# DLA continues strengthening industry ties

/ Published Oct. 24, 2018
Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 
Defense Logistics Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams once again met with several private-sector leaders at the McNamara Headquarters Complex Oct. 18 to discuss how DLA can enhance current relationships with industry associations. 

The director confirmed his commitment to meet with industry partners every six months; his first engagement was in May and on a larger scale, the agency held its first Industry Day Sept. 19.  

Williams hosted representatives from the Aerospace Industries Association, National Defense Industrial Association, American Petroleum Institute, National Defense Transportation Association, National Council of Textile Organizations, and National Institute for the Blind and the Professional Services Council. They were joined DLA Vice Director Ted Case, DLA Executive Director of Logistics Policy and Programs George Atwood, DLA Acting General Counsel Melinda Perritano, DLA Acquisition Director Matthew Beebe and DLA Ombudsman Timothy Stark, to discuss topics ranging from increasing demands on supply chains to fuel costs. 

Building on momentum from DLA’s Industry Day, Beebe solicited industry partners’ perspectives, as a similar event is planned for summer 2019.

“We want to make sure we get feedback on how round 1 went so that we can do better, sooner, so next time [we can] forecast information out to industry,” he said. 

Beebe referred to DLA’s “Take it to the Next Level” document, provided in hard copy to attendees.

Williams said there is nothing in the document that moves away from the intent in DLA’s strategic plan. 

“At the same time, I thought it was important to publish something that is specific to [fiscal year 2019], to make sure that it was as fresh as possible,” he said. 

The director discussed various aspects of the document, including significant activities from fiscal year 2018. Williams pointed to $38.8 billion in sales for DLA, an increase of $3 billion from the previous year.   

“Almost all of that increase was in small business,” Williams said. “Last year was the first time DLA went above $10 billion in small business and this year, we shattered that record at $14 billion — so, we’ve done very well in that category.”

“The bottom line is that sales are strong, demand is very strong,” he said. “We laid out the demand that we were receiving from the services and the whole government and we expect that to continue to happen into the next [fiscal year].”

The document outlines significant achievements and accomplishments across supply chains and to specific major subordinate commands in addition to reiterating DLA’s guidance, themes and goals. 

“We want to reduce our backorders this year by at least 10 percent,” Williams said. “And we’re trying to increase our materiel availability by at least 2 percent. That’s going to be tough, especially given the increase in demand.”

Meeting both goals will require more effort on DLA’s part and private industries’, he said. 

The document also highlights the agency’s dashboard, which enables DLA to track the readiness of key weapons systems on a daily basis; the industry engagement plan and DLA’s fiscal year 2019 imperatives, including “always accountable.”

“We are continuing to try and drive down our overhead [costs], like everybody else. That is the business part of DLA,” Williams said. “We’re always trying to get better, more efficient and create larger economies of scale. But make no mistake about it, the business side of DLA is first and foremost about providing better support to the warfighter and whole of government.”

Williams asked for feedback from those who attended DLA’s Industry Day — specifically, how the agency “hit the mark,” or could improve.

“In one word, I thought it was fantastic,” said Hardy Poole, vice president for regulatory and technical affairs at the NCTO. “I thought the entire event opened up a lot of areas that — coming from the clothing and textile side – I’d never had any vision into.”

Poole said there’s a big push in his industry to recycle items, and he found the presentation given by DLA Disposition Services particularly informative.

Williams said Poole articulated what DLA hoped would be industry’s response. 

“The value of this [event] was going to be to potentially introduce suppliers to areas of the business that they didn’t know existed and where they might find opportunities,” Williams said, adding that knowledge could also help DLA expand its supply chain.

Andy Mueck, vice president of operations at NIB said he appreciated the consistency in the way the MSCs presented the information. 

“It made it a lot easier to digest,” he said, suggesting that for future events, the incorporation of more panels and small group sessions would be helpful. 

“We knew that this year would be a learning event,” Williams said. “I know a lot of suppliers came not knowing what to expect. We really feel we have an opportunity next year to tailor this a little bit further ... and make it even better.”

The director canvassed the industry representatives if they considered the corporate Industry Day was valuable or if it duplicated the efforts of the subordinate commands individual supplier conferences.  The consensus is that DLA’s Industry Day provided a “strategic” opportunity to meet with all DLA leaders “under one roof.”

“On the industry day itself, I thought there was a lot of good material, it was presented well and it was stuff you could not learn from any other source or mechanism,” said David Berteau, PSC chief executive officer. “I thought the format was very good.”

Retired Vice Adm. Andy Brown, president and CEO of NDTA wasn’t able to attend the event but asked how industry could assist DLA.

“I’m always keeping my eye on the issues across the industries – in transportation, logistics and third-party providers,” he said. “It shouldn’t just be issues that industry has with government, it should be issues that I can help bring to closure with industry – it works both ways.”

Cost and availability of fuel, department of defense budgetary challenges and supply chain security were other topics discussed.  

Williams noted the complexities of DLA’s responsibility as a global provider to the services. 

“We’re initially established to be not [only] just-in-time but also just-in-case,” he said. “When the warfighter needs it, we’ve got to be able to deliver it,” he said. “In addition to becoming more efficient, we’ve got to make sure [provision is] secure.” 

The general allowed for final comments from all attendees.

“One area where I think we are really lacking — I am lacking — is leveraging what the associations can do for us in helping us think through some of these hard problems,” Beebe said.   

Aerospace Industries Association Vice President for Technical Operations and Workforce Rusty Rentsch offered two solutions to Beebe’s challenge.

“One is to bring you to industry events, so that you can ask directly what industry can do for you, or what your challenges are. Second is that if you have an event like your industry day, we can help you by finding the subject matter experts to give you the intelligence you’re looking for,” he said. 

Brown said he would like to see a “tighter relationship” develop between the fuel distribution side and his industry people. 

“I think DLA is stronger now than it ever has been – you’re listening to customers, you’re taking action to improve, you’re listening to industry — you’re in a good spot,” he said. “I’m sure all of us here are happy to help.”

Williams said he’d gleaned “pearls of wisdom” from the day’s meeting.

“It’s a pretty big deal for DLA, getting your insights on supply chain security. Not just at a big event where we’ve got a lot of big suppliers, but people who deal with second and third tier suppliers in organizations and confirming what’s been said about the challenges in those areas,” he said. 

The director also reflected on the future of DLA’s role.

“Remember [U.S. Transportation Command], DLA and the defense agencies were born out of reform,” he said. “We’re constantly going through some level of transformation. When they initially gave DLA the mission back in 1961, we had 100 million square feet of warehouse space – today we’ve got about 30 million.”

The director thanked all participants for the feedback on Industry Day and confirmed DLA’s commitment to incorporating many of the suggested changes.