FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
Defense Logistics Agency Energy hosted agency senior leaders May 2 to review the organization's performance and discuss strategies for adapting to changing operational conditions, integrating artificial intelligence, and improving overall agency performance in support of the warfighter.
DLA Energy Commander Navy Rear Adm. George Bresnihan and DLA Energy Deputy Commander David Kless hosted DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly and Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Alvin Dyer, DLA senior enlisted leader, at the McNamara Headquarters Complex for the DLA Energy mid-year Annual Operating Plan review, a structured approach to planning, executing, and monitoring the organization's activities, ensuring it stays on track to achieve strategic goals.
Upon kicking off the mid-year AOP review, Simerly expressed his gratitude for efforts taken by the DLA Energy workforce to support the warfighter. Simerly said he’s grateful for the organization’s leadership for global execution across the DLA mission for all the services, all the time. He referred to DLA Energy actions as “really remarkable.”
Bresnihan echoed the sentiment, saying his leaders “make it happen” when providing top-notch aid to DLA’s lead customer, the warfighter.
The mid-year AOP review is an azimuth check to evaluate current operability to determine whether an organization stays the course or adjusts its path forward.
“Our real calibration and determination of success is what we're going to be able to do,” Simerly stated. “That's really our measure as we think about how we transfer, how we optimize our ability to operate, and how we optimize our supply chain strategies.”
Simerly emphasized the importance of a disciplined, deliberate approach to change management, stressing strategy must be adaptive to continuously shifting operational conditions.
The significance of artificial intelligence was addressed as the agency embraces the integration of digital and databased tools.
The agency needs a digital thread across DLA’s supply chains, Simerly said. DLA can have continuous flow of data for internal access to measure performance. Protecting DLA’s performance beyond digital flow to ensure integrity and the quality of the agency’s work is essential. This drives the need for data scientists, data engineers, and DLA-wide analysts to measure performance, he said.
“We should evaluate best practices and share these processes to improve,” said Simerly. “If there's weaknesses across the board or in certain places that we can mitigate, the use of digital tools could aid with enhancing the workforce. You can use that for wargaming and calibration for various conditions that are impactful for the ability to provide support in conflict. Consider how we perform and how we're performing in competition versus conflict.”
Simerly highlighted elements for improved agency performance. To achieve prime organizational performance, DLA should focus on improving resource forecasting to better estimate needs, optimizing processes to aid performance measurement and decision-making, and automating manual tasks with digital solutions to facilitate rapid execution of global missions, he said.
“We have an upcoming transformation summit that will allow us to put together our collective thinking to refine and form frameworks. We have to constantly respond to change during mission execution. We have our vision within the strategy that includes three key words: agile, adaptive, and resilient,” said Simerly.
DLA is agile for responding to changing environments and adaptive for learning, growth and transformation, while being resilient to meet the challenges of the future, he added.
Simerly noted that nobody can do what DLA does. However, he added, effective service to the warfighter also requires a solid staff focused on taking care of each other and providing opportunities for every member of the DLA team to maximize their potential.
Simerly’s visit also consisted of the recognition of three DLA Energy employees. He presented director’s coins to Quality Technical Directorate Chemist Joseph Plair, Business Process Support Directorate Demand/Supply Chain Analyst Toka Trau-Massey, and Direct Delivery Fuels Contracting Officer Lawrence Watson for their stellar contributions to the DLA and DLA Energy mission in support of the warfighter.
As the mid-year AOP review concluded, Simerly commended DLA Energy leaders for the optimistic event atmosphere. “When I come to DLA Energy, positive energy is coming from this and is evident,” he said. “I appreciate what you do to energize your teammates to bring positive qualities to our performance in the workplace and to our workforce.”