ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Providing support to 23 buildings and two staging lots at Anniston Army Depot, the Vehicle Staging Branch keeps equipment moving throughout the installation.
"We support every vehicle program on the installation," said Barry Gatlin, chief of the Vehicle Staging Branch.
Employees in this branch of the Material Staging Division ensure parts are labeled correctly and delivered from disassembly through repair processes and machine shops to the assembly bays.
Some processes require specialized knowledge to understand what the employees need to have on-hand.
"Supporting the body shop requires knowledge of and the ability to read and interpret drawings," said Gatlin, explaining the lead man must be able to tell what types of materials are needed for each of the vehicle platforms and have that material readily available if it is needed during the repair process.
For this branch, as with many processes on the depot, it begins at disassembly.
In the Combat Vehicle Repair Facility's disassembly area, employees from the Vehicle Staging Branch tag items on pallets or in boxes or baskets to go to the support shops.
"Our main priority in disassembly is making sure we have the right part in the right basket going to the right place," said Robbie Ortiz, a materials expediter leader.
In order to keep the parts moving and ensure they are rebuilt or repaired in a timely manner, the Vehicle Staging Branch's employees have to be familiar with the proper route each part will take.
"If the routing is not right in disassembly, it won't be right the whole way," said Gatlin.
The process comes full circle on the other side of the building.
In a small warehouse adjacent to the Combat Vehicle Repair Facility, employees keep track of the supply of new and refurbished parts needed to support the mechanics next door in the M1 assembly area.
They put coils of wire, metal parts and components together into kits, one for each stage of the assembly process.
"We try to stay three kits ahead at all times," said Calvin Brooks, a materials expediter leader for the branch.
Some of the parts are new - ones designated by the customer as something to be replaced. Others are reclaimed or repaired items which come to the warehouse from shops throughout the installation.
"Each vehicle has their own kitting area," said Ortiz. "Each support shop sends us their repaired or rebuilt items and we separate them into our bay kits."
In order to do this, employees have to understand what vehicle they are supporting and whether or not it is a modified version of that vehicle.
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