Aiken facility shares supply chain solutions with New Mexico organization

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Representatives from Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Supply Chain and Logistics (SCL) organization recently visited the Savannah River Site (SRS) to benchmark Supply Chain Management (SCM) best practices to meet the demands of the overall plutonium pit production mission and stand up SCL for the Associate Laboratory Directorate for Weapons Production (ALDWP).

“It is our goal to ensure all supply chains across the complex perform at their maximum potential,” said Jay Johnson, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) deputy vice president, contracts and SCM, in the release. “As we share our best practices with other contractors, together, we can accomplish critical missions across Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) complexes. This benchmarking session was the first step in sparking an ongoing collaboration with Los Alamos.”

Los Alamos’s mission includes expanding from its weapons-related research and development to also encompass a more modern manufacturing scope within the next several years, the release stated. SRS’s mission includes the design and build of a modern manufacturing facility that will produce pits as close to 2030 as possible. The three-day benchmarking visit is one tactic used to solidify in-person relationships between both complexes and build a critical and sustainable partnership.

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SRNS Supply Chain Operations leader Scott Brow coordinated presentations and breakout sessions focused on various functions such as supplier management, inventory management, field procurement best practices, tool crib, chemical management and associated SCM information systems — all of which are relevant and pertinent scope areas at Los Alamos, the release stated.

David Dietz, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ senior director of supply chain procurement, leads a session outlining his division’s best practices and strategies to exceed prime contract requirements, the release stated.

“A resilient, agile supply chain is crucial to delivering the plutonium pit missions at SRS and Los Alamos, so we must work together,” said Johnson. “This engagement was a fantastic start in sharing best practices that have enabled our success at SRS.”

In fiscal year (FY) 2023, SRNS Supply Chain increased awards to $1.2B (92% increase from FY22); awarded over $732M with small businesses (70% increase from FY22); achieved its best supplier on-time delivery performance contract to date at 90%; received and delivered material to customers with an average cycle time of two days; and sustained 99.9% accountable inventory accuracy, according to the release.

“Our team is delivering well beyond DOE contractual goals because we challenge our talented workforce to exceed stretch targets in Key Performance Indicators and challenge the way we do business to deliver best-in-class performance,” Johnson continued.

SRNS SCM and Los Alamos’s SCL will continue to build their partnership success through collaboratively addressing supply chain and logistics challenges and identifying continuous improvement opportunities through regularly scheduled meetings, DOE/NNSA sponsored risk management summits, and future benchmarking sessions supporting the overall pit production mission.