RICHMOND, Va. — Defense Logistics Agency Aviation welcomed Air Force Col. Daniel Lockert as the new site commander in a ceremony on Hill Air Force Base, on July 24.

 Lockert assumed command from Air Force Col. Deirdre Mahon, who had served as the industrial support activity site commander since 2012. DLA Aviation Commander Air Force Brig. Gen. Allan Day officiated.

Lockert previously served as commander of the Air Mobility Command’s 19th Maintenance Group at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, which is the world’s largest C-130 Hercules unit and Air Mobility Command’s largest maintenance group with over 1,800 personnel employing 52 C-130 Hercules aircraft in a variety of airlift missions. Lockert is a logistics and aircraft maintenance officer with experience across six major commands and has served at the Air Staff and Combatant Command levels.

“Col. Lockert’s extensive command experiences, coupled with his knowledge of the global transportation network and strategic Air Force priorities, will bring a valuable perspective to DLA Aviation,” said Day.

 Day lauded the team, under Mahon’s leadership, for the achievements of numerous performance milestones. Day said the Hill team influenced and improved their standard work at the industrial support activity by implementing sustainable and repeatable processes that improved processing times. He said that some of the improvements were the automated backorder resolution checklists and development of supportability plans, which reduced backorders by 31 percent, awaiting parts by 31 percent, and for fiscal 2014 the Order Response Time met the 90 percent goal for a consecutive 12-month period.

“Under Col. Mahon’s leadership the team has implemented a more transparent environment, leaned forward in support of the customer, and developed standard operating procedures for all processes which set the pace for audit readiness,” said Day. He also said the Hill team set the conditions for the other industrial support activities to make sure all the DLA Aviation retail sites were audit ready.

Day also cited two of the Utah team’s major efforts under Mahon’s command: The F-16 Fighting Falcon Wing structural parts replacement and the A-10 Thunderbolt II Ballistic Foam Project to remove and replace foam coating on the aircraft.

Day said the Utah team and the Air Force made impressive efforts in getting the F-16 aircraft back on line by bringing engineers, planners and supplier teams together to improve and sustain the wing configurations; and in the A-10 Ballistic Foam Project as a result of an engineering change that rendered $18 million in A-10 Ballistic foam unusable, the Utah team partnered with the A-10 Program Office and Tooele Army Depot in Tooele, Utah, to coat the foam, ensuring 100 percent foam replacement.

In her comments during the ceremony, Mahon said the two things that stick out most as being representative of her time in Utah were change and partnership. She also said that she was especially proud of the men and women of DLA Aviation for all they have accomplished in the past three years. “They are small, but mighty and are led by the best leadership team in DLA’s retail family,” said Mahon. She thanked them for their support and dedication to the mission and to the people.

“Partnership is critical to meeting common goals and partnerships centered on collaboration and cooperation spark innovation,” said Mahon. “In those instances, where the DLA and Air Force supply chains, the program offices, and maintenance fully partnered, we realized huge successes.”

“There is no doubt that Col. Mahon has been a tireless advocate for enhancing relationships with our customer, improving our daily operations and culture, and has set a positive course for the incoming commander,” said Day.

 Mahon’s next assignment will be with Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command as chief of Logistics Readiness at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

“Colonel Lockert is the right leader to accomplish the challenges ahead and take advantage of the upcoming opportunities for our customers here at Ogden and around the globe,” said Day.

Day told Lockert to “never forget our ‘why’ or our ‘purpose’” as he assumed command. “We are here to deliver the right solution on time, every time – for our customers here in Ogden and around the world,” he said. “DLA Aviation aspires to be our customer’s ‘supplier of choice,’ providing warfighter focused, responsive, cost effective solutions.”

He charged Lockert and the Hill team to keep the warfighter first focus through teamwork and strategic engagements with the customers and suppliers, to find smarter ways to do things using continuous process improvement in achieving retail excellence, to deliver on our promises, and to never forget we are the stewards of our nation’s trust.

Closing out the ceremony, Day thanked Hill’s team for all it does to support our serviceman and women. “Continue to embrace the challenges ahead, dedicate yourselves to continual process improvements and innovation, and keep warfighter support at the forefront of all you do,” said Day.