TRACY, California –
Joseph Lang, supply systems analyst with the Systems Division at DLA Distribution San Joaquin, California, has been awarded the 2016 Edward Sweger DLA Distribution Systems Innovation/Automation Award.
“Mr. Lang is an essential member of the San Joaquin team,” said Matthew Wadleigh, Inventory and Support Services group chief. “His contributions are systems-focused; however, with his additional Information Technology background he is able to go above and beyond and collaborate with local [IT] partners.”
Lang developed the San Joaquin DataMart database. This database is a tool used by supply systems analysts and distribution facility specialists for researching within Distribution Standard System, Distribution’s primary warehousing system, for transaction histories no longer available in the DSS production environment. Its use has expanded to serve as the backend database for locally developed web applications in support of the distribution center’s mission objectives.
The database was developed over a ten-year span with new tables added, modified, or removed as distribution center operations management requirements changed.
Additionally, Lang increased automation at San Joaquin through consolidation and automation of the population of spreadsheets used by the workload team and developed a semi-automated report that consolidates over 30 data points at month’s end. Further, he continually creates Excel and Access queries and provides training and assistance to distribution facilities specialists in creating queries as well.
He also benefited DLA Distribution in production through database application design changes for San Joaquin’s Truck Control, Consolidation and Containerization Point Frustrated Freight and Motor Pool Divisions. Further, he worked on the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative in concert with DLA Transaction Services in the re-hosting of 20 plus multi-user Access databases from a server that was scheduled to be shut down.
To achieve these tasks, he utilized his expertise in programming, migration, and queries, as well as his in-depth knowledge of multiple operating systems and versions and their ability to interface with DSS. Although faced with systems outages, Wi-Fi dead spots, Access database shutdowns, and difficulties of new applications interfacing with DSS, he overcame every obstacle by creating and programming work around options within the system constraints.
Lang’s diligence and pursuit of efficiency enabled analysts and managers to better understand and forecast workload and staffing requirements. This enabled leadership to effectively manage production resulting in three consecutive months of “green” metrics directly benefiting the Warfighter.
"Mr. Lang has come to be known as the ‘systems champion’ on many projects. He not only utilizes his expertise to innovate and implement automation; he shares his knowledge across the distribution center and is always willing to assist with updates to reports and system changes,” commented Wadleigh. “He is very deserving of this prestigious recognition.”