CRANE, Ind. –
The AN/SLQ-32(V) Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite Performance Based Logistics (PBL) Team at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) has been announced as the Component-Level winner of the 2016 Secretary of Defense PBL Award.
The NSWC Crane team’s work resulted in a total cost savings of $31.2 million and $1.3 million in annual cost avoidance. The team was recognized at a Product Support Manager Workshop hosted by Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on June 7.
“I am so proud of the creativity shown by the Crane team,” said Janna Foxx, NSWC Crane’s Deputy Technical Director and former EW Department Head. “With constant pressure on our Navy budgets, I credit the team for their desire to take care of the Fleet first, a desire to save money, and the ability to use creative thinking to accomplish those goals.”
The NSWC Crane team implemented an organic arrangement between Naval Supply Weapon System Support (NAVSUP WSS) and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Supply Centers to perform Lean Projects to salvage and reutilize material and aggressively manage inventory costs. The use of salvaged material to offset Warfighter requirements resulted in $26.4 million in cost savings. NSWC Crane’s team produced the additional $4.8 million in cost savings by reevaluating Navy Tier pricing.
Furthermore, Crane’s team reduced the overall logistics footprint by improving in-house repair turnaround time by 60 days, and generated $1.3 million in annual cost avoidance by identifying and removing obsolete and unusable equipment to reduce warehousing space.
“The AN/SLQ-32(V) PBL Team’s organic arrangement and aggressive strategies for reutilizing materials have greatly contributed to the improvement of Material Availability,” Sean Stackley, acting Secretary of the Navy, wrote in a letter. “These improvements, coupled with a reduction in logistics footprint, provide significant, tangible results for the Warfighter.”
Members of NSWC Crane’s award-winning team include:
-
William Hixon, Project Lead (Bloomfield)
-
Steven Lawyer, Indiana Legal Services Manager (Elnora)
-
Vernell Thomas, Henry Boddie (Bloomington)
-
Curt Secrest, Tonya Stivers, John Yarbor (Bloomfield)
-
Stephanie Toy (Jasper)
-
Ron King (Bedford)
-
Joe Varner (Jasper)
-
Cathy Troutman (Shoals)
PBL is a Department of Defense (DoD) strategy used to deliver an integrated, affordable support solution to optimize system readiness and reduce Operating and Support costs. Awards recognize Government/industry teams that have demonstrated outstanding achievements in providing our Warfighters with exceptional operational capabilities and are examples of Better Buying Power in action.
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi-spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability of today’s warfighter.