The U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center-Korea is proud to announce that they became the third Army Medical Logistics Enterprise organization to use the Theater Enterprise Worldwide Logistics System Radio Frequency handheld device within its medical supply chain operation March 21.

The devices will help USAMMC-K execute its mission and improve efficiencies across the enterprise. With the implementation of RF handheld devices, USAMMC-K will be able to process and track all medical supply orders electronically, which will reduce the amount of Supply Discrepancy Reports submitted by customers and the paper requirements placed upon the organizations.

USAMMC-K supports the holistic, operational and strategic medical logistics approach adopted by both the 65th Medical Brigade and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The team is ready to execute the 8th U.S. Army's Single Integrated Medical Logistics Manager mission and serves as the Theater Lead Agent for Medical Materiel by providing world class customer-focused medical supply, optical fabrication, and medical maintenance support to Joint Forces in the Korean Theater.

Before this implementation, the U.S. Army Materiel Center Europe developed a project plan and hosted multiple teleconferences with key USAMMC-K personnel to ensure the milestones were met and the systems interfaces were connected.

USAMMCE sent a team of three personnel to Korea March 15 to assist with RF implementation, which included Holger Gerlach, Matthias Knerr and MDavid Woolley. The team's task was to build warehouse cues, validate connectivity and train USAMMC-K Soldiers and civilians on the RF technology. The first part of the training took place in a classroom setting where the participants learned the basic configuration and navigation procedures of handheld devices. Once the initial training was complete, the students were different hand held device functions.

Simultaneously, the implementation team collaborated with the USAMMC-K staff to diagram the warehouse, configure the warehouse cues for daily pick-waves and execute "test" cycles to ensure the RF systems was operating effectively. While preparing the system for RF capabilitly, detailed analysis of Master Data was conducted and knowledge transfer on Key Performance Indicators and management reporting techniques in various TEWLS modules (e.g. Sales and Distribution, Financial Management, Warehouse Management and Materiel Management).

Once the training and testing phase was complete, USAMMCE-K used the new RF system to pull medical supplies March 21. The system operated flawlessly and the USAMMC-K team especially liked the system's accuracy and the reduction of paper requirements.

The implementation of Radio Frequency capabilities within TEWLS demonstrates the Army Medical Logistics Enterprises' continued commitment to the ever changing and critical mission of providing medical logistics support to our Soldiers, families, and healthcare providers. By implementing forward looking strategic initiatives, the enterprise will become a fully integrated enterprise providing America's premier medical team with innovative medical logistics solutions.