Industrial Hardware added as Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support's fifth supply chain

PHILADELPHIA, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Defense Logistics Agency Director Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek has approved the establishment of a fifth supply chain, industrial hardware, for DLA Troop Support.

The new supply chain now joins the organization's other four: subsistence, clothing and textiles, construction and equipment, and medical. This brings the DLA-wide total to nine supply chains.

Harnitchek announced the decision in a June 4 memo to DLA Troop Support senior leaders.

"A separate supply chain is the optimal integration strategy for DLA Troop Support due to the diversity of business models, products, customers, and industry partners," Harnitchek wrote. "Furthermore, it will support my Strategic Guidance by providing world-class support for our nation's warfighters, focusing on performance outcomes, achieving efficiency and effectiveness, and streamlining support."

The industrial hardware will support a supplier base of more than 850,000 items. Industrial hardware will manage items such as screws, bolts, nuts, washers, pins, gaskets, O-rings, and other items typically referred to as benchstock. Many of these items are essential in repairing aircraft including F-18s and Black Hawk helicopters and land vehicles to include Humvees used in missions around the globe. The supply chain is the supplier support for DLA Aviation in Richmond, Va., and DLA Land and Maritime in Columbus, Ohio, customer base.

DLA Troop Support Commander Navy Rear Adm. David Baucom said he is pleased with the announcement and what it means for the organization.

"We have all known that establishing industrial hardware as its own supply chain was the right thing to do," Baucom said. "It's best for our industrial hardware team, whose items and operations are unlike anything else in DLA Troop Support."

Baucom added that the prime beneficiaries of this decision are the men and women in uniform and the American citizens.

"Most importantly, standing up industrial hardware as its own supply chain is best for providing world-class support for our nation's warfighters and for America's taxpayers, enabling sharper focus on performance outcomes, increasing efficiency and effectiveness, and streamlining support – getting the most value out of every dollar we spend," Baucom said.

Army Col. Eugenia Snead, who Baucom appointed to lead the establishment of the new supply chain, said she is happy this "labor of love" has finally come to fruition.

"It has been a long journey to get to this point, but I am very happy that we are here, and I look forward to industrial hardware being a great asset to DLA Troop Support," she said.

As a Department of Defense combat support agency, DLA provides the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, other federal agencies, and joint and allied forces with a variety of logistics, acquisition and technical services. The agency sources and provides nearly 100 percent of the consumable items America's military forces need to operate, from food, fuel and energy, to uniforms, medical supplies, and construction and barrier equipment. DLA also supplies more than 80 percent of the military's spare parts.

Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va., DLA has about 27,000 employees worldwide and supports more than 2,178 weapon systems. For more information about DLA, go to www.dla.mil, www.facebook.com/dla.mil or http://twitter.com/dlamil.

Editor's Note: Article written by Janeen Poulson, a public affairs specialist in the DLA Troop Support Public Affairs Office.

SOURCE Defense Logistics Agency