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Director Land
Equipment
Commendation
for Land Supply
Major General Carew Wilks, Director
Land Equipment (DLE) recently
presented a DLE Certificate of
Commendation to the Land Supply
Business Unit (LSBU) for providing an
exceptional service to Land
Equipment.
The commendation recognises that
unsurpassed availability of spares in support
of operations was achieved through
innovative approaches to inventory
management activities whilst demonstrating
value for Defence.
LSBU provides an inventory management
service to the Land Equipment Operating
Centre (LEOC) and manages
approximately 300,000 parts. Prior to
assuming responsibility in 2009, service
levels of 70% were typical with inventory
purchases running consistently around
£250m and stock levels rising and stock
turnover reducing.
To address the stock control issues,
improve availability to the end user and
deliver best value, Andrew and his team
worked hard to improve processes and
apply new innovative working practices.
One of their key achievements is
introducing Demand Solutions, a
commercial off the shelf enterprise
resource planning software, which Andrew
previously used during his career in
industry. Andrew explained, “We already
had a licence to use the software so there
was no major new investment but it was
important we ran extensive testing to make
sure it suited our activities.
“Our own in-house Data Knowledge team
set about meeting my three major
requirements. Firstly, it had to react more
expediently to changes in demand history
and either increase or decrease suggested
quantities to provision and meet expected
demand based on history. Secondly, it had
to determine patterns in demand history
to enable smoothing of requirements and
allow the supply chain to improve its
delivery performance into the Authority
through more sensible production
schedules. Thirdly, it had to allow
development capability to include future
planned levels of activity at a platform level
to anticipate increases and decreases in
demand, allowing sufficient time to modify
stockholdings to ensure the necessary
levels of inventory are available to both
training fleets and war fighting
requirements.”
Andrew tasked Ian Wright, Head of the
Data Knowledge section and his team to
adopt and trial the product. They soon
recognised the system, now known as
Demand Solutions Inventory Planner
(DSIP), could meet the requirements.
Following proving the concept of operation,
the team wrote detailed work instructions,
delivered the necessary training,
preparation and validation work to roll out
the product across LEOC during 2011 and
the early part of 2012.
Receiving the certificate of commendation,
Andrew credits his team for their
commitment to delivering their service
offering. He said, “Everyone worked hard
to implement the use of the new software
and process. In the last 12 months, we
purchased 16% less stock than the previous
year, whilst demands only reduced by 3% in
the same period. At the same time stock
holdings reduced by 7% and service levels
are now steady at 90%. We still have much
work to do but this demonstrates the
agility of DSIP in reacting to changes in
demand activity and for the first time
provides us with the opportunity to truly
manage our customer’s inventory
effectively. Of course we can’t afford to
stand still if we want to continue
maintaining an effective service. Now that
both we and the customer see the benefits
of using the system, we are now jointly
focussed on working with the Project
Teams to further develop the software
capability to integrate HERRICK
redeployment activity.”
The full citation of the certificate reads as
follows, “The Land Supply Business Unit has
provided an exceptional service to Land
Equipment. Their procurement activity has
L-R, Major General Carew Wilks,
DLE with Andrew Sinclair,
Head of LSBU
“
The Land Supply
Business Unit has
provided an
exceptional service
to Land Equipment.
Their procurement
activity has ensured
unsurpassed
operational
availability, whilst
demonstrating
value for Defence.
”
ensured unsurpassed operational
availability, whilst demonstrating value for
Defence. They have used innovation,
imagination and industry best practice, but
above all else, they have shown a
commendable flexibility and commitment in
adapting their processes. The breadth of
services and number of Project Teams
supported has grown significantly in 2012,
and this change has been achieved due to
the dedication, hard work, initiative and
teamwork of all staff.”
www.dsg.mod.uk February/March 2013 DIGEST
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