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ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Col. Marvin Walker, Anniston Army Depot's commander, held a town hall meeting Feb. 12, calling together leaders and employees for an information and discussion session.

The meeting began with comments from Walker, who then turned the floor over to a panel of depot leaders who had important information to share with the workforce ranging from the current workload projections to a new directorate.

"I love these town halls because I love people, I love talking to people and I don't always get out like I want to," said Walker.

LEADERS SHARE DEPOT STATUS

WORKLOAD

"Our overall metrics look good," said Walker, as he addressed an audience of more than 400 employees in the Nichols Industrial Complex. "Our workload forecast looks good. Our overall goal is to continue working effectively and efficiently and always look for ways to excel."

According to Todd Dishman, the depot's director of Production Management, ANAD's current workload for fiscal year 2020 is 3.8 million direct labor hours.

"Just to give you a comparison, we executed 3.4 million direct labor hours in FY19," said Dishman. "So we have about 400,000 more hours to execute in FY20 than we had in FY19."

Dishman said the forecast for FY21 is currently 3.2 million direct labor hours.

HIRING AND ADVANCEMENT

"The number one complaint I hear, aside from the term to perms, is the lack of upward or lateral mobility on the depot," said Walker. "We want you to grow at the depot and advance."

Vivian Henry, the director of the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center, a tenant at Anniston Army Depot, addressed the crowd and provided information on the direct hire authority, which has been extended through September 2025.

Henry reminded modified term employees who plan to compete for permanent slots to review the criteria in the job announcement they must meet, such as:

• Have competed under a modified term announcement, which will allow you to convert to a permanent position, if it is available.

• Have performed at an acceptable level.

• Have served two consecutive years on a modified term appointment.

"We are finding that we have a lot of employees who are concerned about how to do their résumés. They aren't sure how to construct those résumés or what should be in their résumé," said Henry.

She reminded employees that USA Jobs has résumé templates and employees can follow the guidance there.

Henry also reminded employees to carefully review the requirements for information needed to be considered for the job.

"Make sure you upload the documents which are required," said Henry.

Abby Quinn, the depot's director of Resource Management, reiterated to the workforce how healthy the workload is and discussed how that might impact hiring.

Attrition, the loss of employees through job changes or retirement, creates new positions to be filled.

"Make sure you are watching USA Jobs. Make sure you are watching the LAN, because we scroll those jobs announcements there. Make sure you are looking at that, so when those announcements are open, you can apply and have the ability to compete," said Quinn.

Quinn told employees to share their skills and knowledge through their résumé and not simply copy and paste a position description.

She also gave information from Commander's Policy 14, which establishes the guidelines for merit based hiring, where applicants are anonymous and a panel is utilized to hire all wage grade leader positions, any supervisory positions and all GS-11 and above positions.

"The goal is that through all those processes the hiring process is based solely on the merits of the person who is applying," said Quinn.

GAP METRICS

The maximum payout for the FY20 Group Award Program is $2,000.

Quinn reviewed the various metrics which make up the GAP -- Performance to Promise, Productive Yield -- both direct and indirect, net operating result and continuous process improvement.

She highlighted the areas, such as P2P and NOR, where the depot is doing well and the areas where improvement is needed to achieve the full payout.

"Our direct and indirect yield and our CPI are lagging, but that's typical for this point in the year," said Quinn. "I can't tell you right now where I think we will end the year, but there is no reason why we can't achieve or exceed the payout we had last year."

For a list of the metrics as well as where the depot stands as of Jan. 31, 2020, see the GAP update on page 5.

STRATEGIC PLANNING DIRECTORATE

Tommy Morgan, the chief of the depot's Logistics and Business Development Office, outlined the plans for a new directorate.

"The commander has created the Strategic Planning Directorate, which will include Enterprise Excellence, where the Lean efforts reside; LBDO, which generates new capabilities and workload for the depot; the Sales and Operations Planning Office, which will align our capacity planning to our customer requirements; and the Quality Assurance Division," said Morgan.

The new directorate comes as a response to two recent command-driven assessments conducted at ANAD focused on efficiency and Lean processes.

"These observations were made by these consultants and, more importantly, these findings were reported to Army Materiel Command and actions are being taken based on these reports," said Morgan as he highlighted the results.

• Significant amount of time not utilized for productive work - 18 percent not working and 10 percent out of the area.

• Overtime can be more effectively managed.

• Man hour standards have not improved.

• Active supervision needs improvement. There is too much administrative time and not enough time on the floor.

• Majority of lost time driven by poor process control.

"AMC has already generated three new command policies, one of which is the guidance for active supervision," said Morgan, adding the new policy directs that first line supervisors spend a minimum of 50 percent of their time on the shop floor engaging with employees.

The assessment focused on Lean helped to reinvigorate continuous improvement processes at ANAD.

It also assisted in setting goals.

• Five percent improvement in man hour standards

• Zero product quality deficiency reports from customers

• 100 percent performance to promise

• Stay constant or grow the business from the current level of 3.8 million direct labor hours

• 15 percent new participation at all levels within an organization at Lean events.

SAFETY ISSUES, GOALS DISCUSSED AT TOWN HALL

OSHA CHALLENGE AND VPP

Drew Ramsey, chief of the depot's Safety Office, highlighted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Challenge, which the depot is currently working through, as well as the Voluntary Protection Program.

According to Ramsey, the OSHA Challenge is a program which helps an organization achieve safety excellence.

"Their goal is to improve our safety and health management program, which will change our safety culture," said Ramsey. "We had safety programs here in the past. They weren't 100 percent. They weren't excellent. We want excellence."

There are three phases in the OSHA Challenge and the depot is currently in stage two, which is implementation of the safety program and tracking how it can be improved.

Ramsey said ANAD hopes to complete phase two in August and phase three in January.

After the completion of the OSHA Challenge, ANAD will be able to apply for VPP Star status. According to Ramsey, this will identify the depot as a workplace where employees and leaders are involved in the safety program.

"Everyone is engaged from the floor up to make sure safety is a priority," said Ramsey. "It's not really safety first with what we do, it's safety always."

SAFETY GOALS

"In order to be a VPP site, you have to maintain injury and illness rates below the Bureau of Labor and Statistics averages for the industry you are being compared against," said Ramsey, adding that ANAD is compared against statistics for light truck manufacturing.

Currently, ANAD's recordable injury rate is down nine percent from FY19 and lost time reports are down 56 percent.

Part of the reason for the reduction is the change with new employee orientation, ensuring employees receive safety information and training prior to reporting to their work areas.

Some of the installation's goals for safety are:

• Reduce recordable incident rate.

• Reduce days away, restricted and transferred.

• Implement rigorous housekeeping programs.

• Complete hazard assessments for all work areas and processes.

• Extend safety training to additional employees.

CURRENT SAFETY ISSUES

Homemade tools -- Tools not purchased by the depot. There is a process if a tool needs to be created to perform a work function. Employees are encouraged to speak with their supervisor and depot process engineers to create and certify the right tool for the job.

Seatbelt use -- All employees operating government equipment where a seatbelt is installed should be utilizing the seatbelt.

Speeding -- Everyone is asked to adhere to all posted speed limits throughout the installation.

Crane usage -- No cranes should be used without the proper training.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SHARED

Other topics covered at the town hall were the Civilian Harassment Intervention Program, the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention program and the Hatch Act.

Patricia Boothe is the program manager for CHIP. She can be reached at Ext. 6243.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and events are being planned to highlight the importance of sexual assault awareness and prevention.

Additional details will be in future issues of TRACKS.

For SHARP reporting or additional information, contact Wendy Suttles-Walker at Ext. 3447.

George Worman, the depot's chief legal counsel outlined Hatch Act guidance for political activity. For additional information on the Hatch Act, see page 6 or contact the Legal Office at Ext. 6518.