Stanley Associates prepositions Army, Marines for Iraq

By Joab Jackson

By Joab Jackson

|

When U.S. Army and Marine troops were preparing to enter Iraq, Stanley Associates Inc., helped make sure they had everything they needed.

All these components, when operated together, will allow the Marines to execute a mission supported by an automated information framework. In addition to this work, the company also is providing technical, logistical and operational support to the Marine Blount Island Command, which is the hub of the Marine Corps' prepositioning programs. The command also operates a series of maritime positioning ships that can be dispatched anywhere in the world on short notice."Our people take a lot of pride in doing this. It's not simply for the money, it's not a glamour job" Wilson said. For Stanley, the prepositioning support it offers to the Marines and the Army may offer an avenue for similar work with other services. The company has been talking to the Navy, Wilson said. Founded in 1966, Stanley Associates is a privately held information technology and professional services company, with a focus on transportation and logistics. It employs 1200 people.According to Washington Technology's annual round-up of top IT integrators, last compiled in May 2002, Stanley took in approximately $62 million worth of federal government IT work for fiscal 2001. Wilson said about 50 percent of the company's work is military-related.

When U.S. Army and Marine troops were preparing to enter Iraq, Stanley Associates Inc., had already helped make sure they had everything they needed.

The integrator has carved out a market in helping the services in prepositioning, which involves the stockpiling of ships with everything military forces would need to undertake a mission, from tanks to helicopters. The ships are stationed in strategic points around the globe, only returning for maintenance of some of the equipment on-board.

In the Iraq conflict, some of these ships were used to help deploy troops, said George Wilson, executive vice president for the company. Stanley has a number of employees in Kuwait to help unload equipment and to support systems the company has developed for the Army and the Marines.

The Alexandra, 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.

The company supports the prepositioning through two systems. Since 1996, it has been supporting the Army War Reserve Deployment System and the Automated Battlebook System, which offers commanders a high-level view of what they have on-hand.

Both programs fall under the purview of the Army Prepositioned Stock program, which is managed by the Field Support Command and the Army Materiel Command.

In addition to the Army work, the company also supports the Marines through a coordinated suite of tools that helps the Marines plan their supply lines.

The Army's AWRDS/ABS systems manage and issue all equipment stored at each prepositioning site. Using a client/server Web-based architecture, the systems link 30 remote facilities, keeping tabs on inventory, maintenance support and equipment readiness. The systems also deliver readiness information to other Army systems.

The company also provides troops with computer-based training modules to get them up to speed on using the systems.

Stanley's work with the Marine's supply system dates to 1988. The company is developing a suite of systems that includes:

  • The Computer Aided Embarkation Management System for shipload planning.


  • Marine Air Ground Task Force Deployment Support System II for prepositioning and war planning.


  • The Transportation Coordinators' Automated Information for Movement System to track supply request as they flow through the system.


  • The Marine Air Ground Data Library for data and quality engineering standards.













    • NEXT STORY: General Dynamics buys Creative Technology