Clark Provides Future Goals to Workforce at CAAA Town Hall

By thomas peskeFebruary 23, 2012

COL Linwood Clark addresses CAAA workforce
CAAA Commander COL Linwood Clark addresses the workforce during one of two town hall meetings held with employees Jan. 18-19. During the town hall, Clark addressed topics of future workload, employment levels and future strategies designed to keep C... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

With a focus on explaining the road ahead for Crane Army Ammunition Activity, Col. Linwood Clark used two town hall meetings with the workforce Jan. 18-19 to provide them with a better understanding of the Activity's current state and what can be done to improve.

"I have been in command 18 months now and since I have been here, this has been for me the best experience of my military career. Most of that is because of you. We are getting a lot of things done, we are doing it successfully, we are meeting all of our mission requirements and quite frankly, everyone has a role in it," Clark said opening the town hall.

"My next 18 months I think we will be challenged to do things a little different. But I know we are going to be able to do it all together," he said. "Thank you for everything you have done, not just for me or our command, but for what you have done for our Defense Department and those kids out there still fighting right now."

Clark introduced the workforce to CAAA's current strategic plan for the coming year. The development of the plan fell in line with the guidance given to CAAA by Brig. Gen. Gustave Perna, commanding general for JMC and Joint Munitions & Lethality Life Cycle Management Command, during his visit the previous year.

"The underlying principle is that the way we do business today is not how we will be doing business in 2015," Perna said. He stated that in order to stay competitive, all the commands in JMC will need to be more efficient and effective with the money and resources they have available.

CAAA's Strategic Plan is part of an overall effort to improve the way CAAA does business in both the long and short term. It lays out goals for Crane Army to achieve in fiscal year 2012, as well as sets path for long term planning through fiscal year 2013-18.

"Everything we have done from the management perspective… when we have these discussions about workload and the things that we can do to improve our base here, most of it is in order to drive our rates down and remain competitive," Clark said.

In addition to providing a look at the goals of CAAA, the strategic plan also provides employees ideas on what can be done at their level to achieve those goals. Matched with initiatives the command has underway, the effort would help reduce rates and make CAAA more competitive.

"We have a lot of things going on right now in terms of initiatives," Clark said. "I will tell you that some of the things we are doing will help us do our business a little more effectively and a little more efficiently. Some of the things we are doing will help us improve our facilities."

A few of the initiatives that were highlighted to the workforce included:

• The Cost of Poor Quality Pilot Program

• Telework Program

• New X-Ray Capability

• Global Positioning System & Radios

• Zero Client/Virtual Desktop

• DoD Van Pool Program

• 100 percent Eyes-On" Assessment of stored ammunition

• Energy Savings Initiatives

Clark stressed that as CAAA moves into the future, the employees need to completely embrace the Logistics Modernization Program. He asked employees to get into the system and figure out how it works so that any problems with the system can be fixed.

"LMP is not going away," he said. "I need you to get into it and work it out. I need you to get into the system and tell us where the problems are so that we can fix them."

Another initiative Clark highlighted is the future improvement of CAAA's Ammunition Transportation and Tracking Control Center into an Operations Center, with the capability to manage material movement and have visibility of production operations. It would allow managers a better view of where material and personnel are, especially in case of an emergency.

In addition to the strategic plan, Clark highlighted many of CAAA's recent successes. He praised the workforce for their efforts in supporting 13 major programs and product lines the previous fiscal year, as well as many other projects. He illustrated for them that their hard work could be seen in CAAA's revenue being higher than forecasted by more than $23 million and its labor rates being lower than the industry standard. Clark also spoke about the significance of reaching the safety milestone of more than 4.6 million hours worked without a Days Away Case.

Clark said everyone at CAAA deserved to be proud of what was accomplished. He also told them that as the command prepares to celebrate its 35th anniversary of ammunition excellence in 2012, its employees should take pride that the work they have done has set the standard for ammunition depots.

Established October 1977, CAAA maintains ordnance professionals and infrastructure in order to receive, store, ship, produce, renovate and demilitarize conventional ammunition, missiles and related components. The Army activity is a subordinate of the Joint Munitions Command and is located on Naval Support Activity Crane.

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