By WGCDR Pete Fitness
Wing Commander Pete Fitness has been involved in workshops to develop a new Defence wide logistics organisation to be known as the Defence Logistics Command (DLC). With a background in Logistics for the UK and Saudi Defence Forces, WGCDR Fitness is feeling positive about what is happening in logistics for the New Zealand Defence Force.
On 1 July the new DLC will come into being. Around 1,100 personnel currently in logistics roles in the Navy, Army, and Air Force will report into the new DLC. Over time, the DLC will seek to streamline and simplify common logistics activities and improve the strategic approach to logistics within Defence.
Over the course of the workshops, people have realised that change is definitely going to happen and are taking ownership of making the change happen. The consultation process in the workshops has really helped with this part of the process. While most people at the workshops know each other informally through Staff College etc, working together has increased the more formal understanding of what the reality is for logistics in each Service and the areas they have in common.
There are things we all do across logistics that, on the face of it, are quite common, from transport through professional development of logistics personnel to logistics planning and budgeting. However, talking about the pros and cons for each Service’s organisational structures helped to highlight some of the issues that would need to be resolved in order to refine the structure and keep delivering service.
At the coalface, most personnel won’t notice any difference, but at the higher levels the changes to the reporting lines will start to change the dynamics of logistics in Defence.
Now that the high level, formal organisation structure for the DLC has been approved, we can put this in place and get on with delivering the real benefits from the change to the Defence Force.
The Logistics Change Programme (LCP)
LCP is made up of a series of sub-projects, all contributing towards a more streamlined and consolidated Logistics model for the Defence Force. These ‘quick-win’ projects have been identified as areas where a short amount of focused work on improving processes or systems, can save money for the Defence Force. Projects currently underway include areas such as:
- fuel
- catering
- freight
- distribution, and
- ammunition management.