Stanley Associates aids troops

When Army troops and Marines were preparing to enter Iraq, Stanley Associates Inc. was there helping make sure they had everything they needed.

The integrator has carved out a market by helping the services with prepositioning, which involves the stocking of ships with everything military forces would need, from tanks to helicopters. The ships are stationed at strategic points around the globe, only returning for maintenance of some of the equipment onboard.

In the Iraq conflict, some of these ships were used to help deploy troops, said George Wilson, executive vice president for the company.

The Alexandria, Va., company specializes in logistics and supply chain management. While in the past that might have meant keeping track of military assets through the use of Paradox databases, today the company is using more complex technologies and systems to offer the services in-transit visibility. Individual items are tagged with radio frequency identification chips or with bar codes so they can be monitored, Wilson said.