Faced with the challenge of making mid-career logisticians more aware of the training and resources available through the Defense Logistics Agency, DLA leaders are looking to improve customer communication and engagement efforts through the creation of the Strategic Logistics Education Development project.
SLED is expected to help meet the need to increase the knowledge DLA customers have of the agency’s capabilities, products and services. The ongoing effort recognizes the importance of satisfying customer requirements, by expanding customer-facing efforts and roles; concentrating on teaching logisticians how to best do business with DLA – regardless of where the customer is located.
"A customer who understands DLA’s processes, procedures and systems will more readily use DLA as a source of supply,” said Thomas Bruns, chief, DLA Logistics Operations Portfolio Program Support Division.
Bruns and other members of the SLED team, Gregory Wilson, Olivia Kortuem, David Peterson and Margaret (Maggie) Wise, believe customer outreach is important in gaining and developing customer loyalty; and, an ongoing customer education and training program is critical to an effective outreach strategy. For them it is all about meeting customer needs as effectively as possible.
As part of the groundwork for the project, SLED team members are meeting with instructors and students at academic institutions across the military services. Recently they spoke with the teaching cadre and attendees at the Naval Post Graduate School and the Naval War College Monterey, in Monterey, California, discussing SLED research goals and team activities over the last year.
During the discussion instructors learned more about which customer training they might find useful and where to get the most up-to-date DLA information. Agency key briefings, DLA YouTube videos, and various information-dense platforms like the Joint Logistics Operations Center storyboard of recent contingency operations were named as valuable sources.
Bryan Hudgens, a lecturer in Operations and Logistics Management in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, found the exchange immediately useful.
“I’m already browsing through your links, including the YouTube videos,” said Hudgens. “I’ll take 100 percent of any and everything you’ve got in the way of cases and examples, particularly from the Rapid Deployment Team contingency or crisis scenarios.”
He noted the information added to his instruction. “Information like this will be pure gold to my students, providing important context so they can see how the theories and principles they’re studying in graduate school will help them when they get back to the field and fleet,” he said.
The team then traveled to the Coast Guard Storekeeper “A” School in Petaluma. There they traded information with school instructors on Coast Guard storekeeper training and education, and how DLA resources benefit the service, which frequently partners with DOD.
The “A” school graduates up to 135 new storekeepers yearly. As they advance through their careers, Coast Guard storekeepers are expected to increase their logistics-related skills through self-study, on-the-job training and job aids.
“We train on procurement, property, shipping and receiving, inventory, and accounting records and reports — basically supporting the Coast Guard’s operational needs in regard to logistics,” said Robert E. Brown, assistant school chief and curriculum chief.
Brown is one of only four instructors for the apprentice storekeepers. The DLA Customer Assistance Handbook, used during “A” school procurement instruction, is called the “Storekeeper’s Bible” at the Petaluma training center.
The team’s site visits provide a wealth of specific information as well as lessons and insights that will help as DLA increases and improves its customer- focused training and education.