BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
The Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Business Support directorate focused significant effort on three major initiatives during fiscal 2023, including conducting tests of important research and development projects, supporting the deployment of the Warehouse Management System across many of the sub-command’s field sites, and the development of DOD’s soon-to-be-approved Excess to Disposal, or E2D, business cycle.
What is E2D?
The Defense Department documents more than a dozen of its business cycles, but agency property disposal experts and sub-command leadership noticed a lack of articulation for warfighters on what exactly happens from the time property is turned over to DLA until its final disposition.
According to Process Health Division Chief Brad Trivett, the agency proposed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense that property disposition become enshrined as one of its official DOD business cycles. Experts went to work on defining five major types of sub-disposal activities – like managing inventory and conducting public sales – and worked with DLA’s Business Enterprise Architecture office on process mapping before sending the proposal to OSD for approval.
“We wanted to provide the services with clarity on what we do from the moment they turn [Excess, Obsolete, Unserviceable] property over,” Trivett said. “What actually happens? How do we transfer it into DLA? How do we manage it? How do we issue it? We’re codifying everything from turn in, through the 42-day Reutilization-Transfer-Donation cycle, on through to potential sales and scrapping.”
Final OSD approval on the inclusion of E2D as a DOD business cycle is expected soon.
“E2D will align disposition with the rest of DOD’s primary business cycles,” Trivett said. “Disposal, if you think about it, is just as important as an acquisition function.”
Warehouse Management System deployment
The sub-command completed internal testing of WMS at its Testing, Operations, and Sustainment Center in Battle Creek, Michigan, early in fiscal 2023 and first activated it at the San Antonio field site shortly after. As the fiscal year came to an end, 20 sites across the network had become fully operational utilizing WMS.
Business Support leadership said the effort marked the sub-command’s first-time participation in an agile deployment methodology involving collaboration between DLA Human Resources, DLA Information Operations, contractors, and sub-command headquarters and field personnel. They attributed the rollout’s overall success to effective communication achieved through weekly team meetings, news articles, internal emails, town halls, all-hands meetings, and individual employee notifications.
Read about all things WMS-related here.
Research and Development
Three research and development efforts took center stage this past year, with many more to come, according to the Process Reengineering Office’s Don Helle.
The sub-command conducted testing and evaluation of an Autonomous Floor Scrubber, also known as "Rosie the Robot," at the Norfolk field site. After a thorough review of the gathered data, a decision was made to reset and retest, following strict office testing protocols, Helle said. Recent leadership feedback and input on the project is being calculated and compiled and results will be available sometime in November.
Read about the ‘Rosie’ testing process here.
Another ongoing project involved partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on development of a visual representation of optical scanning and image recognition interface to Federal Logistics Information Services.
Meetings on the future of lithium battery disposition continued as the agency works with the Department of Energy and OSD on defining the term “advanced batteries” and how this will apply to strategic material recycling. DLA Strategic Materials is determining which commodities should be recovered and recycled and DLA is addressing the associated challenges with making sure specific batteries are consistently identified for processing.
As for other possible future developments, Helle said the office is exploring concepts like autonomous pallet movers, wearable hand scanners, and weather resistant labels and their printers.
Risk Management improvements
The sub-command’s Compliance Branch was restructured to the Risk Management Branch in fiscal 2023, with personnel addressing important developments in how DLA Disposition Services addresses risk including the development of a new Quality Assurance Review, or QAR, process, and the build-up of DLA’s A-123/Enterprise Risk Management program.
The new QAR replaces Operational Effectiveness Reviews to increase the scope of field site assessments. The QAR is a field site review conducted by the Business Support and Operations directorates, along with region leadership, meant to assess a site’s overall health and provide on-the-spot training and guidance. Issues that can’t be resolved during the visit are either monitored for correction during Agency Process Reviews or during Corrective Action Plan briefs to the sub-command director.
The A-123 program assesses agency high risk processes and tests the internal controls in place to mitigate those risks. According to Trivett, DLA Disposition Services “made significant strides” in the development of its related standardized processes, assigning roles and responsibilities, defining terms, developing end-to-end documentation, and synchronizing plans across the agency during the year.
The sub-command hosted a first ever DLA A-123/Enterprise Risk Management program summit that included Internal Control Administrators, or RICAs, and similarly focused personnel in Battle Creek, Michigan, for two days of collaboration in August.
Read about the summit and A-123/Enterprise Risk Management here.