WEBVTT

00:09.040 --> 00:10.810
we were looking at how we were

00:10.810 --> 00:14.310
supporting our troops with traditional

00:14.310 --> 00:17.440
feeding in what we call defects , uh

00:17.450 --> 00:20.870
the the mess halls if you would um and

00:20.870 --> 00:23.520
at that time , believe it or not , back

00:23.520 --> 00:26.930
in uh back in the eighties , uh we were

00:26.930 --> 00:29.070
basically following a business model

00:29.080 --> 00:32.890
that had been um put in place for over

00:32.890 --> 00:36.100
a century which was buying product and

00:36.100 --> 00:38.580
sending it to a warehouse , so we would

00:38.580 --> 00:42.090
buy bulk coffee , we would buy bulk

00:42.100 --> 00:45.240
sugar , send it to the warehouse and

00:45.240 --> 00:47.407
then the warehouse would break it down

00:47.407 --> 00:50.730
and send those products to the defects

00:50.740 --> 00:54.040
worldwide , so that the inventory model

00:54.050 --> 00:56.790
and so forth was really something that

00:56.800 --> 00:59.370
just we kept doing because that's how

00:59.370 --> 01:01.537
we had supported the troops for many ,

01:01.537 --> 01:03.648
many years , including up and through

01:03.648 --> 01:07.630
Vietnam . Um so one of the things that

01:07.640 --> 01:10.660
uh we looked at in those early days

01:10.670 --> 01:13.800
were with mr molino and made if

01:13.800 --> 01:16.030
incentives and people like keith ford

01:16.030 --> 01:18.086
and Yvette bourque and so forth . We

01:18.086 --> 01:20.560
were all about the same age . Uh and we

01:20.560 --> 01:23.380
got uh we got looking at how the

01:23.380 --> 01:26.950
commercial sector provided product .

01:27.240 --> 01:29.850
So then I , we learned and evolved into

01:29.850 --> 01:32.260
the subsistence prime vendor . Now he

01:32.260 --> 01:35.040
had May was upstairs working on medical

01:35.040 --> 01:37.262
prime vendor , I was downstairs working

01:37.262 --> 01:39.318
on subsistence prime vendor and that

01:39.318 --> 01:42.810
was the start of the the re engineering

01:42.820 --> 01:45.210
of the business processes that we up

01:45.210 --> 01:47.550
until this day , we continue with many ,

01:47.550 --> 01:49.970
many generations each time trying to

01:49.970 --> 01:52.840
continuously improve the product and

01:52.840 --> 01:55.220
solution for the war fighters . At

01:55.220 --> 01:57.360
first in some situations , some

01:57.360 --> 02:00.470
employees felt threatened um because

02:00.470 --> 02:02.940
the skills necessary to do prime vendor

02:02.940 --> 02:05.450
contracting were all knew we were

02:05.450 --> 02:07.370
moving out from a transactional

02:07.370 --> 02:09.730
environment to one where we were trying

02:09.730 --> 02:13.180
to maximize the buying leverage of , of

02:13.180 --> 02:15.910
the agency . Uh , so we had to do a lot

02:15.920 --> 02:18.390
of training . We had to do a lot of

02:18.390 --> 02:22.160
changing of people's , uh , positions

02:22.170 --> 02:24.337
where we didn't need as many inventory

02:24.337 --> 02:26.559
managers because we weren't keeping the

02:26.559 --> 02:28.614
stock levels that we had before . It

02:28.614 --> 02:31.160
was a challenge to the workforce , but ,

02:31.170 --> 02:33.337
and and it was also a big challenge to

02:33.337 --> 02:35.559
our customers because they're customers

02:35.940 --> 02:38.740
were familiar with going through a

02:38.740 --> 02:41.270
warehouse . Okay , let's say a

02:41.270 --> 02:43.437
warehouse or two , there's probably 10

02:43.437 --> 02:45.820
or 15 at Fort Bragg and being able to

02:45.820 --> 02:48.370
see and touch the product and that gave

02:48.370 --> 02:51.270
them the assurance that there was gonna

02:51.270 --> 02:53.880
be chow in the morning or dinner and so

02:53.880 --> 02:56.250
forth . We were now asking trust us ,

02:56.440 --> 02:59.450
trust us to deliver on time several

02:59.450 --> 03:01.660
times a week . Uh , and it's gonna be

03:01.660 --> 03:03.716
fresher product , we're going to get

03:03.716 --> 03:05.604
better prices and you'll get more

03:05.604 --> 03:08.020
variety because we changed the menus

03:08.020 --> 03:10.076
and we started to look and work with

03:10.076 --> 03:12.170
companies like Cisco , Us Foods and

03:12.170 --> 03:14.281
those other big distributors that you

03:14.281 --> 03:16.170
probably are familiar with on the

03:16.170 --> 03:19.650
highway . Um , so , so that was a

03:19.660 --> 03:20.860
culture change