Can you imagine a bigger challenge than supplying parts to a customer whose warehouse is aboard a ship? Or a supply depot in a war zone in the heat of a desert. With a supply chain that circles the globe supplying precision hardware to the United States Military is not easy.
So MSA is justifiably proud of being approved to ship directly to any branch of the US military wherever it may be. Special state of the art hardware that uses radio frequency identification, as well as packaging materials and shipping containers specially designed for harsh environments are all part of the equation. MSA can now supply a single solution to the Department of Defense, no longer needing to send parts to a military packaging specialist.
This was accomplished after months of research and learning the intricacies of a process that was new to MSA. The process begins when we receive a contract from the Government. Very specific packaging instructions are coded into each contract and MSA takes that information and creates packaging instructions. Packaging materials that are designed to meet the specific needs of each shipment are used, all certified to withstand the harshest of environments. Then a radio frequency identification (RFID) label is printed and affixed to the box. This electronic label has the information relating to that box encoded into it. The next step is to send advance shipping notification to the Department of Defense via a secure network. With custom designed hardware we make sure the label is transmitting properly then it’s on its way.
When the materials are received the soldier, sailor, airman or marine who is expecting it is alerted by way of that same RFID tag. The data in the RFID tag is matched to the advanced shipping notification, and in an instant the receipt of the order is completed.
In January MSA was audited by a team from the Defense Contract Management Agency and after an exhaustive review we received approval to begin shipping. Congrats Team MSA!