Support, headquartered in San Diego, Calif.
Heinrich holds master’s degrees in business administration and petroleum management from the
University of Kansas and has attended the Kellogg
Graduate School of Management Advanced
Executive Program at Northwestern University.
DC VELOCITY Editor at Large Steve Geary recently
sat down with Rear Adm. Heinrich to talk about
global logistics for the Department of the Navy. In
light of current events, it’s no surprise that much of
the discussion centered on the effects of the
sequester.
QMany people outside the military have never heard of NAVSUP. Who are you?
AWe are the folks that can provide integrated global capability not just to NAVSUP, not just
to the fleet, but to anybody in the Navy who needs
logistics support. That is one of the things that we
are very, very good at.
Logistics are important to the Navy, and logistics
are why NAVSUP exists. In fact, the way we wrote
our NAVSUP strategic plan for this year was an
acknowledgment that what we are really trying to do
is manage logistics networks.
QCan you give us some idea of how NAVSUP is responding to the sequester?
AThe harsh budget environment creates opportuni- ty for logisticians. We are working hard to find
opportunities within this environment to make things
better, and that means continuing to leverage our commercial partners through out-of-the-box supply chain
solutions. We are going to continue to work with the
Defense Logistics Agency and look for opportunities to
leverage their incredible capability and the U.S.
Transportation Command.
QAs you work your way through the impact of the sequester, what are some leadership lessons that
you can share with our readers?
AThe most important thing is to be transparent. If people think too many decisions are being made
in a smoke-filled room, then trust goes out the door.
Trust has a really hard value. You almost can’t put a
price on it. When you lack trust, costs go up. In any
harsh budget environment, trust and transparency are
critical.
And the number one rule of leadership is, of course,
take care of people. We are focusing on our workforce
because these people don’t have to stay. They do stay on
because whether they wear a uniform or civilian clothes,
they are all patriots. So we have to make sure they know
we appreciate them and what they do. The momentum
to keep our mission in focus isn’t driven by a paycheck.
Love of country is something we all share.
QYou are a global operation with customers and operations around the world. How do you establish a positive environment across such a far-flung operation in difficult times?
AAlignment is key. NAVSUP must be aligned with our fleets and our resource sponsors at OPNAV
[Office of the Chief of Naval Operations]. In this harsh
budget environment, misalignment with them, from a
leadership perspective, would be terrible. We have to
communicate. We have to think the same. We have to
act the same.
QHow do your private-sector partners figure into the equation?
AI worry about our private-sector industrial base because our goal is to ensure that we go right from
factory to foxhole, factory to fantail, factory to flight
deck. If the factory is being hurt, then that isn’t helping
us. We have great hope that Congress will come together on a budget agreement that allows us to continue to
operate and train. The impact to our industrial base is
something we think about all the time.
QWhat specific actions is NAVSUP taking to reduce spending?
A“Level-of-effort” contracts are not hard to ratchet up or down. Contracts that produce a product are
harder. In many cases, it takes a renegotiated contract
with our commercial partners. We don’t want to renegotiate because when we establish an agreement, we
expect to be able to fund most of these contracts at a
steady level, but we’re at a point where there is a realiza-tion that we have to do something. In an environment
where we are tying up ships and grounding airplanes,
we would not be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars if we didn’t look at it.