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News | Nov. 16, 2018

Indian Navy 3-star visits DLA Distribution to discuss best practices

DLA Distribution Public Affairs

To educate the organization’s partners and customers from India on DLA’s global logistics network and best practices, DLA Distribution commanding officer Navy Supply Corps Rear Adm. Kevin Jones hosted Indian Navy Controller of Logistics Vice Adm. Sunil Anand and several other delegation members Nov. 6.

 

Anand opened the meeting by personally greeting everyone in the room, stating “It is a great honor to be here. We want to see how both countries can benefit from our experiences.”

 

First, Jones and his leadership team highlighted DLA Distribution’s network of distribution centers around the globe, explaining how each site is strategically located to provide tailored services to local customers.

 

The visitors were particularly interested in DLA Distribution’s expeditionary capability, which can provide a quick and agile Distribution response to satisfy emergent or surging requirements. 

 

Additionally, the group questioned how DLA keeps track of its customer deliveries to provide in-transit visibility.  

 

Anand explained that [his organization] distributes parts to Navy warships in Bombay, and, after the item ships, it is not visible in the supply chain. “We are trying to see if there is something better we can do.  We are trying to extract something we can use,” he said.

 

Anand and his team also inquired about how Distribution manages its budget.  Jones explained that DLA Distribution operates under a Working Capital Fund, whereby it balances sales to ensure the organization has enough cash to pay its expenses and that the number of employees on its rolls is commensurate to current workload.

 

Distribution’s modernization strategy to employ goods to man, and utilize wireless and mobile technologies to increase productivity while reducing complexity and cost was also of great interest to Anand and his team. However, Anand also noted that, “Automation cannot eliminate the human being.”

At the conclusion of the briefing, Anand stated, “This was a wonderful presentation. Thank you for educating us.”  

 

To provide a more tangible example of how DLA Distribution manages the distribution of supplies to customers, the group closed out its visit with a stop at DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pa.’s Eastern Distribution Center.  Anand and his team were very intrigued by the processes and infrastructure within the EDC, asking pointed questions about the technology and metrics to better understand the mechinisms behind the largest distribution center within the Department of Defense.