PHILADELPHIA –
From verifying uniform specifications to ensuring customer deliveries, Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Clothing and Textiles supply chain employees explored the varying functions of their job roles during two “Day in the Life” events July 10 and July 16.
The events are part of a continuing series hosted by C&T’s Cultural Improvement Team designed to raise awareness of the job functions of various disciplines and divisions within the supply chain, said CIT lead and Logistics Systems Analyst Mark Stone.
“We, the CIT, developed the ‘Day in the Life’ series to introduce the workforce to the inner workings of other disciplines and show the workforce where they fit in the process,” Stone said. “We are all cogs in an interrelated system and the CIT wants the workforce to know and become aware of the process while building the bench.”
This month’s respective sessions focused on C&T’s third-party logistics team and product specialists.
“I think it’s important that we all start to get a better understanding of what each discipline does in the organization so we appreciate each other’s efforts and we can support one another,” said Leonard Johnson, a senior product specialist in the Dress Clothing division.
Johnson led the “Product Specialist 2.0” session July 16 with clothing designer Pamela Costello. Together they guided participants through cutting out the pattern of a sample uniform jumper alongside customer specifications.
“My job as the product specialist is to get [vendors] to understand there’s an interaction between the pattern and the ‘spec,’” Johnson said.
Costello shared an example of the pattern software her team uses and what a pattern looks like when it comes in from the military services.
“I like to call our team the Wikipedia of DLA, [as] we manage all of the patterns for every Clothing and Textiles item from the services,” Costello said.
On the other end of C&T’s uniform support to military customers, the 3PL team gave an overview of how they work with 3PLs to provide supply chain management functions including warehousing, transportation and inventory management.
Contracting officers Denise Vogelei and Brett Joseph led the “Third Party Logistics [3PL] Storage” session July 10.
Joseph and Vogelei reviewed the 3PL item lifecycle process, including where 3PLs are located and how they support the customer item management process.
“A clothing item gets shipped, so customer’s [items] get received into the warehouse, an electronic transaction gets sent from the 3PL to our EBS system,” Joseph said.
Once in EBS, the system updates item quantity availability and customers are billed for the items, he continued.
There are five 3PL contract partners located across the continental U.S., including commercial and AbilityOne vendors. Warehousing support ranges from a 105,000 square-foot warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona that fills 109,000 orders fulfilled annually, to a 650,000 square-foot warehouse in Pendergrass, Georgia fulfilling 367,000 annual orders.
“It’s such an eye-opening experience to see what’s coming in from our vendors and how we handle everything at our warehouses, it’s impressive,” Vogelei said. “I appreciate that everyone is here today because I’m very passionate about our program.”
The CIT will continue to host “Day in the Life” events over the coming months, providing overviews explaining the complete processes of other disciplines in the C&T supply chain, Stone said.