Controlling inventory.

Verle B. Hammond knows how to turn experience into a business opportunity. A 28-year career in the U.S. Army prepared Hammond to run Innovative Logistics Techniques Inc. (INNOLOG),a McClean, Va., firm that specializes in creating electronic inventory control systems for--you guessed it--the U.S. Army.

"I learned about the Defense Departments needs while I was in the Army. They were concerned with the length of time it took to replenish their inventory of parts," Hammond explains. "It would take more than 30 days to order and ship parts."

Not anymore. Since Hammond's company inked a two-year, $7 million contract with the Army in 1990, waiting time has been cut back to three days. Says the 58-year-old president and CEO: "We have designed a system where a clerk can input a part number and that request will be transmitted to the source of the supply." With 1992 gross sales projected at $10.3 million--revenues for the first three quarters were $7 million--INNOLOG has come a long way since Hammond launched it from his home in 1989.

A former senior vice president and director of operations for a high-tech company in Fairfax County, Va., Hammond always wanted to launch his own venture. He used $34,000 from six investors and $600 in personal savings to start INNOLOG. (His six investors own 16% of the company's stock. The rest of the stock is owned by Hammond, his wife and daughter).

The company has 170 employees and branch offices in Dayton, Ohio; Killeen, Texas; Heidelberg, Germany; and Prince George County, Tysons Corner and Alexandria, Va.

Looking ahead Hammond expects INNOLOG to maintain steady growth and enter new markets. "We need to concentrate on the nondefense, high-tech market," says the forward-looking entrepreneur.