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Tinker B-1 team earns DOD award

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  • By Danielle Gregory
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., --  The B-1 System Program Office team has received a Department of Defense Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages 2008 Achievement Award. The award was presented Sept. 23, at the annual DMSMS Conference in Palm Springs, Calif.

In the last eighteen months, the B-1 team exhibited exceptional management of a weapon system by significantly improved readiness levels, with a substantial cost avoidance of $28 million and implementing a DMSMS "best practice" through their robust DMSMS business process, said Mark Quinlan.

The award was given by the DOD DMSMS working group, which is the centralized focal point for migration planning, policy and guidance. The group is comprised of members from offices of the secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, Logistics and Material Readiness, Logistics Plans and Programs, Science and Technology, the four services, and the Defense Logistics Agency.

The DOD DMSMS working group award panel reviewed 15 self-nominations from across the DMSMS communities including Air Force, Navy, Army, and other DOD affiliates, including private industry.

"There wasn't any unique preparation for the award, just "exceptional" business as usual. Our team continually reviews and improves their business processes through the B-1 DMSMS Integrated Process Team," said Mr. Quinlan.

The core group of the team has remained the same for more than six years. This allowed consistency and no coverage gaps in work, in the support of the B-1 Weapon System. The B-1 robust DMSMS process attempts to bring together the resources, System Program Office engineers, equipment specialists and logisticians with their counterparts in the Supply Chain Management community. The team was also acknowledged for their incorporation of reliability and maintainability research in their DMSMS review, said Mr. Quinlan.

"Longevity is one key factor to our success, but the foresight in the B-1 SPO over the past six years to develop and fund such a specialized segment of logistics support allowed the team to succeed. Our team specializes in proactive DMSMS research, reactive DMSMS support, as well as, manufacturing source generation for the procurement of B-1 spares," said Mr. Quinlan.

While the core team received the award, the success of the B-1 DMSMS program is also due to the work of those who research and implement the team's findings within the SPO and by the supply chain managers, he said.

"The team is very proud of their recognized achievements, including the development of successful internal business processes, substantiating healthy cost avoidance and most importantly, continued logistic support for the warfighter," said Mr. Quinlan.

The B-1 System Program Manager, Col. Michael Pelletier, Logistics Integration Flight chief, Mr. Quinlan and Northrop Grumman Technical Services B-1 DMSMS/R and M Team Lead, Peggy Slavin accepted the award on behalf of the B-1 Team. Team members also named on the award package were Terry Sides, Joe Nunnally and Kenneth Smith. The B-1 System Program Office DMSMS/R and M Team are comprised of civilians and DMSMS specialists within Northrop Grumman Technical Services.