NAVSUP WSS hosts Shipyard Supply Support Unit offsite

Photo By Karissa Murdock | Representatives from NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support, Defense Logistics Agency and Navy’s public shipyard teams meet at Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Aug. 9, at the Supply Support Unit offsite.  

MECHANICSBURG, PA, UNITED STATES

08.29.2022

Story by Matthew Jones 

NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support

Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Weapon Systems Support, Defense Logistics Agency and Navy’s public shipyard teams descended on Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Aug. 9-10, to hammer out the details establishing a way ahead for the Supply Support Units at the Navy’s four public shipyards.
The goal of the Supply Support Unit offsite was to standardize the people, processes and practices involved with material acquisition at Navy’s four public shipyards: Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine; Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington; and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawaii. The Supply Support Unit, also called the Code 500, is the organization of teams involved in each step of the process ensuring material is available to support shipyard operations.
Kurt Wendelken, executive director, NAVSUP, opened the event by pointing out the naval activities in the Pacific region that impact our country’s geopolitical strategy. “Improving operations at the shipyards is a tool the Pentagon can use that can bear fruit in less than five years. We can no longer be satisfied with the status quo, and performing the same as we have in the past will be insufficient moving forward.”
As Wendelken introduced the objectives for the offsite, he said the participants would need to be transparent and embrace Navy’s ‘Get Real Get Better’ problem solving approach. The objectives for the offsite include:
1. Ensure a clear understanding of Supply Support Unit roles and standard processes
2. Achieve concurrence from all parties on Supply Support Unit metrics and each division
3. Identify any barriers to success such as open billets, manpower or training gaps, data marker challenges, etc.
4. Assign clear actions to address gaps in stand-up, process standardization and governance
Lynn Kohl, NAVSUP WSS vice commander, said the overall goal of the offsite was to develop a set of standardized processes and metrics that would apply to each Supply Support Unit.
“We are focusing on the Supply Supply Unit as a team,” Kohl said. “We have to make sure the right people and processes are in place to deliver material to the job when needed.”
To that end, the group analyzed a series of standard processes involved in procuring material, storing material, distributing material, preparing material for execution and managing unused material at the shipyards. The team walked through each process step-by-step asking and answering a series of questions along the way: Which people are performing each action? How are decisions made? Which systems, reports or data supports decision making? What other tools are people employing to make decisions and execute processes? How are teams structured around processes? What defines success for the teams executing individual processes?
Next, the team developed a number of metrics that could be used to measure success, track performance and identify potential problems at various points in the shipyard supply chain.
“As we look at performance metrics and the standard and the goal, we need to ensure the results are actionable,” Kohl said. “So if we get a bad result, what are we going to do?”
The offsite also included a review of personnel, positions structures and hiring processes in each shipyard Supply Support Unit, and a demonstration of NAVSUP’s latest digital tracking technology.
“While there is more work to be done, we’ve made significant progress in advancing a shared understanding of the needs of the Code 500s,” said Kohl. “The work done at this offsite is critical to shaping the Code 500s into a cohesive supply department that can provide the material to the projects in support of on-time completion of availabilities.”
NAVSUP WSS is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, NAVSUP employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and Sailor and family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupwss, and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.

• Date Taken: 08.29.2022
• Date Posted: 08.29.2022 14:08
• Story ID: 428256
• Location: MECHANICSBURG, PA, US