ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. --Joint Munitions Command staff, and its Department of Defense partners, met here at JMC headquarters during a Requirements, Army Working Capital Fund, Mission Planning meeting, March 14-15, to discuss projected ammunition requirements.
More than 100 senior representatives attended the RAMP meeting which included Army Aviation and Missile Command; Program Director -- Demilitarization, PEO Ammo office; the Marine Corps; the Air Force; and eight of JMC's production installations.
Rhonda VanDeCasteele, Executive Director for JMC's Ammunition, Munitions and Logistics Readiness Center, welcomed the attendees and thanked them for their participation.
"I'm looking forward to today's session," VanDeCasteele said. "The intent of this meeting is to improve our planning, so we, as the ammo enterprise, can execute our mission efficiently, effectively and maintain the Chief of the Staff of the Army's priority, which is readiness."
Nate Hawley, director of JMC's Supply Planning Directorate, and his staff hosted the two-day event.
"Part of our discussion today is to sustain one of our critical capabilities, the ammunition distribution network model," Hawley said. "The future state of the network will be a gradual transition from five primary distribution regions to four. The current network was creating an imbalance that created a lot of challenges. This new network will reduce our transportation costs, increase readiness and reduce the positioning of our serviceable inventory."
"The future state of the distribution network will allow the ammo enterprise to be more effective," added Hawley. "This new network will also allow our inventory managers, who are making those positioning decisions for future production, to maintain more efficiently our munitions readiness for the Army and the Joint Warfighter."
The first day of the meeting included overview briefings of the Army Working Capital Fund budget; the Enterprise -- Integrated Logistics Strategy; foreign military sales requirements; best business practices for storage; and ammunition production and demilitarization trends from JMC headquarters staff. In addition, time was provided for installation commanders to discuss any specific production concerns. The second day consisted of individual breakout sessions for commanders and managers to discuss ammo requirements for the DoD for fiscal years' 2018 and 2019.
Joint Munitions Command manages 14 installations which produce small-, medium- and large-caliber conventional ammunition items for the Department of Defense. JMC is the sustainment and logistics integrator for life-cycle management of ammunition and provides a global presence of technical support to U.S. combat units wherever they are stationed or deployed.
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