FORT BELVOIR, Virginia –
Continued collaboration, innovation and smart investments are cornerstones of the Defense Logistics Agency’s Strategic Plan for 2015 through 2022.
DLA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch released the new plan May 4 and called upon all employees to do their part in providing the exceptional global logistics solutions that customers demand.
“I ask for your full commitment to this strategic plan,” he wrote in a call to action at the end of the 20-page document. “It provides our roadmap to ensure that we, the DLA Team, continuously evolve and improve together to meet our mission requirements with a single resolve. It is our plan to meet the future with the commitment and capabilities that we need to provide the responsive, agile and innovative support that our customers and stakeholders need and deserve.”
The plan features five areas that support the agency’s mission to provide innovative and affordable logistics solutions to customers around the world. They are:
- Warfighter First – Make promises and keep them.
- People and Culture – Valued team members; resilient and ready for the challenge.
- Strategic Engagement – Better outcomes through teamwork.
- Financial Stewardship – Affordable solutions and continued accountability.
- Process Excellence – Always improving; finding smarter ways to do things.
Warfighter First reinforces the agency’s commitment to its military customers and includes objectives such as reducing wait times and back orders, improving DLA’s ability to meet urgent and short-term requests, and lowering life-cycle costs for major acquisition systems. Research and development efforts will increase for robotic technology and 3D printing in each of DLA’s classes of supply. And the agency will work with customers and suppliers to improve counterfeit part identification rates.
The overarching goal of People and Culture is to create a high performing, valued, resilient and accountable workforce. Objectives range from raising employee satisfaction and retention rates to updating hiring processes with improved candidate assessments. Workforce competencies are expected to expand, especially in acquisition, information technology, lifecycle logistics and cost consciousness. Emphasis will also be placed on preparing emerging leaders for new roles and responsibilities.
Under Strategic Engagement, DLA will incentivize productivity and innovation among suppliers, eliminate unproductive business processes and address industrial base vulnerabilities. Other goals include using emerging technologies to improve the visibility and transparency of the agency’s information technology infrastructure, an effort that’s expected to result in better demand planning, more accurate forecasting of lifecycle costs, and more precise and customized contracts.
Financial Stewardship focuses on fiscal accountability and audit readiness. The agency will develop a disciplined approach to defining and funding future requirements. Leaders and supply chain experts will continue to collaborate with customers and suppliers on reducing costs and develop pricing strategies that allow customers to get the support they need. DLA will also use acquisition principles outlined in the Defense Department’s Better Buying Power initiative and adopt a culture of continuous business-process improvement.
Through Process Excellence, DLA will develop and sustain a culture that embraces continuous improvement. This includes implementing proven, repeatable processes and strategies to maintain cost savings and audit sustainment, as well as creating processes that are standard, free of redundancy, effective, efficient and documented.
Additional director’s guidance will be released annually to help leaders implement DLA’s strategic plan. Progress will be measured by strategic plans and policy experts, who will also provide detailed, constructive feedback to ensure success.
“I firmly believe that we are up to this challenge. We will continue to seek excellence and provide the exceptional global logistics solutions that our customers demand … on time, every time,” Busch wrote.