PRIME DIRECTIVE

Article II of the USA-FEPP Constitution states "The purpose of USA-FEPP shall be to:

1) Assist the membership in establishing enhanced relations, communication and interactions with GSA, various Federal Agencies and among members;

2) Assist the membership of the USA-FEPP through training and interaction in the development and implementation of responsible and accountable practices and in the screening, procurement, administration, distribution, transfer, and disposal of "Federal Excess Personal Property" as provided under various statutes."

One of the steps to meet this requirement is the annual USA-FEPP Professional Development Workshop which brings Federal users/screeners together with the General Services Administration (GSA), Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), and other Federal Agency personnel. This is also an opportunity for fellow users/screeners to "network" with other personnel who work in the same arena, and talk about their problems and resolutions. This is also the forum where new policy and pending legislation is presented to the membership from the GSA, DRMS, and other federal agencies. At this time members may also receive training in the FEPP arena at this workshop.

WHERE DID THE "KANBAN" IDEA FOR REUTILIZATION START

In August 1999 the annual USA-FEPP Professional Workshop, hosted by General Services Administration (Region Four) and the University of Kentucky, was held at Lexington, Kentucky. Part of the Workshop was a tour of the Toyota Car production plant, which is located just outside of Lexington. During the tour of the facility, the tour guides explained to the group about the "Just in Time" manufacturing process where the "KANBAN" system of replenishment of stock on the assembly line was utilized.

WHAT IS "KANBAN"?

"KANBAN" is Japanese and means "card" or "visible record". In Toyota's automotive manufacturing environment all of the parts that are required by the assembly line to complete the assembly of the car are brought to the assembly line using this system. When parts are manufactured in another part of the plant, a manufacturing card is positioned on the cart or bin that these parts are placed on when manufactured.  These full carts/bins are placed in the storage area for use by the assembly line. This is known as the "MANUFACTURING" STEP. The required amounts of carts/bins with the necessary parts are taken to the assembly line initially. Once a cart/bin at the assembly line is empty, the cart/bin is returned to the storage area and the stock card of that cart replaces the manufacturing card on the other cart/bin. The manufacturing card is then put on the empty cart/bin and sent back to the manufacturing area to let them know to make more parts. The full stock cart /bin is then taken to the assembly line. This is known as the "ASSEMBLY LINE" STEP. This portion of the "Just in Time" manufacturing process reduces the need for huge storage areas and reduces manufacturing of unnecessary parts. The only parts manufactured are those required by the assembly line. This reduces overhead costs and overall costs on the bottom line.

With this real short synopsis of the "KANBAN" or "visible record" system, does the procedure sound familiar to FEPP users?

ADAPTING THE MANUFACTURING  "KANBAN" TO REUTILIZATION

Why not modify and adapt this system to the reutilization of Federal Excess Personal Property? Here is how I envision it could happen:

1. "MANUFACTURING STEP"

Presently if a FEPP user/screener wants to find any available property they have to make a regiment of logging on line to either GSAxcess, AAMS (for USDA), Defense Reutilization & Marketing Service (DRMS), Plant Clearance and Reutilization Screening System (PCARSS), or their own Agency excess site on the Internet. With the present feed from GSA,AAMS, DRMS, and other agencies into GSAxcess, it will reduce the amount of time to "surf the web", but it will still require logging on and searching for property that the screener needs. With the multitude of different types/kinds of property available, this procedure is very time consuming and may end up with negative results. If every one of the Federal Stock Classes were utilized you would have 9999 choices!!

2. "ASSEMBLY LINE STEP"

Presently the "ASSEMBLY LINE STEP" does not exist. The ongoing project of having all Federal Agencies, that do not utilize GSA for reporting excess, feeding their excess information into GSAxcess creates an opportunity to establish a system of requirements to be matched against availability. The system would allow users to tell GSAxcess or AAMS what property they require. The email address would be established as a mandatory field to be completed on input. Once a list of requirements was input, a query could be run against what is available. The results of this query would be a list of property that could be automatically emailed back to the requester, as well as the reporter of the property. Upon receipt of this information, the two parties could contact each other to their mutual benefit. Since the site utilizes agency codes in the listings, it could also be utilized by separate agencies to establish their excess available to their own entities prior to release to the other Federal agencies. This would automatically be converted to GSA excess once their established time parameter have been met, thereby reducing man hours of input once that agency no longer wants the property. This procedure would dramatically reduce the amount of time presently required to reutilize FEPP, and reduce the required amount of warehouse space. With the continuing reduction in budgets, some Users & Screeners search for FEPP on a part time basis and this would greatly enhance their chances of reutilizing property that might be required by them.

3. "REDUCTION OF WAREHOUSE REQUIREMENTS"

We can even take this system another step further. One of the results of the "Just In Time" philosophy is to reduce or eliminate the requirements for storage or warehousing of property. This system could be utilized by users of federal personal property to report property that will be available for other federal users prior to the closing of plants, bases, sites, or down to the level of termination or completion of a research project. Due to the ongoing policy changes that require electronic screening of property with it remaining "In Place" prior to moving it to storage areas, warehouses and DRMO's, the procedure in 2 above would reduce the need for warehouses. This would help meet the increasing requirements of reducing warehouses space placed on federal agencies by Congress. This would also reduce the amount of damage that usually happens when property, especially delicate property, is moved around so often. With this notification system, present users of the property could give the future users a better idea of what condition the property is actually in.

SUMMARY

With the implementation of 1 through 3 above the reutilization process would become an interactive "pull" system versus a stagnant "information" system. The present system that is utilized would be considered the "MANUFACTURING" step, since it produces a list of what is available for reutilization. Adding the capability of reporting property prior to close down would greatly enhance this step.

Adding the capability of user input for property they require and subsequent email list of available property would then become the "ASSEMBLY LINE" step, since it feeds information back to the screener and present user. This also becomes the "pull" from the system. This could also be utilized by agencies "in house" for their excess, and once the established time parameter has been met, automatically converted to available excess for the whole Federal community, reducing duplication of effort. I believe this is what the NASA site now does.

The capability of providing what users will have available due to closing of bases, plants, sites or closure/termination of projects would reduce the need for warehouse/storage areas and prevent further damage to property especially delicate instruments. Since screeners would know before hand who has the equipment, they could talk directly to the users about the property while on site. It would also foster an era whereby correct identification and correct condition of the property could be ascertained prior to requesting such property.

A good example of what the input of this type could look like can be seen by going to the web site for ebay.com or any other commercial site that list and offers property for sale.

For questions or comments concerning the above article, contact the author at jsmith@noao.edu.