Logistics workers keep team’s offense moving

Photo By Kari Hawkins | Renee Mosher, acting executive director for the Aviation and Missile Command Logistics Center, emphasizes the importance of ALC’s role in ensuring aviation and missile system readiness.  

REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, UNITED STATES

11.06.2017

Story by Kari Hawkins  

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

Change is the operative word as the Aviation and Missile Command moves forward in support of the Army’s readiness priority.

Even in a state of change, employees working for the AMCOM Logistics Center continue to meet goals and achieve successes that directly impact aviation and missile system readiness, said AMCOM Commander Maj. Gen. Doug Gabram.

Speaking to ALC employees at a quarterly town hall, he thanked them for the work they’ve done in increasing supply availability, and ensuring support of combatant commands and Army missions all around the world.

“There’s a lot of talk about change and how we’re going in a different direction,” Gabram said. “Despite that, all of you continue to work hard and do a lot of good behind the scenes. Thank you for what you are doing every day.”

Using football terminology, Gabram associated ALC employee’s importance to the command with a team’s offensive line, being the players who block so we can run the ball or pass when needed. “If the defenders get through you, we all get sacked,” he said.

ALC and its employees are key to the success of producing Sustainable/Materiel Readiness, which is one of four lines of effort in the AMCOM Campaign Plan. ALC’s work in support of Sustainable/Materiel Readiness impacts AMCOM’s other three lines of effort – Future Army, Human Dimension and Resource Management.

“With Sustainable/Materiel Readiness, we have two objectives – optimize depot performance and optimize the supply chain,” Gabram said. “That’s what we’re striving for. Because of your work, supply availability increased 10 percent in the last eight to 12 months. You have been able to accomplish that by working with contracting and by reducing back orders.”

Although significant strides have been made, Gabram said there is still room for improvement.

“We are reorganizing so you can focus on those two strategic objectives,” Gabram said. “Change is hard, but in the long term it brings a lot of good. We value the experience of our ALC employees and, when change seems too difficult, take a step back, take a look at the bigger picture and remember we can’t stay status quo.”

Once the reorganization is complete, ALC will be better positioned for successes, much like those achieved by the Army Aviation Rapid Deployment Equipment Program with its recent rapid deployment of 49 containers and 680 pieces of aviation equipment to meet emerging Army requirements.

“That mission is pretty significant,” Gabram said.

“Think about the four priorities of readiness -- Korea, Central Command, Forces Command, Europe – and know that we are doing a lot of things within AMCOM to focus on those. At the end of the day, have we done everything we could to give our Soldiers the best chance flying helicopters or operating missile systems? As you move out in your daily activities, think about that.”

Renee Mosher, ALC acting executive director, emphasized to employees that their work enables Army readiness. She encouraged them to think strategically as ALC establishes its battle rhythm for fiscal 2018,

“With strategic thinking, you need to understand the why behind actions,” Mosher said. “Ask questions if you don’t understand. Ask why am I providing this information so that at the end of the day you know what is going to happen to that information and where that information is going.”

As the new fiscal year begins, it introduces new requirements and the opportunity to think about where ALC fits in at the strategic level.

“With change ahead, you need to understand the change and that change can be good,” Mosher said. “Focus energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. Know that in the AMCOM Campaign Plan, ALC owns the top line of effort -- sustainable/materiel readiness.”

In support of that line of effort, ALC has five initiatives – Optimize the supply chain; Optimize the depots; Redistribution, divestiture and demilitarization; Optimize field support; and Optimize acquisition logistics life cycle support.

“We’re not going to get more manpower. We’re not going to get more funding. We must optimize the resources we have to meet the goal – 100 percent supply availability,” Mosher said.

To meet the goal, ALC employees must further develop partnerships – with the likes of the Defense Logistics Agency, the Army Contracting Command and the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center – “who you can work with, coordinate with and share ideas with to get to 100 percent supply availability,” Mosher said.

Ensuring that parts are ordered for delivery as they are needed, keeping the aviation and missile system depots relevant, getting rid of excess inventory that does not meet today’s requirements, providing support for the Army’s critical missions and ensuring that equipment transitions into sustainment are all key to 100 percent supply availability, she said.

“Gen. (Gus) Perna (commander of the Army Materiel Command) has said ‘If we get to 100 percent supply availability, then there will be no readiness issues in the Army,’” Mosher told the ALC employees.

“To get there, we have to focus on sourcing, planning, field support, fulfillment and acquisition logistics. We have to know where the Army is and where it is going, and have the parts there to support. The criticality of having parts on the shelf when they are needed cannot be emphasized enough.”

During the town hall, Mosher also announced the nominees for the Ernest A. Young Logistics Achievement Awards. They are: Management/Executive Award – Sara Northcutt, Wayne “Tom” Ray and Terri Schwierling; and Professional/Technical Award – Seth Cole, Shannon McNatt, Miesha Spann and Darren Wagner. The winners of the awards will be announced at a luncheon Nov. 16 at 11 a.m. at The Summit. To purchase tickets, email Jennifer Fitzgerald at [e-mail].

• Date Taken: 11.06.2017
• Date Posted: 11.06.2017 11:24
• Story ID: 254258
• Location: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US
• Hometown: REDSTONE ARSENAL, AL, US