Courtesy Photo | Defense Logistics Agency Director Navy Vice Adm. Alan Thompson discusses plans for...... read more read more
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Defense Logistics Agency field activities in the Pacific are working together to create a single touch point for warfighters in the U.S. Pacific Command operating area, the agency’s regional commander said Sept. 12.
Army Col. Joe Arnold and leaders representing each of DLA’s primary-level field activities brought DLA Director Navy Vice Adm. Alan Thompson up to date on the challenges they face and the successes they’re creating in the world’s largest theater during a roundtable discussion at the agency’s Hawaii-based operation.
Joint-basing considerations derived from the consolidation of Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Hickam Air Force Base into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, as well as an intensifying search for efficiencies are driving DLA toward a consolidated footprint on the island of Oahu, officials said.
“Senior officials here are looking for an all-of-DLA solution to modernize the logistics footprint on the island,” DLA Distribution Pearl Harbor Commander Navy Cmdr. Richard Paquette said.
Physical proximity to other field activity team members can remind DLA Pacific personnel of the full reach of the agency’s capabilities, Thompson said.
“Now that the organizations are starting to co-locate, customers are getting a better representation of the full range of the agency’s support,” he said. “It’s important we work together as one integrated team because the customer really sees us all as one DLA team.”
This team orientation was critical during DLA Pacific’s participation in Operation Tomodachi, the joint response to this spring’s disaster in Japan, when a magnitude 8.9 earthquake spawned a tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis, officials said.
DLA’s Pacific team shifted to 24/7 operations and provided planners and customer support to Joint Support Force-Japan, while exploiting existing prime-vendor relationships to increase the supply of food and bottled water.
“Supporting Operation Tomodachi was an acid test of the DLA organization in the Pacific and its people,” said DLA Energy Pacific Commander Navy Capt. Kevin Henderson. “The organizations came together as a team, got a battle rhythm going, and everyone got the information flowing to ensure customers got what they needed.”
Henderson’s DLA Energy team is also working to support long-term requirements for fuel support in the Pacific operating area, including funding projects to overhaul the nearly 70-year-old fuel infrastructure on Oahu and assuming responsibility for bulk fuel operations on Okinawa, Japan.
The Navy’s Fleet Logistics Center Pearl Harbor fuel facilities are currently going through a heavy maintenance period to maintain future structural and mechanical integrity. After these repairs are complete, the fuel infrastructure should need little more than planned maintenance to continue supporting the fleet, officials said.
DLA centrally funds maintenance and military construction for all service fuel facilities in addition to funding fuel inventory, Thompson said, which has enabled the military services to reap the benefits of a modernized fuel infrastructure.
On Okinawa, DLA is working with the Army’s 505th Quartermaster Battalion to assume control of the bulk fuel operation.
“The Army came to DLA and asked us to take on this mission,” Henderson said. “Taking a quick look at our customers, you see Kadena Air Base and the Air Force are the top customers for the fuel mission on Okinawa, followed by the Marine Corps and their aviation operations. The Army is a much smaller customer for fuel on Okinawa, which makes sense for why they asked DLA to take on the mission.”
Assuming control of the bulk fuel petroleum operation on Okinawa is an important addition to DLA’s mission, and Thompson said he sees more such prospects on the horizon.
“DLA is well prepared to gain more missions. There will be real opportunities in the future to work with the military service materiel organizations to achieve further efficiencies,” Thompson said. “If you look around the world, there aren’t many organizations that can bring to the table the type and scale of capabilities DLA does.”
DLA Troop Support Pacific Commander Navy Cmdr. Jason Bridges said his team is looking at ways to sustain and ultimately expand its customer base while seeking out new revenue streams for the agency.
“One challenge we’re facing is we can buy material, but we can’t contract for the services to put it together. For example, if we’re buying food-service equipment for a dining facility in Korea, we can supply the equipment, but the customer has to have another mechanism for contracting someone to install it,” he said.
“If we could have provided the material and the service to install it at the same time there’s an opportunity for DLA to bring in new business and increase its revenue. It’s good for DLA, and it’s what customers want,” Bridges said.
| Date Taken: | 09.13.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2011 10:51 |
| Story ID: | 77308 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 131 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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