Pine Bluff Arsenal's Transportation Office recently received the 2011 Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command's Shipper of Merit award. The award, according to information from Sharon Lavergne, Transportation Division Chief, was based on the Arsenal's timely and accurate submission of shipping instructions. Defense transportation regulation guidelines for these operations are based on an average of 95 percent. In 2011, the Arsenal's average was 99 percent.
"It is a team effort getting the shipments to the Soldiers," said Lavergne, explaining that when the Arsenal has shipments destined for overseas, there are a lot of steps involved before that shipment ever leaves post. "Everyone on my team goes outside of their responsibilities to ensure that this happens."
She said that documentation has to be submitted, it must be accurate or the shipment isn't going anywhere. "My team goes above and beyond trying to ensure that the Soldiers in harm's way has the equipment and supplies he or she needs to do their mission," said Lavergne. "The production lines can make everything they can, but if we don't do our jobs it just sits there. It is a big process to get it shipped out of here."
Lavergne said that it is not only the efforts of the Transportation Office but efforts from everybody on the installation that gets the job done. "We are just a piece in the puzzle," she said. "I am lucky that I have people that never shirk their jobs. They are willing to do more than and dedicated to getting the job done."
The SDDC, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is the Army Service Component Command of U.S. Transportation Command linking the Army's Material Enterprise and the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise. The SDDC Shipper Performance Award is an ongoing effort to promote timely and accurate submission of documents from shipments moving through the Defense Transportation System. The award recognizes organizations that consistently submit their documents on-time and error-free. The program is highly competitive with approximately 2,000 shippers contending for 15 total awards.
Lavergne and Lori Manning, a transportation specialist, represented the Arsenal at the SDDC Training Symposium banquet March 7 in Denver, Colo. Manning went on stage to receive the Arsenal's award. Other shippers of merit award winners were Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command, Heavy Tactical Vehicles in Kentucky.
"When you go to meetings like this and you see all the Soldiers there from all the different services, it makes you appreciate your job and what you do. We have a good team that works well together," said Lavergne. "This is the first time since I have been here that the Arsenal has received this award."
Manning said that it was a great opportunity during the symposium to meet people from other installations that she communicates with on a regular basis. "It was nice to put a face with a name," she said. "It gives you a point of contact if you ever need anything from a different location."
The Transportation Office, is located at Dexter Gate, and is under the Directorate of Material Management.
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