Navy, Marine Corps aviation parts back orders hit all-time low

Navy Supply Corps Newsletter, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Will Daniel

Fort Belvoir, Va. -- Defense Supply Center Richmond officials announced recently that back orders for Navy and Marine Corps aviation parts hit an all-time low. In the critical area of parts that impact mission capability, back orders are down 38 percent compared to last year, according to Navy CAPT Bob Scott, SC, USN, Chief of the Navy and Marine Corps Division of the Customer Team Operations Directorate.

Although the reduction was driven in part by an overall reduction in Navy flying hours, Scott said DSCR personnel contributed to the back order reduction in several ways:

* Close liaison between customer teams and weapons system support managers with Naval Aviation activities to quickly identify problems and resolve them.

* Cooperation between customer teams and weapons system support managers with item managers and buyers at DSCR and at the Defense Supply Centers at Columbus and Philadelphia.

* Sufficient funding of the Aviation Investment Program. This funding included $500 million during a five-year period.

* Business rules DSCR used to spend money wisely and have parts on the shelf.

In the chart above, the lower line represents not-mission-capable supply and partial-mission-capable supply back orders. "These are parts that keep aircraft from flying," Scott said. "The line above it represents all Navy and Marine Corps aviation parts back orders.

"The Navy flew 17 percent fewer hours in fiscal 2004 compared to 2003 and has forecast slightly fewer flying hours in fiscal 2005," Scott concluded.