Articles
GS1 Australia provides guidance for mine-hunters (June/July 2006)
The need for more efficient and effective defence operations has led nations around the world to reassess the way their defence departments deliver logistics support. Australia is no exception and our Department of Defence has engaged GS1 Australia's Professional Services Team to generate supply chain efficiencies and improve visibility.
Located in Sydney, HMAS Waterhen is the parent establishment for the Royal Australian Navy's mine countermeasure forces and is home to six 'Huon Class' Mine-Hunter Coastal vessels: HMA ships Diamantina, Huon, Hawkesbury, Norman, Gascoyne and Yarra. It also hosts a busy flotilla of support craft, including Diving Tender Vessel (DTV) Seal, Torpedo Recovery Vessel (TRV) Trevally, and Mine sweeper Auxiliaries (MsA) Bandicoot and Wallaroo.
The first of three phases of the GS1 Australia-led project entailed a business process review for inventory management activities at HMAS Waterhen, the ships themselves, and a supporting warehouse in Newcastle.
The review looked at processes across ordering stock on suppliers, receiving and put-away, stock picking, packing and despatch, stocktaking; and also repairs and maintenance, including High Risk Maintenance Items (HRMI).
The object of the first phase was to identify opportunities:
- The processes themselves
- Item identification
- Bar coding and automatic data capture
- Electronic messaging
- Additional system functionality
The second phase of the project, expected to start later this year, will focus on the development and evaluation of a cost/benefit analysis of these opportunities before moving into the third and final-phase: implementation.
The Department of Defence's Lieutenant Commander Robert Jude, Integrated Logistics support Manager, said the project was progressing very well to date. "This will be an ongoing activity for the next few months and now we are looking forward to developing a business case," he said.
GS1 Australia's Professional services senior Advisor John Szabo said the team was delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Defence Materiel organisation. "The mine-hunters face a special set of issues and it has been a challenge to work to overcome these in their supply chain. The implementation project provides a solution to address these challenges in an effective manner, leveraging the interoperability of the GS1 System with other NATO members through the GS1/NATO Technical Cooperation agreement," he said.
