developing and growing a strong, adaptive workforce is a top prior-ity for the Army and AMC. We must recruit, shape and develop the next generation of leaders for our Army—officer, soldier and civilian. At AMC, we’ve recently launched the 1,000 Intern Initiative, designed to ignite a passion for federal service by providing 1,000 internship opportunities across the command each year for the next five years. This program will help us build our future workforce while promoting federal service as a great career opportunity.

We are also looking at developing the next generation of leader logisticians. We must leverage training opportunities that link AMC’s national-level capabilities to our tactical-level mechanics and operators. We want to provide leader logisticians dynamic career paths with professional development and assignment opportunities across the materiel enterprise that exposes them not only to tactical-level logistics operations, but to contracting and the industrial base as well.

Our future workforce and leaders must be progressive, forward-thinking professionals with diverse skillsets, experience, and expertise. Our approaches—schools, training opportunities and assignments—are all in support of that end-state.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: Our Army is operating in a complex world with evolving threats. We must be prepared to respond quickly and capably to any contin-gency around the globe. Regionally aligned in direct support of com-batant commanders, AMC is postured as the enabler to provide global readiness to our force.

AMC manages, maintains and issues army-prepositioned stocks to provide for a more flexible force. We continue to ensure these equip-ment sets are strategically located and supplied to allow combatant commanders to train and respond quickly whenever and wherever needed. From our Army field support brigades who integrate and syn-chronize logistical support, to our contracting support brigades who provide flexible and agile contracting support; from our transporta-tion brigades involved in worldwide port operations to move nearly all defense cargo to our research and development forward element commands who serve as a critical link between our stateside and over-seas research efforts, AMC’s team is critically involved in every Army operation, training and exercise around the globe.

AMC will continue to lead as a global logistics command that not only responds to the needs of today’s warfighters, but anticipates the future and provides the advanced equipment and materiel solutions that will ensure our Army remains the most dominant land power force the world has ever known. O

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The anticipated end to U.S. ground operations in the Middle East leaves tens of thousands of pieces of equipment to be shipped back stateside for reset, a process that brings a vehicle back to its configuration before it was deployed. The current rest being given U.S. ground forces is an opportune time to refresh the Army’s fleet of vehicles. Cuts to the defense budget have placed a greater emphasis on cost control; it is less expensive to reset a vehicle than to buy new.

Reset is to be distinguished from the very different process of recapitalization. Recapitalization updates a platform to its newest variant by updating systems and technologies that have come about since it was first manufactured. Recapitalized vehicles are considered at the equivalent of zero miles and zero hours. The reset process, in general, performs necessary maintenance and repairs.

The U.S. Army is in the process of resetting thousands of ground vehicles, from Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) to Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to a variety of trailers. At the same time, the Army is pruning its vehi-cle inventory. Some 40,000 vehicles have been eliminated in the last few years. Those vehicles, as well as others such as the M939 heavy truck, which are slated for retirement, are not inducted into the reset program. Some are eligible for sale to government and commercial entities and are sold as is.

The MRAP reset is somewhat different from the reset pro-grams for tactical vehicles. Some 15,000 MRAPs, representing dozens of variants, were acquired in hurry-up fashion to meet the critical need of warfighters in southwest Asia to be protected from improvised explosive devices. As theater-provided equipment, the vast majority were never integrated into the Army’s formal force structure. Of the original fleet of 15,000 MRAPs, 8,000 are slated for reset. As part of that process, they are all being reset to a single

configuration for the sake of future simplicity of training, opera-tion and sustainment.

Most of the Army’s reset work for both MRAPs and tactical vehicles takes place in the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas. Some trailer reset work is also being performed at the Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, Calif. The Army also sometimes turns to the original equipment manufactures for reset and is always figur-ing ways to get the work done more efficiently.

The Integrated Logistics Support Center (ILSC) at the Army’s TACOM Life Cycle Management Command oversees the reset pro-cess. “We do strictly reset,” noted Tony Warrior, director for the tactical vehicles Product Support Integration Directorate (PSID) at TACOM’s ILSC. “Recap is handled by a separate organization.”

In a sense, reset work is actually more complicated than recapi-talization. “With recap you know what you need up front,” Warrior said. “Every vehicle is getting the same upgrades. So if you’re doing 50 trucks a week, you know you need to order 50 engines, 50 driver’s seats and so on. With reset you really don’t know what you have to replace until you start tearing that vehicle down a little bit. Ordering parts for reset changes day to day and even hour to hour.”

The reset work on the tactical vehicles, which is overseen by Warrior and the MRAPs and handled by Jeff McLean, director of the Mine Resistant Vehicle PSID, run the gamut from minimal repair actions to extensive work assessed on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis. “It’s based on how heavy an optempo the vehicle saw and the extent it suffered damage,” Warrior said. “It really crosses the full spectrum.”

The scope of work for all vehicles includes a list of mandatory replacement parts supplemented by additional parts and work as required for the individual vehicle. “The mandatory work covers routine maintenance such as replacement of air and oil filters as well as those elements that in theater would have high likelihood

years of high ops tempo on the vehiCle fleet will require years to reset.

by peter buxbaum

mlf Correspondent


for failure in the future, and anything we’ve seen in the past that commonly needs replacement,” Warrior said, “On the other hand, a rear axle would not be considered a mandatory replacement part. That would be specially ordered after inspection and prior to reset.”

“On the MRAP side,” said McLean, “because of the rapid acqui-sition process used to get them over to theater, there were a lot of different variants used in the fighting. Part of the MRAP reset is to standardize the vehicles to a single configuration. That means adding some safety enhancements, suspension upgrades and other features during the recap process. Since the MRAP acquisition was unique, the reset process is unique as well.”

Given the drawdown of U.S. forces that has been taking place over a period of years, the pace of reset has actually slowed in the last year. In fiscal year 2014, 4,200 vehicles were inducted into the Army’s reset program, according to Warrior, while in the current fiscal year, the total is expected to amount to 2,800.

As far as the MRAPS, “some of those vehicles are still being used in the fight,” McLean said. “There is a slow trickle back at this point.”

TACOM endeavors to complete vehicle resets within 60 to 90 days. “But that is from the time the vehicles are first touched,” Warrior explained. “We work on the basis of the fiscal year. A vehi-cle that comes back today might not be touched until October.”

“For MRAPs, the reset time varies,” McLean added. “Sometimes there are critical components that are not available for the reset process; this can shift the overall time period.”

Of the 8,000 MRAPs slated for reset, most will be headed for storage, McLean noted. “Some will be readied for possible future contingencies and others are going into training units,” he said. “Some are actually being divested and going into other govern-ment agencies. Even some police departments are requesting MRAPs. This is all part of the life-cycle process for items of equip-ment that the Army has no alternate use for.”

An earlier plan to transfer some of the MRAPs to the Afghan authorities was scrapped because it was decided that the technol-ogy was too complex for them to maintain. Some of the MRAPs still in Afghanistan will be sold to foreign governments outside of Afghanistan, subject to foreign military sales rules.

TACOM has endeavored to improve the reset process and make it more efficient. It had to because the costs of the original manda-tory scope of work for tactical vehicles were approaching the costs of acquiring new vehicles, according to Warrior, thereby defeating the reset process. “That was a few years ago, pre-MRAP,” he said. “At that time, vehicles like the up-armored HMMWVs were carry-ing the load for the Army, and some of them were in very rough shape.”

After intensive discussions within TACOM the scope of work for mandatory replacement parts was reduced. “The Department of Defense did not want to spend new vehicle money to reset trucks,” Warrior said. “At the same time, the optempo was changing so that many vehicles didn’t need that much work.” As a result, spending on vehicle reset came down.

“What we are seeing now, though, is that, while we are spend-ing less on parts, labor rates are going up,” Warrior said. “We have to take a look at this and rebalance the process so that we can decrease labor costs and keep the overall costs of reset reasonable.”

TACOM works with preferred parts suppliers such as A.M. Gen-eral and URS as part of a program to ensure parts availability and eliminate line stoppers. “At the depot,” Warrior explained, “the first requirement would be to order from the Army supply system. If the parts are not there after a given time, they have the authority to go out and buy the parts commercially. That way they can get the parts they need and can keep the line running without stopping. This keeps inefficiencies in the production line from happening.”

Funding for vehicles reset was authorized by Congress for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) through FY16. The ques-tion now becomes whether the reset program will be able to fin-ish the job in that time frame, and, if not, whether Congress will provide further funding.

“Up to now, the funding has sometimes been tight but gener-ally has been good,” Warrior said. “Fiscal year 2016 is the last year that we have money authorized for reset. The concern now is whether we will have everything done by that time and if there will be a change in congressional guidance that will tell us we will be able to reset past 2016.”

As of this moment, the congressional language has OCO dol-lars extending only through FY16. “After that, there is nothing in the budget for it,” said Warrior. “We are certainly trying to reset everything as fast as we can. It’s really a question of how fast the equipment can be evacuated from Afghanistan and brought across the water.” O


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Over the past five years, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., has adapted to meet the challenges of energy reliability, secu-rity and sustainability during a period of declining resources. This has been accomplished while making our utility infrastructure more resilient in sup-port of growing global communication and installation mission requirements. Increased communications and data con-nectivity have made the world smaller, expanding the need for stable energy sources and networks.

Redstone’s vision is to increase our ability to support current and future installation objectives while driving down costs and meeting the Army’s renew-able energy goals. Redstone will achieve energy security and sustainability by tran-sitioning to more efficient and cost-effec-tive energy sources, maximizing facility system and subsystem efficiencies, reduc-ing short-term reliability risks and ensur-ing long-term success through renewable energy resources. To reach these goals, Redstone has reduced our overall energy requirement, increased energy security and reliability, implemented local energy sources, increased reliance on renewable

sources and ensured stable energy costs on the installation into the future.

Redstone developed a comprehensive energy strategy in 2011 after tornadoes highlighted weaknesses in our installation infrastructure, which supports worldwide operations. Prior to the 2011 tornadoes, Redstone was only without power from both feeds once during the previous 50 years for 1.5 hours. The weather event of 2011 eliminated power to vital ongo-ing missions for nine consecutive days. Following the event, U.S. Army Garrison - Redstone assessed a new understanding of infrastructure risk. The new reality was unacceptable. Redstone identified critical missions, infrastructure and ways to cre-ate further redundancy to reduce the risk of mission failure. At the same time, the Army was creating new energy policies and goals for renewable energy sources at installations. Redstone pursued multiple interrelated projects to meet both goals.

leveraging more effiCient and Cost-effeCtive energy sourCes

Since energy cost decisions are related to consumption and unit price and we

cannot directly affect unit price, we evalu-ate projects based on the lowest life cycle cost. Commodity price is driven by the open market, so Redstone’s focus has been on increasing efficiency and using the most cost-effective energy alternative.

Historically, many buildings across the installation were heated and cooled using a “spark-free” source of energy, steam, to ensure safety with energetic operations. Many years later, these steam lines still traverse the installation and supply energy to many buildings. Today, we do not have the spark-free requirement and the unit cost and efficiency of other energy sources, particularly electricity and natural gas, are far less. Transporta-tion of steam is also extremely inefficient, losing 30 percent before it even gets to the heating and cooling equipment.

The garrison has implemented proj-ects to reduce our dependency on steam. Transitioning completely away from steam is not reasonable due to the sig-nificant upfront cost associated with the necessary HVAC upgrades. The garrison has worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) through a Utility Energy Support Contract (UESC) to upgrade

Secureand Sustainable

Energy“The April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak in Alabama changed our understanding of how resilient our energy systems were. Power

transportation lines to the Arsenal went down because of separate tornadoes that destroyed parts of the regional Tennessee Valley Authority distribution network. This occurred at the same time several installation organizations were providing real-time support to astronauts at work in space on the shuttle and space station and to our deployed warfighters.” – Garrison Commander Colonel William L. Marks II

new infrastruCture to power redstone arsenal’s CritiCal missions

by Craig northridge, marK smith and Jordan matthews


existing facilities and transition from steam to other sources of energy. The focus has been to remove the most inefficient steam lines, transition the buildings to natural gas or electricity and upgrade the build-ings’ enclosures, mechanical and lighting systems and building controls.

Over the past five years, Redstone has removed over 6.8 miles of steam lines.

maximizing effiCienCy of faCilities

Redstone is using appropriated funds to address infrastructure improvements and the UESC for energy-related upgrades. Use of both funding sources increases the installation’s overall purchasing power, ability to meet the Army’s energy goals and the cost-effectiveness of supporting the warfighter. Through the UESC, Redstone has upgraded building enclosures, mechan-ical and lighting systems and controls in 69 buildings on the installation. Redstone has implemented ground-source heat pumps, LED lighting and building controls for set-backs and schedules, all of which increase the operational efficiency of the facilities. To date, renovated buildings use over 50 percent less energy when compared to pre-renovation consumption.

reduCing short-term reliability risKs

“We must provide, operate, sustain and revitalize installation infrastructure in the most efficient manner, minimizing envi-ronmental impacts in support of the Army’s dynamic mission globally, including both joint and expeditionary environments.”

– IMCOM 2025 and Beyond

The TVA supplies Redstone from two separate feeds from different regional sources. This redundancy has served the installation well, limiting or eliminating periods of no power. During the weather event in 2011, however, the TVA transmis-sion system collapsed due to catastrophic line failures throughout North Alabama.

To mitigate future risks associated with the transmission and distribution systems, the garrison initiated projects to bring power generation facilities onto the installation. These sources will provide the necessary power generation to run our critical infrastructure even during grid failure. Redstone has two projects (solar

and combined heat and power) that are scheduled to come online within the next four years. These will account for 35 MW of generated power, which will supply approx-imately 50 percent of the total installation consumption.

Over the past five years, the garrison has focused its efforts on strengthening our electrical utility infrastructure. Pri-mary Substation 1 has been replaced with 60 percent additional capacity, allowing the installation to operate on a sole source if either feed were to drop. Transmis-sion and distribution lines throughout the installation have been repaired through replacement. Aging wooden poles have been upgraded with concrete poles. At the same time, the utility right-of-ways have been cleared, reducing the chance of physical damage due to falling trees or wildlife. Approximately 60 miles of over-head power lines have been replaced with higher-capacity steel- reinforced alumi-num conductor and approximately 1,000 acres of right of way were cleared. This has significantly reduced outages and repair costs associated with storms and wildlife.

Although neither project can sustain all of the missions performed on Redstone, they do provide flexibility under adverse weather conditions and make the energy infrastructure more reliable.

ensuring long-term sustainability

America is positioning to be less fos-sil fuel dependent and more focused on renewables. To that end, the Army has set a goal to have 25 percent of our total power come from renewable sources by 2025 and created the Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI) to focus on attaining the goal. Redstone has worked with OEI and the Corps of Engineers-Huntsville to bring renewable power to the installation. When these projects are complete, 52 percent of our energy will come from renewable sources.

Redstone will soon host one of the largest solar field arrays in the state of Ala-bama. With approximately 10 megawatts of power production, the Redstone Road Solar Field takes advantage of real estate encumbered by operational constraints, which further maximizes real property output. The solar power generated from this project will shave peak demand by providing power at highest demand points

during the day and year. This project will be operational prior to December 2016.

A combined heat and power (CHP) facility producing steam and electricity will be constructed to supply the installation’s energy needs through a power purchase agreement (PPA). This PPA will provide 46 percent of the installations annual power consumption and all of the steam supplied by others. The project is scheduled to be operational within the next four years.

By harnessing regionally available renewable energy sources to promote mission success at Redstone, other natu-ral resources will be conserved. This will result in supporting a more stable and sustainable future environment.

maintaining Capabilities during budget reduCtions

With limited resources, Redstone’s implementation strategy has focused on driving down costs, utilizing outside fund-ing and eliminating future energy cost uncertainty. Facilities and systems are being upgraded to reduce the consump-tion demand through budget neutral pay-ment mechanisms. As an example, these facility upgrades, executed through the UESC contract, are paid for by the cost sav-ings on the utility bills generated through the energy consumption reduction. Both renewable energy projects also provide a stable long-term energy cost that can be used for budget planning during the term of the PPA (minimum of 25 years).

energy management enabling greater support

Redstone will continue to look to energy savings as a force multiplier. The savings obtained from improvements allow Redstone to provide increased support to those on the installation at a lower cost to the Army, nation and ultimately the taxpayer. O

Craig Northridge, Mark Smith and Jordan Matthews are with U.S. Army Garrison – Redstone Arsenal, Ala.


at www.mlf-kmi.com.


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MLF RESOURCE CENTER

CalendarOctober 12-14, 2015AUSAWashington, D.C.www.ausa.org

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Special SUppleMeNT


Program Update Military Logistics Forum

The Global Combat Support Sys-tem-Army (GCSS-Army) is the Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems’ (PEO EIS) tactical logistics Enter-prise Resource Planning (ERP) system for the Army. GCSS-Army, a product of the PEO EIS’ Project Manager Army Enter-prise Systems Integration Program (PM AESIP) portfolio, is also the Army’s prop-erty accountability and financial system of record at the tactical level.

Since July 2015, the Product Manager Global Combat Support System-Army (PdM GCSS-Army) has launched the full deploy-ment of the Property Accountability, Unit Supply and Ground Maintenance functional-ity of the total GCSS-Army solution. Desig-nated as Wave 2 fielding, this phase of the full-system deployment replaces the Prop-erty Book Unit Supply Enhanced and Stan-dard Army Maintenance System-Enhanced throughout all Army components. The Wave 2 effort will involve all Army property book offices, motor pools, unit supply rooms, arms rooms and maintenance facilities at the tactical level.

Beginning in November 2014, the PdM GCSS-Army started limited Wave 2 fielding and testing at selected units to ensure that the new functionality worked well in an operational environment and New Equip-ment Training prepared the soldiers to use the system in their daily mission perfor-mance. These Lead Site Verification Tests went well and the test results led directly to the approval to deploy the Wave 2 solution to the total army starting in July 2015.

The PdM GCSS-Army devised the two-wave deployment strategy in 2012 to reduce risk to the Army and to minimize turbu-lence in the units receiving GCSS-Army. As of September 2015, the Wave 1 effort, which replaces the Standard Army Retail Supply System and the associated financial management information system (Single Stock Fund/Middle Ware and Funds Control Module), is 97 percent complete. The Wave 1 fielding effort began in the 2nd Quarter of Fiscal Year 2013 and will be completed in the 1st Quarter of Fiscal Year 2016.

Meanwhile, multiple materiel fielding teams are busy throughout the Army with the Wave 2 implementation.

Wave 2 fielding is a much larger effort than the Wave 1 effort. Wave 1 involved approximately 14,000 Army users, while Wave 2 users total approximately 140,000. To accomplish this larger scope, the PdM GCSS-Army has increased the number of Mate-riel Fielding Teams involved and leveraged technology to the greatest extent possible to reduce the number of physical visits to the gaining units during the preparation phase leading up to the actual system implementa-tion. By conducting information briefings, progress checks and some New Equipment Training by video-teleconferencing, the PdM GCSS-Army’s Deployment Team continues to provide the support that the gaining units need within the resources available.

Based on the Congressional mandate that the Army be fully auditable by the end of Fiscal Year 2017, the PdM GCSS-Army plans to complete the Wave 2 fielding effort by September 2017. This fielding schedule is aggressive and requires continuous coor-dination with the Army commands, Army service component commands and direct reporting units as changes to individual unit schedules impact a number of other units within the required timeframe. To manage the multiple units that are simultaneously undergoing the cutover from the current logistics management information systems to GCSS-Army, the PdM GCSS-Army oper-ates a Deployment Operations Center (DOC) at its headquarters facility near Fort Lee, Va. In addition to the materiel fielding teams that travel to the receiving units to assist with migrating data into GCSS-Army and conduct new equipment training, the PdM Deployment Division maintains a number of functional and technical subject-mat-ter experts at the DOC to help solve chal-lenges that emerge as fielding progresses. The DOC personnel also coordinate with all GCSS-Army stakeholders throughout the fielding process to ensure that the transi-tion from current systems to GCSS-Army goes smoothly.

As with the Wave 1 deployment, Wave 2 includes an extensive organizational change management (OCM) effort to reduce the tur-bulence normally experienced by commercial and military users during ERP implementa-tions. The OCM program includes a Lead User Program similar to commercial indus-try’s “Super User” program. The OCM pro-gram relies heavily on required Web-based training accessible through the GCSS-Army Web page that leads seamlessly into the new equipment training that all new users must take. The new equipment training concen-trates on core processes performed within each of the GCSS-Army functional areas.

The preparation phase for units sched-uled to receive the GCSS-Army Wave 2 solution begins 240 days before the planned transition date to GCSS-Army. Follow-on progress checks are conducted between the PdM GCSS-Army team, the receiving units and other stakeholders at 180, 90 and 60 days prior to the GCSS-Army implementation. For the final 30 days before “going live” with GCSS-Army, the materiel fielding teams are present on site at the receiving units, assist-ing with data cleansing, data migration, new equipment training and data validation. This process, similar to the successful Wave 1 preparation process, has worked well in the units that have received GCSS-Army Wave 2.

The GCSS-Army solution makes manag-ing the Army’s supply and maintenance pro-grams more effective and efficient, provides commanders with near-real-time logistics readiness information, and performs the req-uisitioning and tracking of materials and equipment that soldiers need to conduct and complete their missions.

For the latest information on GCSS-Army, visit www.gcss.army.mil. O

James McDonough is a support opera-tions branch lead. Program Management Division, PM GCSS-Army.

GCSS-Armyglobal Combat support system-army update.by James mCdonough


at www.mlf-kmi.com.


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