# Aviation ISA leaders meet at Cherry Point, discuss best practices

/ Published May 29, 2024
RICHMOND, Va., 
The team from Defense Logistics Agency Aviation at Cherry Point, North Carolina, hosted a reoccurring Industrial Support Activity Round Robin event May 7 to share best practices and challenges facing the units.

Leaders, from operations officers to officers-in-charge, from each ISA attended the daylong event featuring a tour of the Fleet Readiness Center East and DLA Distribution operations.

These meetings aim to provide an opportunity for DLA Aviation sites to meet and better understand the similarities, differences and challenges at each location, said Navy Cmdr. David Odom, director, DLA Aviation at Cherry Point.

“Even though there is overlap in responsibilities at different sites, there is a large difference in the workload, platform and requirements that each site faces,” he said. “Understanding these similarities and differences allows the locations to understand each other’s mission better and be able to support one another. It takes the entire DLA team to be successful in the aviation community, so even though we are geographically separated, we all support the same mission.”

Marine Capt. Jason Gurrister, Cherry Point operations officer, and Air Force Tech. Sgt. Stephanie Whitmore, Cherry Point materiel management enlisted career broadener, coordinated this event and emphasized some of the perks of the reoccurring visits.

“The Round-Robin visits serve as an opportunity for each ISA to host the other sites to highlight the work being performed at their respective locations,” said Gurrister. “There is overlap in support among the sites, so being able to see the actual locations can help with planning efforts. Visiting each site allows for best practices for shared challenges to be discussed.”

“Members from each ISA were able to discuss best practices and challenges and how they overcame those challenges,” echoed Whitmore. “A big topic right now with the sites is the Warehouse Management System, which DLA is transitioning to. Not all the ISA sites have transitioned to WMS yet, but the ISAs that have started using WMS were able to discuss challenges and opportunities they have faced and overcame with the ISAs that will be working with WMS soon.”

The insight about WMS was invaluable for the participants, as well as the opportunity to collaborate between the ISAs, said Navy Cmdr. Brandon Palmer, director, DLA Aviation at Jacksonville.

“We all have an objective to provide exceptional support to our customer, but each site has a unique way of communicating and collaborating with their requirements generators,” he said. “Every visit I take, I walk away more informed on the internal working of each ISA, and I note unique practices that we can explore for integration in our Jacksonville operations.”

The FRCE tour offered the attendees insight into operations at the Cherry Point ISA, with employees on hand to discuss technical details within their section.

“There is a lot of behind the scenes that people don’t often see, so it’s beneficial to be exposed to it so they get a better understanding of how they directly support the warfighter,” said Whitmore. “One thing I noticed during the Round Robin is that it didn’t matter what location or military branch the individuals that attended were at or supporting. They were all one team working together to support the warfighter.”