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News | Aug. 5, 2015

DLA Distribution Europe named recipient of Patricia A. Kuntz DLA Distribution Center of the Year award

By Emily Tsambiras DLA Distribution Public Affairs

Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Europe has been awarded the Global Distribution Excellence: Patricia A. Kuntz DLA Distribution Center of the Year award in the “Small” category for its support to all four service components throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

“This distribution center worked hard to distinguish itself by exceeding the standard for excellence.  This accomplishment is nothing short of remarkable due to the unique mission we perform,” said the distribution center’s commander Army Lt. Col. Krista Hoffman. 

That unique mission includes supporting a service component depot maintenance line, operating a dedicated truck route, operating a Theater Consolidated Shipping and Consolidation Point, managing the Army Component’s excess stock, and providing accommodation storage to Combatant Command service components. 

In 2014, the distribution center managed nearly 40,000 lines of materiel and exceeded every metric for Materiel Release Orders, receipts, TCSP, and inventory and boasted a denial rate of .10 percent, significantly below the 0.4 percent standard.

In an effort to reduce motion and increase efficiencies in its pick, pack and ship process, the Distribution Europe team pulled demand data for stock on hand and executed an aggressive effort to re-warehouse material, ensuring that "fast movers" identified were located in the rack and bin storage area of the distribution center’s main facility.  Optimizing these items in the same area increased the number of picks performed in the main operations area to 90 percent, reducing movement of personnel, limiting "touches," reducing hours/mileage of Materiel Handling Equipment, and increasing the ability to maintain hi-priority metrics.

DLA Distribution Europe’s TCSP’s performance in its air pallet and containerization utilization mission was one of DLA’s best.  Over the course of the year, the organization was the highest in utilization performance of DLA’s top four consolidation sites by volume and had the highest positive impact on the DLA Distribution targeted goal.  By maximizing container and pallet space utilization, the organization saved critical transportation dollars.

The TCSP was also responsible for loading DLA Distribution Europe’s dedicated trucks which provided time-definite delivery to 14 countries in Europe and Asia at least once weekly.  The dedicated truck support, coupled with one-time shipments to various exercises and contingency support operations, resulted in the TCSP loading an average of 300 trucks monthly, exceeding 3,500 for the year.  In executing the DLA Distribution Europe dedicated truck route, the TCSP, through monitoring a constantly changing customer base, adapted its routes and frequency to save the U.S. government almost $8,000 per week.  This effort is saving DoD $400,000 annually.

Playing a large role in humanitarian relief support in Ukraine and the West Africa, the distribution center gained laudatory comments from DLA leadership and the international community. Ukraine support saw more than a dozen trucks transporting 25,000 cases of Meals Ready to Eat loaded and departing DLA Distribution Europe within 12 hours upon U.S. European Command’s request.  In support of Operation United Assistance in West Africa, the distribution center processed, loaded and shipped more than 1.3 million board feet of lumber, 62,000 sheets of plywood, 76,000 cases of bottled water, 28,000 cases of Meals Ready to Eat, and over 100,000 lbs. of other subsistence items over the course of only six days.   “Despite the short notice, these missions were executed with the utmost professionalism and precision,” said Hoffman.

Improving the working environment as well as quality of life, the team provided input to make safer, more user-friendly ergonomic mobile workstations.  Additionally, the main warehousing floor was overhauled and forklift recharging area centralized, improving employee freedom of movement and reducing potential safety hazards.  Improvements were also made to the employee break room to add more seating, television access, a book swap, and improved snack machines. 

“I am extremely proud of this team and its consistent pursuit to ensure DLA Distribution Europe remains efficient, effective and best value,” said Hoffman.