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# Matthews receives DSSM for achievements as commander, DLA Distribution Norfolk, Virginia

By Dawn Bonsell, DLA Distribution Public Affairs

                NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa.  –              
Navy Capt. Andrew Matthews has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal for his numerous accomplishments while serving as commander, Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Norfolk, Virginia, from June 2017 to April 2019. 

According to Navy RDML Kevin M. Jones, Commander, DLA Distribution, “Captain Andy Matthews provided tremendous leadership while in command at DLA Distribution Norfolk, Virginia. During this period, as throughout his career, Andy has exhibited the highest level of professionalism, leadership, and dedication to accomplishing his mission. He is an extraordinarily gifted leader and visionary change agent who is most deserving of the special recognition afforded by the Defense Superior Service Medal.”  

Matthews’ performance as commander of one of DLA Distribution's most complex and regionally diverse centers has been unconditionally superlative. Under Matthews’ leadership, workload through the materiel processing center increased by 20 percent and processing time decreased by over half—resulting in enhanced material visibility and readiness to the fleet. Matthews spearheaded a redesign of material flow at the container consolidation points greatly improving the effectiveness of inbound and outbound container support to all theaters and combatant commands. In addition, these process improvements resulted in an 80 percent decrease in containerized materiel receipt to ship processing times, surpassing all historically recorded metrics and delivering significant logistics response time reductions for all services and foreign military customers. 

Andy’s team met many short suspense requirements in support of operational deployments of marine expeditionary units.  In conjunction with deployments aboard navy amphibious ships, the units needed specialized equipment and landing force material loaded shortly before departure in order to support expeditionary missions and real-world contingency operations. His uniquely talented pier operations ensured all equipment and materiel was safely loaded aboard the ships. Regardless of timeframe and work hours, the team achieved the loads on time, every time, ensuring no operational impact to the marines’ missions in the Eastern Mediterranean, southwest Asia and North Atlantic regions.  

Andy’s team also provided critical pier-side support for ships tasked with hurricane relief operations in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in 2017 and North Carolina in 2018. 

The trust and credibility he has earned from the shipyard and NAVSEA leadership has enabled the development of standardized processes and initiatives that will help promote audit readiness to this industrial support mission. Matthews’ performance during his tour of duty has been superior and has set the standard for the defense logistics agency. Matthews leaves DLA Distribution Norfolk, Virginia, with a legacy of innovation, improvement and dedication to quality. His visionary and inspired leadership throughout a time of critical need clearly sets him apart from his peers. 

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