Data-driven risk management, interoperability, and modernized supply chains are critical to warfighter readiness, defense leaders said during a Voice of the Customer Panel that concluded the first day of the Defense Logistics Agency’s 2025 Supply Chain Alliance Symposium and Exhibition here June 11.
DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly moderated the panel, which included: Lt. Gen. Heidi Hoyle, Army deputy chief of staff for logistics; Navy Vice Adm. Dion English, Joint Staff director for logistics; Stephen Gray, director of the Air Force’s 448th Supply Chain Management Wing; and Defense Contract Management Agency Deputy Director Sonya Ebright.
“This is one of the largest attendance levels we’ve had,” Simerly said, adding that the panelists represented the voice of the warfighter, the ultimate consumers of the products delivered through DLA and its partners. “They’re the consumers of the products that you all provide us, that we put into the fight.”
English emphasized the importance of collective investment and interoperability across allied forces, stressing working with allies and other foreign partners will be critical.
“It really allows us to do a little bit more than giving you space to operate,” he said. “Are we looking at our processes? Are we looking at our equipment? Are we standardizing what we can so that when we have mutual demand areas, that’s going to benefit us all?”
Hoyle, reflecting on the Army’s transformation efforts, said, “What got us here won’t get us there. Our Army needs to modernize.”
She highlighted the shift toward autonomy, right to repair, and predictive logistics.
“We’re leaning heavily away from 40-year-old programs … and thinking a lot more about disposable, attributable systems,” Hoyle said. “Predictive logistics … is absolutely essential.”
Gray drew a comparison between defense logistics and growing up with Depression-era parents.
“They were focused on being ready for any contingency, any problem at all, and the behaviors were all the same,” he said. “We have to teach them in peacetime to be ready … we’re trying now to bring industry to that.”
He explained that setting supply chains in operational theaters is essential.
“There’s also getting the supply chains in place to be able to move at speed and at scale, because wartime is a little bit different tempo than what we see in peacetime,” he said.
Ebright, representing DCMA, said, “We are the pulse, and we are the sensor network for the health of that industrial base.”
She described how DCMA is automating processes and using AI to identify supply chain risks earlier. “We are out there. We’re the early warning system,” she said.
She provided a specific example: “Our number one supplier for boron carbide, which goes into the body armor, was a supplier in Ukraine … and that company shut down.” In response, DCMA worked with DLA and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to find new sources and reuse existing inventory.
“We’re working on a system where (contractors) can communicate to us automatically,” she added.
Ebright also stressed the need for better data interoperability.
“If we don’t do this together, everyone’s going to come up with their own AI tools,” she said. “Let’s look at our data systems. Let’s look at our contracting systems.”
Simerly closed by emphasizing the importance of aligning data, supply chains, and readiness efforts: “Understanding setting the supply chains and what we can do to model the performance in wartime and adjust our investment … is critical.”
