Photo By Spc. Tyrell Boyd | LYNNWOOD, Wash. (Oct. 5, 2018) – Rear Admiral Duke Heinz (left), Commander of Naval...... read more read more
When you handle more than $34 billion in repair parts, accounting for each and every one of those 30 million individual parts located in 1,300 locations worldwide can be a challenge. Taking on that challenge, Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS), as part of its inventory accuracy efforts, hosted the 2018 Commercial Asset Visibility (CAV) Symposium in Philadelphia, Sept. 18-20.
NAVSUP WSS hosted nearly 250 attendees from 140 vendors with the intent to improve inventory accuracy, address concerns with inventory transactions and improve commercial vendor partnerships. Captain Timothy Brown, NAVSUP WSS Comptroller, kicked off the symposium, and then the vendors were provided with two presentations – Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) and audit procedures. The NAVSUP WSS team later performed skits using various scenarios to help demonstrate how vendors might work through some of the inventory issues they might encounter.
According to Sallie Melchiore, lead supply systems analyst for N85 Inventory Accuracy, the face-to-face training NAVSUP WSS provided to the CAV contractors was invaluable.
“I think the symposium helped connect with the contractors who have boots on the ground; the people who are reporting for and repairing our assets,” said Melchiore. “The symposium gave the vendors a better understanding of the Navy’s mission and the importance of inventory accountability. By supplying the right atmosphere – being immersed in crowd of people who share the same challenges – I think we achieved the goal of the symposium by promulgating lessons learned, sharing best practices and providing valuable hands-on training. We could not have done it without the maritime and aviation CAV presenters in this year’s successful training event.”
The team also provided advice on how vendors can address transaction timelines, warehousing best practices and other recommendations on how to improve inventory audits.
“One of the best interactions at the symposium was a chance for the vendors to directly contact and discuss issues at their sites with their CAV analyst,” said Brian Keeley, Director of NAVSUP WSS’s Special Projects Office. “That face-to-face communication greatly facilitated problem solving and helped reinforce the partnership between the Navy and commercial vendors.”
The CAV system, resident in the Enterprise Resource Planning management software used at NAVSUP WSS, is a real-time, web-based inventory management system that provides Navy logistics planners with visibility of repairable items throughout the various stages of the repair cycle. The WSS team elaborated on CAV by covering details about Stock in Transit (SIT) and provided responses to questions about how to correctly log receipt of material and closing SIT transactions in CAV.
“This year’s meeting was great for both us and the vendors,” said Becky Lay, NAVSUP WSS Maritime Commercial Transaction Item Reporting Supervisor. “One new and appreciated aspect was the large number of new vendor representatives who attended, and their enthusiasm for learning CAV and inventory accuracy responsibilities. I also think the use of props and skits was really effective.”
NAVSUP WSS hopes to continue making strides in inventory accuracy at every opportunity, such as this CAV Symposium, providing in-person instruction and conversations that remain valuable in making progress and creating a better environment of collaboration and partnership.
| Date Taken: | 10.09.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.10.2018 14:18 |
| Story ID: | 295938 |
| Location: | PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 355 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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