AMC: the Army's Lead Materiel Integrator

By Ms. Cherish Washington (AMC)March 30, 2011

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- The Secretary of the Army has designated the U.S. Army Materiel Command as the Army's Lead Materiel Integrator in a March 22 memorandum, which changes how the operational Army will receive its equipment in the future.

With the designation of an LMI, the Army will standardize the process of providing materiel to the warfighter that was once managed by multiple organizations, databases, and people.

"The Army's new approach for managing materiel is being designed to effectively and efficiently distribute and redistribute materiel to support the generation of trained and ready forces," McHugh said in the memorandum. "It must represent a different way of doing business that will foster open communication, improve collaboration and eliminate redundancies in the process."

This designation allows AMC to develop the single authoritative materiel data repository for the Army through an initiative called Logistics Information Warehouse, said Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody during a recent town hall meeting.

At one point in time, warfighters needed to coordinate with multiple Army organizations to determine how to fill equipment shortages.

With the implementation of this designation, AMC is now the one point of contact for all materiel through the U.S. Army Sustainment Command (ASC), a major subordinate command of AMC.

ASC's role will be to operate as the Army's single materiel readiness synchronization point: receiving materiel requirements from the Army, and employing its Distribution Management Center, Army Field Support Brigades, and Directorates of Logistics.

The benefits of the LMI designation include the ability to provide total asset visibility and transparency, predictive analysis, elimination of redundant capabilities across the Army, and integration and synchronization of multiple efforts, enabling AMC to manage materiel at best value for the entire Army.

"This is probably one of the most transformational adaptations we have had at the institutional level that is really going to impact ARFORGEN [Army Forces Generation] and our ability to sustain and equip forces" Dunwoody said.