BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
Defense Logistics Agency partnered with National Defense Industrial Association for a two-day event that brought government and industry leaders together to discuss current and future challenges.
DLA Disposition Services Director Mike Cannon played a key role, serving as a featured speaker at the “DLA Knowledge Bar.” This was his second time attending the event and his first time as a featured speaker.
The DLA Knowledge Bar provides symposium attendees with the opportunity to hear directly from leaders speaking on topics they are passionate about. The informal/interactive chat provides another forum for sharing information with partners and strengthening or developing new relationships.
Cannon began his session titled “Leveraging Excess to Support a Circular Economy” by explaining how to recycle critical elements and materials from excess equipment stocks.
“We want to determine if turned-in items contain Strategic, Critical or Rare Earth Elements that can be extracted and be reused in another weapons system,” Cannon said.
During his 30-minute talk, Cannon also discussed visiting a DLA Strategic Materials warehousing site in Indiana and discovering that the agency had recently established a Germanium recycling program.
“So, we got a list of items that could possibly contain Germanium and flagged them in our systems, so employees know to put them in a box and save them at our disposal sites,” he said.
This new process has created another source of supply for DLA Strategic Materials leveraging Excess, Obsolete, and Unserviceable property into becoming a feedstock source of supply for DLA, the Organic Industrial Base and Defense Industrial Base, according to Cannon.
The DLA Disposition Services director then discussed the Organic Industrial Base and potential use of the agency’s “Return to Manufacturer” process for reusing critical materials.
“There are approximately 80 [National Item Identification Numbers] of aircraft tires that never come to us for disposal; they go back to the manufacturer who retreads them and sells them back as serviceable tires,” said Cannon.
We are exploring a new business model to expand on R/T/D (R) S, Reutilization, Transfer, Donations, Reclamation and Sales.
“What we can’t give back to the military through Reutilization, let’s get it back into the defense industrial base through reclamation,” he said.
Cannon then held a question-and-answer session before thanking the attentive audience.
The National Defense Industrial Association drives strategic dialogue in national security by identifying key issues and leveraging the knowledge and experience of its military, government, industry, and academic members to overmatch capabilities to threats.
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