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By Jeremy Roman, NSWC PCD Public Affairs Diamond Grinding Wheel
Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division’s (NSWC PCD) Property Management Division (Code 107) plays a vital role to the Navy Lab’s mission success. They’re comprised of several branches—purchasing, supply operations, general equipment and Naval Sea Systems Command Logistics Center warehousing—and nearly 70 personnel to support the force behind the fleet.
They are directly responsible for a variety of tasks including purchasing, receiving, disposal, assessment, supply chain de-confliction and tracking, not only for NSWC PCD but also for other tenants onboard Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla. On an average day, this division can process up to 100 multi-line item requirements forms, resolve frustrated materials and supply discrepancies, perform daily asset inventories, ensure proper financial accounting of Navy Capital Assets, load and offload nearly 13 trucks, pack and ship almost 15 pallets of materials, and send out over 200 material receipt/delivery notifications to alert customers on material status just to name a few tasks. With so many moving parts constantly revolving, Brandt Weilbacher, NSWC PCD Property Management Division head, explains the team’s focus on mission success.
“From my perspective, this division is a critical component of the NSWC PCD mission. Simply put, [we deliver using] W3: we get WHAT you need, WHEN you need it, to WHERE you need it,” said Weilbacher. “Whether it’s fielding customer supply chain concerns, providing liaison services between NSWC PCD customers and warehousing operations or conducting an average of 50 line item inventories per day in order to meet Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) 100% annual inventory requirement, it’s essential to provide our customers what they need to do their jobs.”
With many moving parts needing orchestration, this division acknowledged that the key to their success was in the details. Their customer acquisition group, which was designed to help its customers navigate potential challenges within the Navy supply chain, identified an area of opportunity and the division responded with swift action.
“This 107 Familiarization (FAM) Tour initiative holds the fundamental principles a property management operation should have as its foundation. As we embarked on this process, we realized that we were conversely knowledge deficient with not fully understanding the customers we were trying to support,” said Weilbacher. “DeAnna Pedersen, NSWC PCD Purchasing Branch head, came up with the concept where she would coordinate a monthly tour of various projects onboard NSWC PCD. It provided our team with an on-site overview of our customer’s operations affording our division and project personnel to engage in face-to-face discussions to exchange ideas and share difficulties.”
The first 107 FAM Tour was held June 2022 and the overall campaign has grown since then.
“From all the feedback that I have received from my team, the insight into these programs has refreshed their sense of investment into the mission we support,” said Weilbacher. “We understood that the tours alone would not capture every customer we support, so we launched two customer feedback paths in order to afford our customers the opportunity to provide real-time feedback so we can continue to improve our services.”
The first feedback program was called Kudos and Employee improvements for Your satisfaction (KEY), which focuses on specific purchasing/equipment/supply operations and customer performance. The second was Communication Accountability Satisfaction and Employee Improvement (CASE). CASE concentrates on receiving, warehousing, shipping and Defense Logistics Agency, formerly known as DRMO (Defense Reutilization Marketing Office) operations.
Clear Cut Diamond “This familiarization program is the foundation to which we will continue to add to as our mission evolves,” said Weilbacher. “We, as a property management team, continue to build on this foundation and forge personal and professional relationships with our customers to better serve them and accomplish the mission together.”