NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
Navy Rear Adm. Duke Heinz, commander of Naval Supply Systems Command Weapons Systems Support, visited DLA Distribution headquarters in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 15 to discuss how DLA Distribution supports the storage and distribution of critical parts for the Navy through its global network.
NAVSUP WSS manages the Navy's supply chain, which contains over 430,000 class IX repair part line items of supply.
Heinz sat down with DLA Distribution commander Army Brig. Gen. John Laskodi to first discuss the Agency’s new Strategic Plan, which outlines the 5 lines of effort the Agency will be focusing on in the current fiscal year. “We have these five lines of effort but I want to point out that the DLA Director feels very strongly that we must put an effort and focus into people and culture. He feels that if we get the culture right, the mission will happen,” said Laskodi.
They also discussed the initiatives that DLA Distribution executed for its Navy customers in FY17, including the opening of a Materiel Processing Center in Salalah, Oman.
The MPC was the result of a request from United States Naval Forces Central Command to provide an efficient and effective joint solution including material aggregation, trans-shipment, short-term storage and delivery functions for visiting U.S. Navy vessels and other U.S. customers in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The goal of the location is to reduce overall costs to individual services and logistics response time to USCENTCOM, USNAVCENT and other forces operating in the region.
Finally, Laskodi and Heinz discussed the future of public-private partnerships for the Department of Defense. In particular, Heinz was interested in the Acquisition Planning piece and wanted to help facilitate the NAVSUP Program Office directing the use of organic Storage and Distribution network in product support contracts.
Closing the discussion, Laskodi thanked Heinz for visiting and commented that “[DLA Distribution] stands by to support the Navy as you expand your global posture. Hopefully you’ve seen today the passion and commitment of our team.”