NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support is working to improve processes through reform efforts focused to meet the demands of U.S. naval forces in a dynamic, fast-paced, complex and increasingly competitive environment.

Through purposeful, determined efforts to improve supply support service to the fleet, NAVSUP WSS is focused on reform in the areas of contracting, forecasting, supplier management and information technology.

Although the NAVSUP Reform program launched in April of this year, NAVSUP WSS began making strides towards process refinement in the fall of 2017 with the release of its Blueprint for Supply Chain Excellence.  The blueprint is a five-year plan that provides a roadmap for the command to improve efforts in the areas of people, processes and customers. 

“If you look at our blueprint and look at what we’re trying to accomplish with reform, you’ll see that they go hand in hand,” said NAVSUP WSS Commander, Rear Adm, Duke Heinz.  “Our blueprint was a precursor to reform.  The goals we have been focusing on under the blueprint are closely aligned with the core pillars of the reform effort.”

There are five value pillars under the reform program and four enablers.  The value pillars serve as the core efforts to improve the way NAVSUP does business: Responsive Contracting, Customer Presence, Forecasting, Strategic Supplier Management and Integrated Logistics. The four enablers focus on areas that will facilitate and amplify the impact of the core pillars: Driving Reform, Digital Accelerator, Audit, and Enable a New Era Workforce.

NAVSUP WSS is the NAVSUP enterprise sponsor for the Forecasting and Strategic Supplier Management pillars, and serves as the as the value team lead for Digital Accelerator and Responsive Contracting. 

The purpose of the Digital Accelerator enabler team is to provide better customer service through the use of improved data analytics and new digital technology. The team has designed and prototyped a web based system that will allow NAVSUP commands to streamline their internal contracting processes with the goal of reducing contract turnaround time by up to ten weeks.

The Responsive Contracting team is working to increase the efficiency of the contracting process.  “These reform efforts will lead to immediate contracting efficiencies at NAVSUP WSS, while also laying the foundation for enterprise-wide improvements,” said Capt. Cody Hodges, NAVSUP WSS’s Director of Contracting.

“The streamlined acquisition processes we are developing will improve communication and reduce redundancy, rework and frustration across the acquisition workforce. Ultimately, we will make the processes easier for the customers and the contracting officers, which should result in getting parts to the warfighter faster, improve customer satisfaction, and ultimately increase fleet readiness,” said Hodges.

The contracting team held focus groups and launched a series of pilots which led to the development of a contracting pod structure where cross-functional teams of planners, contract specialists, and technicians are able to work together in order to better communicate workload priority, improve visibility of current processes, and quickly address pressing issues.

The goal of the Forecasting effort is to better anticipate customer needs by developing advanced tools, integrating forward-looking data, and incorporating planned demand.  “Forecasting is our business,” said NAVSUP WSS Vice Commander Lynn Kohl. “We need to make sure we’re improving our processes to provide exactly what our customer needs.”

The forecasting team conducted workshops in Philadelphia and Mechanicsburg, Pa. in order to identify root causes of forecasting inaccuracy and brainstorm possible solutions.  As a result of the workshops, 39 potential pilot projects were identified that focus on ways to incorporate forward-looking customer maintenance planning, forecast for growing fleets, and improve comprehensive cycle time estimates.

The Strategic Supplier Management pillar focuses on enabling NAVSUP to build mutually beneficial relationships with supply partners to improve performance. The team is currently working to develop a business strategy that will allow the command to better partner with suppliers to achieve improved readiness.

Although the NAVSUP reform efforts are scheduled to wrap up in the next 18 months, the NAVSUP WSS Blueprint for Supply Chain Excellence created a plan for the command to continue its work to improve responsiveness to the fleet over the next several years.  “As the Navy’s Program Support Inventory Control Point, we are responsible for ensuring the Navy remains mission ready at all times,” said Kohl.  “We must always look for ways to improve our processes in order to meet the changing needs of the fleet.  Even the tiniest of changes can have a much larger impact.”

A field activity of the Naval Supply Systems Command, NAVSUP WSS is the U.S. Navy’s supply chain manager providing worldwide support to the aviation, surface ship, and submarine communities. NAVSUP WSS provides Navy, Marine Corps, joint and allied forces with products and services that deliver combat capability through logistics. There are more than 2,000 civilian and military personnel employed at its two Pennsylvania sites, and one site in Norfolk, Va.

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