Symposium attendees express enthusiasm for this year's event

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, Spring, 2004 by LaWanda York

Networking and breakout training sessions were among the favorites of attendees at the 2004 SDDC Symposium.

A sampling of attendees from the 1,530 registered participants was positive and a desire to attend next year. "One of the best things you get out of this (symposium) is contact with your counterparts from other areas and the active side," said Staff Sgt. Bernard Williams, of the Maine Army National Guard, who attended the March 23-24 event in Denver.

"You can see that you're really not the only one who has a problem and there's different ways of solving it depending on your viewpoint," said the 20-year traffic management veteran.

The symposium provides him with an opportunity to hear directly from policy makers and learn the intent of new initiatives, he said.

Williams had praise for the panel led by Bill Lucas, SDDC's Deputy to the Commander, on Distribution & Transformation Initiatives.

"The panel was great," said Williams. "What we are really interested in on the ground is give us the final product that does what we need it to do and is user friendly."

The breakout sessions were informative, said Williams.

"Most of the speakers I listened to were very knowledgeable," said Williams.

"Overall it is an excellent learning experience and to meet the people who do the job somewhere else," said Williams. "Quite often is as educational as any of the stuff they put out in the meetings."

SDDC industry partners and contractors were at the symposium in force.

American Auto Logistics, Inc., of Monroe, N.Y., which operates SDDC's Global Privately Owned Vehicle Contract, set up an exhibit.

"SDDC is under a major transformation," said Sandy Santianna, general manager, systems and Logistics. "American Auto Logistics came to the symposium to see what the next step in the future will hold for SDDC."

"We love what we do," said Santianna, "helping service members with permanent change of station moves.

"Service members stopped at our booth to tell us their experience with our company was great for them."

Another exhibitor was General Services Administration's Office of Global Supplies, of Arlington, Va.

"This is a great opportunity to talk with customers to learn their pipeline problems so we can work on improvements and to improve our own knowledge of the global supply chain," said Ken Latta, director, Global Supply Distribution Operations. "We got a lot out of it. It was very valuable."

"This (symposium) is really timely for us," said Latta. "The reason: Emphasis on improvement of the global supply chain is involving us deeply."

General Service Administration, SDDC's partner in presenting the symposium, is participating with U.S. Transportation Command on its initiatives to transform defense distribution worldwide.

"What surprised me was the customer traffic remained heavy through the exhibits all the way to the end," said Latta. "That may have been the way SDDC organized the exhibits so they were only opened for limited hours--this was a nice balance."

LaWanda York Public Affairs Specialist, SDDC Headquarters Alexandria