What's

Inside?
From the
Director
1 Logistics Frontiers - The SOLE 2d District Newsletter Volume II, Number 2, Jan-Mar 1999

Vender
Managed From the Director Vendor Managed
Medical Supply Sets
Medical The big thrust starting out this new year is our very own By Captain Anthony R. Nesbitt
Supply Sets
annual symposium. This regional event is the cornerstone
1 to our future success as a District. With its success we can The Army Medical Depart-
ment (AMEDD) has made a
provide training, education, professional development and major change in how it man-
Editor's
Edge networking to our members. We hope to pull in new SOLE ages medical supplies. Instead
2 members as well and will strive to increase our roles with of relying on military depots to
new participants. The benefits for the chapters will be store and dispense supplies to
monetary feedback, more members and more pro-active medical activities-the tradi-
Pentagon
participants. tional way of doing business-
Blasted for
the AMEDD now is using ven-
Cyber

T
Attacks his will only come if each
2 of us participates by
coming to the sympo-
sium, handing out pamphlets,
Chairper-
and getting our companies to
sons of
sponsor various activities. We
District 02
need companies to exhibit and
2 to sponsor activities. We al-
ready have BJ Silvey from
Prepositioned NSSC providing the proceed-
Ships Keep
ings to everyone on CD-ROM!
Cargo Get out and sell, sell, sell.
Ready
Please make sure you regis-
3 ter with the hotel we are stay-
ing at. We must get 50 over-
Coming night stays for three nights in
Events order not to pay extra for the
4 conference rooms!
Radioactive
Send in Your Dues
Waste at According to the SOLE fi-
Lab nancial chairperson (Pat
Scheduled Daugherty, CPL) the member-
for Cleanup ship renewal is much lower
5
than expected. I guess the
shock of the increase has turned
off a lot of people. That is one
reason we must work together
in the District and provide the
benefits that are missing from
the larger body of SOLE so dors to deliver supplies when
and where they are needed.
people will rejoin. That is also
the reason we must find new The AMEDD's Vendor-Man-
aged Inventory (VMI) program
members who don't know of
and the Defense Logistics
the increase. Even if SOLE
Agency's (DLA's) Prime Ven-
folds, I promise we will con-
dor program are new ways of
tinue as a District logistics en-
tity, provide services and ben- administering the medical sup-
efits that are missing, and help ply inventory. [See the article,
"Prime Vendor: Velocity Man-
our members on a continuous
professional basis. agement at DLA," in the Janu-
ary-February 1998 issue of
Army Logistician.]
Charlie Coogan, C.P.L.
Most of you know Charlie (Cont'd, see Medical, page 3)
and I was shocked to learn he
had a heart attack late last year.
All we can do is pray that he
gets well and comes back vi-
brant as ever.
RAMS '99
I went to the RAMS sympo-
sium at the Washington Hilton
and Towers (where Reagan got Pot
shot years ago) to check out
the exhibits. After talking to a of
number of exhibitors I believe
there was some interest to ex-
Gold
hibit with us at the Mid-Atl.
(Cont'd, see Director, page 2)
 2d District lOGISTICS FRONTIERS Jan-Mar 1999

Logistics (Director, cont'd from page 1) ful with us as they were with
Frontiers Log. There were about 600 at- the TOC course they gave after
Logistics Fron- tendees from over 25 countries the RAMS symposium, we will
tiers is a publica-
at the RAMS symposium. have a full house. They got
tion of the 2d Dis-
trict of SOLE-The I also met Dr. Russell Vacante about 90 people to attend with
International Soci-
at RAMS and was invited to just a limited mailing!
ety of Logistics,
14100 Arctic Av- talk to his committee about our
enue, Rockville,
Maryland 20853. symposium. Russ handed out
SOLE-The Inter- our Mid-Atl. Log trifold bro- Pentagon Blasted for
national Society of
chure to this group. Russ also
Logistics is a non-
profit interna- informed me that things were Cyber Attacks
tional society of (from Defense News, February
professionals going well for SOLE '99 in Las
8, 1999, p. 2)
dedicated to the
advancement of
logistics technol- Editor's Edge Vegas, and he would also pos-
sibly participate at our sympo- The U.S. Department of De-
ogy, education
Have you heard about the sium. fense has gotten its knuckles
and management.
District 02 pub- district's symposium? Get read rapped twice in one month for
lishes and distrib-
utes the Logistics up on it. It is a real portender of Total Ownership Cost inadequate cyber security.
Frontiers quarterly things to come. Mid-Atlantic Training Course First, a DoD inspector gen-
and distributes it
to its members Log will cover the spectrum of Our friends from Advanced eral concluded that weakness
and other SOLE logistics at the beginning of the Automation Corporation ex- in information assurance pose
officials. Logistics
Frontiers contains season. You can be part of it. hibited at the RAMS sympo- "a significant problem and
chapter, district, Do a paper, give a presenta- sium. They are the ones who warrant continued manage-
division, national,
and international tion, or participate in the ses- are setting up the training ment attention," and that DoD
news about Dis- sions. In various capacities, you course the day before our sym- should "focus more on the need
trict 02, the logis-
tics profession and can learn and help others ac- posium on the 22nd of April. to build in information assur-
the society. Second quire logistics knowledge. See They plan to publicize the ance controls during system
class postage is
paid at you there. course along with the Mid-Atl. development or modernization
Hyattsville, MD You know what we need? Log. If they are half as success- (Cont'd, see Cyber, page 5)
and other ship-
ping points. Nei- Logistics Frontiers needs you to
ther SOLE nor do a book report on a book
District 02 assume Another CALL FOR PAPERS
responsibility for dealing with logistics. We need
statements made
by advertisers.
Neither does
one each quarter. Would you
do one? If we could get one For our own Logistics Frontiers
SOLE nor the Dis- person to do one each quarter, We will be using the same topics and functional areas as
trict 02 assume re-
sponsibility for it would not be a great burden SOLE 99. Please submit any recommendations for papers
statements of fact on any one person. or speakers to:
or opinions ex-
pressed or implied Technical articles are also in KJHJKJJ

in the columns of great demand. Would you do a Joanne Barreca, 703-767-5309, JOANNE_BARRECA@hq.dla.mil
this publication.
technical article? John Davids, C.P.L., 410-993-8172, JOHN_H_DAVIDS@mail.northgrum.com
Logistics Frontiers is a good ve-
hicle to keep our members bet-
District 02 1998-1999
ter informed on logistics hap-
Editor:
Emmett A. Welch, II penings and education. We Director, Chapter Chairs, and other SOLE Officials
4310 Birchlake Court have a small newsletter, and
Alexandria, Virginia
expenses are large. Please keep Director: Lincoln Hallen, C.P.L. - 301-460-5060
22309-1208 Chapter 01, Washingtonr: Lyle Paulson - 301-286-6804
Ph. 703-693-3834 articles to 250 words or less. Chapter 02, Baltimore: John Davids, C.P.L - 410-993-8172
Please send articles to the edi- Chapter 03, Tidewater: Bill Dodds- 757-444-1999
tor, address on page 2. Thank Chapter 04, Patuxant River: Bruce Sunderman, C.P.L. - 301-753-5733
Chapter 06, Old Dominion: John Stratton, C.P.L. - 804-765-1758
POSTMASTER: Please you in advance. Chapter 08, Peninsula: Lee Ketchum - 757-688-0248
send address changes Chapter 09, Free State: Lewis Bearden - 410-684-7091
to: LOGISTICS Chapter 11, Pentagon: Jerry Partee - 703-575-2390
FRONTIERS,
c/o Lincoln Hallen, Chapter 12, Ft. Belvoir: Larry Kohler - 703-273-3334
SOLE District 02, Chapter 14, Quantico: Vacant
14100 Arctic Avenue, State Director, Virginia/West Virginia/Wash, D.C.: Elgin Allmond
Rockville, Maryland
20853

2
2d District
(Medical, cont'd from page 1)
While the VMI and Prime
Vendor programs have made
a significant difference in how
the AMEDD conducts its busi-
ness, they have focused on
peacetime operations and sup-
port to fixed facilities. The
Army has not addressed the
use of vendors in managing
supply and resupply sets. I be-
lieve the Army should consider
expanding its use of vendors
to include mission sets tailored
to support
complex
contingen-
The schools ain't what they used
cies.
to be, and never was.
Think of
-- Will Rogers
the possi-
bility of
vendors
configuring and managing sick
call and trauma sets. What if
that same concept was ex-
panded, so that vendors built,
managed, and distributed mis-
sion-specific sets to the Army?
If vendors could give us this
capability in support of com-
plex contingencies, AMEDD
logisticians would gain great
flexibility in supporting the
new missions that the Army
increasingly is called on to ex-
ecute. The VMI concept can
work to our advantage within
our modular resupply system.
Prepositioned Ships Keep Cargo Ready
(from Defense News, November 16-22, 1998, p. 21)
When an international crisis re-
quires quick deployment by U.S.
Marines,they will use equipment
and supplies waiting for them on
strategically prepositioned mili-
tary sealift ships around the world,
courtesy ofAlliedSignal Techni-
cal Services Corp.
The Columbia, Md.-based sub-
lOGISTICS FRONTIERS
Reducing Army Inventory
Under VMI, AMEDD pays a
civilian vendor to store and
maintain certain supplies that
in the past were maintained by
a medical activity. The vendor
then is responsible for issuing
those supplies to the Army on
demand. Together, VMI and
Prime Vendor have almost
eliminated the need for supply
support activities to maintain
large medical inventories. VMI
has been especially effective in
managing chemical defense
equipment and medical po-
tency and dated class VIII sup-
plies. The goal of these pro-
grams is to save money while
maintaining readiness by
eliminating the need for the
Department of Defense to
maintain large inventories. Us-
ing Inadequate Sets. The medi-
cal supply sets currently in the
Army inventory, such as the
trauma and sick call resupply
sets, have proven to be less
than adequate for cur-rent op-
erations. There are a couple of
reasons for this. One is a change
in what the Army is asked to
do. In recent years, the Army
has embarked on new mis-
sions, specifically humanitar-
ian relief or complex contin-
gencies. Currently, there are
no sets available to support
these types of missions. An-
sidiary of AlliedSignal Inc., Torrance,
Calif., has won a follow-on, 10-year,
$435 million contract from Marine
Corps Blount Island Command, Jack-
sonville, Fla., to maintain the fleet of
13 cargo with combat-ready gear.
Every six weeks, one of the Navy's
cargo vessels berths at the Blount
Island facility to be off-loaded. The
Jan-Mar 1999
other reason for the inadequacy
of current Army medical sup-
ply sets is a change in the mix
of patients the Army is called
upon to treat. Development of
the trauma and sick call sets
was based on the casualty his-
tories of World War 11, the
Korean War, and the Vietnam
War; the sets therefore were
designed to treat American sol-
diers, who were basically in
good health and physical con-
dition, in a combat environ-
ment. However, since the
Army has embarked on mul-
tiple complex contingencies,
the types of patients being
treated have expanded beyond
soldiers to include children and
adults of all ages, who typi-
cally suffer from a broad range
of diseases and nonbattle inju-
ries. To treat those patients ef-
fectively, the Army requires
specific supplies, most of which
are not included in the current
resupply sets.
The AMEDD has tried to
support complex contingencies
with the traditional sets. But
this has proven to be wasteful;
less than 50 percent of the con-
tents of those sets are used.
The challenge now is to find a
way to get the right supplies to
the right type of mission while
maintaining the very effective
modular supply system that
(Continued on page 4)
company will service, repair or
replace all vehicles and equip-
ment and replace supplies whose
shelf life has
expired, and reload the ship after
it returns from hull inspections at
the shipyard, said Buck Thomp-
son, an AlliedSignal official. The
cargo vessels rotate through the
system every 30 months, he said.
3
2d District
(continued from page 3)
now exists. Modular supply
and resupply is necessary; it
has proven to be the best way
to sustain a force in the initial
stages of any deployment, es-
pecially when an established
supply channel does not exist
and communications are inhib-
ited. But we need to refine the
modular supply system to
meet the demands of new mis-
sions.
Tailoring Sets for Specific
Missions
To provide sets with the right
items for specific missions, ven-
dors could build and manage
specific sets to support com-
plex contingencies. These sets
would be mission-tailored to
support any contingency and
would be ready for issue in the
24 hours before the deploy-
ment of any medical unit. With
Coming Events
March 9-10, Weapons of
Mass Destruction &
Domestic
Preparedness, Defense
Week, Wash, D.C.,
Contact mailto:
kingcomm@
kingpublishing.com or
(202) 662-9710.
22-24 April '99 - Mid-Atlantic
Log, & TOC Seminar,
Hampton, VA,
Call 703/767-1509.
May 18-19, Technology
for the Future, Hunts-
ville, AL, Contact(256)
837-4347.
Jun 28-Jul1 '99 - ICIL '99 - Int'l
Conf on Industrial Lo-
gistics, St.Petersburg,
Russia.
August '99, 36th Annual SOLE
International Logistics
Symposium, Las Ve-
gas, NV.
lOGISTICS FRONTIERS
this system, the health care
provider would receive the
right supplies for the right mis-
sion.
Medical/Surgical
PrePacs are built
and delivered
within 24 hours
Some may think that the con-
cept of tailored sets for specific
missions is too far-fetched and
that vendors are not capable
of, or even interested in, pro-
viding this type of support. In
fact, DLA's Defense Supply
Center, Philadelphia (DSCP)
has contracts in place with
prime vendors such as
DeRoyal, Isolyser, Medline
MaxxiM, and Allegiance to
configure specific surgical
packs based on the preferences
of individual physicians for
performing specific proce-
dures. These Medical/Surgi-
cal PrePacs are built and deliv-
ered within 24 hours to sup-
port a procedure such as an
appendectomy. The same con-
cept is working well for civil-
ian hospitals like St. Lukes
Hospital of Houston, Texas;
their vendor is Allegiance, and
they call the system Procedure-
Based Delivery Systems. As for
vendor interest, when distribu-
tors were asked if they would
Jan-Mar 1999
be willing to provide tailored
sets for pharmaceuticals, the
overwhelming answer was
"yes." Providing the Army with
such support would cost the
Army money, but the result-
ing service would be great.
The use of medical supply
sets designed for contingen-
cies is not a totally new con-
cept. The 32d Medical Logis-
tics Battalion experimented
with building humanitarian
sets to support a hurricane re-
lief mission in the Virgin Is-
lands. In that situation, there
was a very high utilization rate,
and the care providers were
very pleased with the avail-
ability of the right supplies.
Funny?
Yesterday I got my tie caught in
the fax machine. Next thing I
knew, I was in Winchester.
- Anon Ymous
The issue isn't necessarily the
capability or willingness of the
vendor, it's money. Obviously,
this capability would not be
free. The cost probably would
be very similar to the cost we
now incur with vendor man-
agement of our chemical de-
fense materiel and our medical
potency and dated items unit
basic load. However, when you
compare the cost of the
underutilization of the current
(Continued on page 5)
4
 2d District
(Continued from page 4)
sets to the cost of tailoring sets
to specific missions, it is easy
to see that the advantages of
vendor-managed sets with the
right supplies outweigh the du-
plication, redundancy, and
waste associated with the cur-
rent sets.
The need for the current
trauma and sick call sets still
exists. However, maybe the
time has come to review the
supply content of those sets as
well. The trauma and sick call
sets were developed a long
time ago, and many new drugs
and new technologies have
been developed since then. The
current contents of those sets
may not even be the latest or
the best available items.
Creating Tailored Sets
So how do we get there from
here? First, we have to get lo-
gisticians and experienced
health care providers together
to develop content lists for the
sets. They also would have to
decide exactly how many sets
are necessary and what their
size should be. Other ques-
tions, such as how to handle
seasonal and special items,
would have to be addressed.
Radioactive Waste at Lab Scheduled for Cleanup
(from Defense News, November 16-22, 1998, p. 20)
A waste cleanup team has
been selected to remediate the
two largest waste ponds at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory,
Tenn. The ponds were con-
structed during World War II
to receive liquid radioactive
waste from various laboratory
operations, including research
and development of the atomic
bomb.
The $9.5 million contract was
awarded to Radian Interna-
tional LLC, Austin, Texas, by
Bechtel Jacobs Co. LLC. Bechtel
lOGISTICS FRONTIERS
Consideration would have to
be given to developing a com-
mon items list, and we would
somehow have to figure out a
days-of-supply package so that
resupply could occur through
the push method. We must
leave ourselves the flexibility
to update the class VIII con-
tents of these sets.
The days of doing business
with a total disregard for waste
are over. We are being forced
to do more with less. Vendor-
managed preconfigured sets
tailored to support specific
missions make good sense. We
can save money by not having
to manage large inventories,
Driving
Have you ever noticed that when
you are driving on the highway,
everyone going slower than you
is an idiot and everyone driving
faster is a maniac?
we can better support our
health care providers by giv-
ing them what they need when
they need it, and we can elimi-
nate the mad rush of supply
Jacobs is managing cleanup
work at Oak Ridge for the U.S.
Department of Energy. The
firm is a joint venture between
Bechtel National Inc., San Fran-
cisco, and Jacobs Engineering
Group, Inc., Pasadena, Calif.
According to Mark Musolf,
Bechtel Jacobs spokesman,
work shares for the Radian
contract break down like this:
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd..
(BNFL) Inc., Fairfax, VA., will
package and transport the
waste.
Jan-Mar 1999
requisitioning that we con-
stantly experience immedi-
ately before a mission.
Our modular supply and re-
supply systems give us the
ability to project logistics and
predict needs-a must in any
deployment. The idea of ven-
dor-managed medical sets ap-
plies the concepts behind VMI
and Prime Vendor to modular
resupply and then goes one
step further by tailoring sets to
specific missions. Complex
contingencies are here to stay,
and so are downsizing and
budget cuts. If we want to stay
on the cutting edge of logistics,
we must take a look at this
concept. It gives us abilities we
never had before. We owe it to
our soldiers to do it. Vendor-
managed prepackaged sets are
the way of the future. ALOG
Captain Anthony R. Nesbitt is
assigned to the Army Medical
Materiel Agency at Fort
Detrick, Maryland. He wrote
this article while serving as a
medical logistics intern. He is a
graduate of the Army Medical
Logistics Course, the Com-
bined Logistics
Officers Advanced Course,
and the Combined Arms and
Services Staff School. This ar-
ticle expresses views of the
author, not the Department of
Defense or any of its agencies.
(Cyber, cont'd from page 2)
efforts."
Then a General Accounting
Office report found DoD con-
tinues to have major problems
managing its efforts to ensure
information systems operate
on Jan. 1, 2000.
5
 Have you renewed
Logistics your membership?
SOLE
Frontiers Participation
SOLE
Home Office There are many reasons to
participate in SOLE:
-- Gain experience in organization,

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-- Increase technical proficiency in the
profession.

Mid-Atlantic Log Conference

-- Opens doors for service at higher
levels when participating at chapter
level.
-- Become a Senior Member after five
years of membership and service as an

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officer.
-- Contribute to enhancing your
employer's image and effectiveness.
-- Develop lasting friendships and

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-- Gain personal satisfaction from
contributing to the logistics cause of a
professional group of people.

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Logistics Frontiers
c/o Lincoln Hallen
District 02
SOLE-The International Society of Logistics
14100 Arctic Avenue
Rockville, Maryland 20853

SOLE's District 02, TO:

over 1,000 STRONG
Address correction requested.

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