RICHMOND, Virginia –
There are nearly 3,000 employees working on Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia, and all of them rely on a small group of divisions known as Defense Logistics Agency Installation Support at Richmond.
The seven divisions of installation support provide more than 70 services that touch employees every day directly or indirectly.
The Customer Support Division, the largest in the organization in terms of services offered, employs only 40 individuals, but is responsible for many of the services touching the installation’s population.
This team is as versatile as the organization itself, said Matt Maddux, chief, Customer Support Division.
“We are a customer support organization that has focus in a whole lot of areas,” he said. “We do everything from large-scale jobs like ensuring buildings are heated, cleaned and free of pests to moving offices and individuals to new locations to smaller scale tasks like moving people with our shuttle services daily.”
Maddux said his team consists of a combination of transportation/material handling specialists and equipment operators who perform duties like set-up for events at the Lotts Conference Center, the Jolly Elk rooms and at the Community Center or provide support and equipment for events held out-of-doors.
“The individual that brings you a new chair or work surface may be the same individual that is hauling and stacking chairs for a military or civilian ceremony,” he said.
Also on staff are transportation specialists that run the shuttles, drive the big trucks or tractor trailers and perform moves.
“One of Customer Service’s crews recently transported a helicopter from another state to the installation to become a future static display,” Maddux said. “I rely on these people to be adaptable and multi-talented and they don’t disappoint me.”
This division also uses the skills of professionals with refined, particular skill sets, like the graphic design shop and the installation’s official photographer.
“Military members come from all around to get their official photos taken here because of the reputation of our photographer, Jackie Roberts,” Maddux said. “This team is filled with people who are very good at what they do.”
Imagine a day at the office without just one of the many services DLA Installation Support at Richmond provides like the cleaning services, landscaping and road crews. It’s the Customer Service Division’s contract specialist that ensures those services are secured.
“We don’t just support employees in Richmond, we support all of Aviation including our forward sites,” he said. “I have three facilities specialists, one at each of DLA Aviation’s industrial support activities located on Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma and Robbins AFB, Georgia. They essentially support our DLA Aviation workforce at those locations with everything that has to do with facilities, fleet and furniture, equipment, supplies and accountability.”
Maddux said that the division is named customer support because that’s what they do. They support the installation and ensure that the mission can be accomplished.
“Our work comes from our customers,” he said. “We don’t know what offices are going to be moved until the customer calls or emails the work order to us. Nor do we know who is getting promoted or retiring and needs graphic design support with a program or to schedule the photographer for the ceremony. We rely on our customers to provide us with as much lead time as they can, so that we can provide them with the best we offer.”
David Gibson, site director, DLA Installation Support at Richmond, regularly provides guidance to the community about what services are offered, how to get those services and how much advance time is requested for each.
“Identifying and submitting requirements as soon as possible helps us allocate and utilize our limited resources efficiently,” he said. “Last minute requirements certainly develop and we do all we can to support those, but advance lead times are better for all involved.”
The goal is always to provide excellent support to our customers, Gibson said.
DLA Installation Support at Richmond is in the process of realigning to improve efficiencies and better posture the team for impending position reductions, said Gibson. The Customer Support Division merged into the Installation Management Division, with most of the division becoming the Operations Support Branch.
Editor’s Note: This article is one in a series highlighting all the organizations and services DLA Installation Support at Richmond offers to DSCR customers. The next article will highlight support from the Security and Emergency Services Division.