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REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Army Materiel Command is continuing to ensure Soldiers have the equipment they need, when and where they need it, despite the ongoing challenges.
With the world facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the Department of Defense cutting unnecessary travel through its stop movement order, Lindsey Jones, an AMC employee working in the Lead Materiel Integration operations branch, said the fielding of military equipment was impacted.
“I have been working with the government for 18 years, doing this mission for 10, and this is the first time I have experienced something like this,” Jones said.
Typically, AMC receives component allocations from the Department of the Army’s resources department, or G-8. Then, Army Sustainment Command develops a distribution plan they vet with Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology program managers and commands. While that process didn’t change this year, the Army’s response to COVID-19 impacted the next phase – fielding the equipment.
“Fielding teams were not able to go on ground to execute the fielding,” Jones said. “They were able to do some virtual fieldings and trainings, but otherwise the teams had to collaborate on rescheduling all the fieldings that didn't happen to a timeframe when the program managers could travel again to field the equipment to the units.”
In recent weeks, through work sessions like those held during the virtual Army Modernization and Equipping Conference, nearly all the fieldings have been rescheduled. For those that weren’t, due to special circumstances, AMC, ASC, program managers and combatant commands are developing a plan to get the fieldings back on track.
While equipment is getting into the hands of the Soldier, AMC has been tracking supply availability.
“Supply availability measures the overall health of the supply chain, how we are able to fill the requirements levied on the supply chain, not only for the tactical requirements, but to support the Organic Industrial Bases,” said Renee Mosher, AMC director of the Supply Chain Management Directorate, G-3.
Mosher said AMC’s goal is to have 100% supply availability, meaning if a Soldier or the Organic Industrial Base needs a specific part, that part would be available without delay. In addition to the parts managed by AMC, AMC partners with the Defense Logistics Agency to ensure the right parts are being ordered to support readiness. Right now, supply availability is above 90%. While some small businesses were impacted by the ongoing pandemic, Mosher said the Army is experiencing high readiness rates for its combat, missile and aviation platforms, and supply availability is not currently seeing a decline.
“We did not close the doors on the Organic Industrial Base,” Mosher said. “Our workforce came to work every day and AMC continued to meet our production requirements. Our revenue is strong and we’re doing well.”
Pandemic impacts on supply availability may not yet be known due to the lead times of how parts are delivered to fill requirements. Parts available now were ordered months in advance to maintain readiness. Mosher said AMC will watch very closely in the coming months for any impacts COVID-19 may have had on the Army’s supply chain and document lessons learned.
AMC is looking at personal protective equipment stockpiles to see if adjustments need to be made in the event of a similar situation to COVID-19. Also, AMC is looking at how the Organic Industrial Base has been running during COVID-19, with workers social distancing and lines being run with less people in some cases. These documented lessons learned are shared with the other services.
For the AMC enterprise to get Soldiers the supplies and parts they need, when they need it, during a global pandemic, Mosher credits the command’s focus on readiness.
“All the preparation and planning to get us where we are today are enabling us to get through COVID-19 without a major impact on Army readiness or the Organic Industrial Base’s ability to continue meeting production requirements,” she said. “We have yet to see any major impacts on the supply chain.”
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2020 12:08 |
| Story ID: | 372912 |
| Location: | REDSTONE ARSENAL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 102 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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