Goals & guidance: an interview with MTMC's Commanding General.

Q. Strategic Plan 2002 is now in distribution to MTMC employees. What guidance do you have on the implementation of the plan's goals?

A. Many people in MTMC from around the world contributed to the development of our updated Strategic Plan. Such things are not easy. They take a lot of time and effort. I would like to thank all who worked so hard to put this document together, whether it was in the development of goals and objectives or the formatting of contents for printing. The Plan is impressive. Collectively, we have identified what we think is important for several years ahead. But the hardest part is just beginning. Strategic Plan 2002, like most other plans, remains little more than a nice-looking publication at this point. It differs from its predecessor to a significant degree because of Section Two, which provides us a program for measuring our progress. That is a very useful addition. It is now incumbent upon all of us, though, to make the Plan a reality. No single person can do that. It will take all members of the MTMC team pulling together. Every employee in MTMC is now a stakeholder in the Plan. Every employee in MTMC now needs to understand what it says, how they fit, and what they can do to make it a reality. Let's educate and involve the entire team--and get on with it.

Q. The 2002 MTMC Training Symposium has just concluded in Dallas, Texas. What did you bring away from the symposium?

A. Some of my proudest moments in MTMC have occurred at our training symposiums. Jeanie Bell Winslow, our project leader; Elizabeth Porter, the President of EP Productions; and many others superbly supporting them have made the annual MTMC Training Symposium a conference to emulate. These forums continue getting better year after year. I don't know how Jeanie and crew do it, but I have no doubt that our Symposium in Denver next spring will continue the trend. What impresses me most is how widely attended they are from start to finish. This year, nearly 1,700 people from throughout the world attended. Breakout sessions were crowded until the end. Service tack-on meetings were packed, too. Someone told me that the Air Force had over 300 at their session.

I am not a fan of conferences. A couple weeks ago, I received invites to a dozen of them in a single day. I believe too many people spend too much time conferencing. That being said, we should never doubt the value of this annual event for many in Department of Defense. It reminds me of the comment in the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." We are producing something very important here, and others are coming as a result ... in droves. Let's work hard to keep it that way.

Q. The pace of change is really something. At the symposium, we watched transporters learning new Web-based IntelliTrans software that they will use back at their work places to order commercial rail cars and manage their shipments. How much more impact will Web-based processes and software have on MTMC?

A. You also should recall that during our opening session at the symposium, Bill Cooper, Director of Transportation Engineering Agency, provided a live demonstration of our Intelligent Road Rail Information System, or IRRIS. That demonstration produced rave reviews. Later, the hands-on live demo in the exhibit hall drew many people over two days. IRRIS also leverages the Web to make available information from hundreds of data bases throughout the country. IntelliTrans and IRRIS both are showing us better paths for the future.

We need to change our thinking to leverage these capabilities. Too many of us are trapped into the past, where we only see large government systems generating its own information. We need to leverage data available over the Web and then integrate it to meet our needs. We struggle daily to capture in-transit visibility information for the Global Transportation Network, for example. We could be pulling much of that information right now from commercial Web sites, just as the rest of the commercial world does, and concentrating our resources on that which is not available over the Web. The potential impact of Web-based processes and software is limitless and positive. Our challenge is to see the possibilities, or as I've said so many times, to see the world as it is.

Q. The symposium's Small Business Conference continues to draw strong interest. When you opened the conference, you had strong words of praise for participants. In your opinion, what is the value of small business to MTMC?

A. This was the second year that we have preceded our symposium with the Small Business Conference. It was again widely attended. We received great feedback from participants. Let me say here, as I said to them, MTMC couldn't perform its mission today without small businesses. Although it is not uncommon to find large businesses dominating some modes of transportation, the sealift and airline industries most notably, small businesses remain key to moving cargo to and from ports and storing it as needed in warehouses. They have made huge contributions to our systems development. They are helping us to manage traffic better. They are also helping us monitor shipments and to ensure compliance with regulations. I could go on and on with more examples. Small businesses are indispensable to MTMC and the Department of Defense. There will always remain many opportunities for them.

Q. A story in this issue of Translog describes the incredible surface movements traveling the breadth of Europe and Asia to various destinations in the War on Terrorism. In your previous experience and training, did you ever contemplate such a supply chain link?

A. No. I spent much of my career concentrating on operational warfare of a different type. In the 1980s, for example, we used to conduct exercises in which we counterattacked across borders into the Soviet Union. We planned logistics support, taking into consideration the different gauged rail lines between Western and Eastern Europe. Many of us studied Soviet experiences in Afghanistan. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would be collaborating with Russia and others to emplace commercial transportation solutions to support a U.S.-led war against terrorism in Afghanistan. It just goes to show you that each war is different. We cannot fixate on the past. We, with our industry partners, must remain ready to produce quick logistics solutions to support forces worldwide.