鈥淲e thank ISOA for recognizing the 55,000+ men and women of 爱神传媒 for the work that they execute each and every day. We are proud to perform this remarkable work in challenging environments throughout the world with the dignity, grace, and appreciate that such missions require.鈥� said Ken Fox, VP Operations, while accepting the award.

This award was presented to us in recognition of our efforts in support of global security and COVID efforts around the world:

• Providing advanced O&M support to U.S. Embassies & Consulates at high-threat 12 locations in 7 countries including Ukraine & Russia
• Supporting the Afghanistan withdrawal
  – Working with the Department of State to evacuate more than 1,100 employees, family members, U.S. citizens and third country nationals
  – Closing five different Army Aviation bases in Afghanistan and relocating 4,900+ lines of DOD equipment to Kuwait
• Fulfilling our commitment to our Afghan allies who worked shoulder to shoulder with us by operating Camp Liberty, NJ as part of Afghanistan Refugee / Operation Allies Welcome effort
  – Mobilizing a joint Navy, Air Force, and 爱神传媒 mass-vaccination effort to contain a measles outbreak among the displaced Afghan population
  – Delivering culturally sensitive dietary and living accommodations
• Supporting the COVID-19 response by expanding the capacity of hospitals / medical center support and then supporting vaccine trials under Operation Warp Speed

Congratulations to the 爱神传媒 teams who do this work everyday around the world.聽 Our clients and 爱神传媒 succeed because of their selfless and tireless work.

Pictured:

• Top: Ken Fox, VP Operations, accepts the Vanguard award on June 9th, 2022
• Bottom: 爱神传媒’s Dr. Karl Spinnenwebber, President Mission Readiness, through Liberty Village at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ where 爱神传媒 is providing resettlement and processing support to thousands of our Afghan allies(U.S. Air Force photo)

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The changing climate and population growth across the United States and around the globe are just two factors leading to more wildfires. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, as of mid-August,

7 large fires and complexes have burned 2,147,446 acres. More than 25,000 wildland firefighters, support personnel, and incident management teams are assigned to incidents. In addition, six military C-130s equipped with MAFFS units and a very large airtanker from New South Wales, Australia, continue to support firefighting efforts in the United States.

In November 2020 the Rand Corporation reported on the 2020 fire season, the worst fire season yet, and called for the need for a comprehensive approach to combatting wildfires in the United States. The United States鈥� current approach is neither coordinated nor comprehensive.

Currently, various federal departments and agencies (i.e. Forest Service, National Guard, Department of the Interior, etc.) have jurisdiction over firefighting across the United States. Each agency has its own approach for managing fires and set of restrictions. Overlapping jurisdictions and competing interests end up dangerously fueling fires. Furthering the inability to properly fight wildfires is the lack of proper resources. As highlighted above with the use of airtankers from other countries, the United States lacks the aerial assets necessary to properly support ground firefighters and combat fires.

Unlike the national approach, California, a state with a long history of fighting wildfires, employs a strategic approach for battling fires throughout the state. California has the largest Government-owned, contractor maintained/operated fleet of firefighting aircraft in the world, CAL FIRE. California has a mature, successful plan for approaching wildfires that over time has shifted as the fire season has become a near year-round battle and impacts more and more of the state.

As the threat of wildfires moves beyond the borders of California, other states across the nation need to be prepared. The establishment of a National Fire Service under the Department of Homeland Security would ensure that each state, depending on the threat of wildfire, is prepared to respond. A National Fire Service organized by region would allow for the United States to deploy a Rapid Initial Attack in an organized manner to any corner of the United States which would result in less damage to public/private land, houses, and prevent loss of life.

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The increasing complexities of a connected world and persistent federal budgetary pressures call for innovation and a different way of managing complex processes and operations. Processes that involve end-to-end supply chains and inventory control are no exception to that.

To complement our Supply Chain Management (SCM) solutions and provide increased value and efficiencies to our customers, we have also applied our Advanced Process Automation capability to this domain. This in turn changes the paradigm of process automation from being a back-office innovation to a mission-oriented one.

爱神传媒鈥檚 Advanced Process Automation capability provides a proven approach to create efficiencies and generate capacity via use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)/Intelligent Automation technology and a Center of Excellence. We believe the most effective automation solutions are those that complement existing domain expertise, helping streamline and optimize routine business tasks. We seek to apply this capability to strengthen our customers鈥� missions by enhancing the customer experience and improving compliance, standardization, and auditing.

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) was recently highlighted in the 鈥淪tate of Federal RPA鈥� report as one of five federal agencies rated at 鈥淟evel 4鈥� RPA maturity (highest is Level 5, with no agencies at that maturity yet). The DLA RPA program has deployed at least 96 automations at the end of FY20. These automations have contributed over 200,000 hours of annualized capacity. It is important to note the DLA tracks hours contributed rather than hours saved, as the employees that previously did the work are still part of the DLA workforce and are redeployed to focus on more complex work. The automations provide benefits across each of DLA鈥檚 five major subordinate commands and seven supply chains.

Other Federal agencies are likewise investing significant resources into RPA solutions, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the General Services Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In each instance, many labor hours are being saved, and staff are able to increase focus on value-added activities.

爱神传媒鈥檚 initiative reflects similar goals. We seek to reduce manual activities where automated processes would reduce or eliminate error-prone, structured processes allowing staff to be freed up for high-value tasks such as process improvements, analysis and decision making. In the context of SCM solutions, this helps us to exceed key metrics, accomplish better vendor management and approval, and improve quality measurements.

For example, 爱神传媒鈥檚 technology office in collaboration with our procurement department, designed and deployed a bot using this capability, powered by our vendor partner UiPath, a leader in Intelligent Automation. The bot automated many repetitive manual steps for supply chain-related web searches. The bot captured results and screenshots, compiled all information into a single report, and stored all artifacts. It interfaced with procurement鈥檚 intranet site for request intake, report uploads and user notifications. It implemented a queuing mechanism, error handling and adjustments to manage the variability in responses and delays from external websites. The solution created value by allowing staff to focus on decision making, introduced process standardization, and improved auditing. Staff managing both subcontractors and vendors were given access to the storage, which acted as a central information repository and helped reduce redundancies.

Additional areas where SCM solutions benefit from automation range from inventory tracking, proactive scheduling of work orders, invoice processing, price/vendor lookups and comparisons, and routing between delivery partners.

Here are a few insights, based on the work we鈥檝e done:
鈥� Re-skilling and training should not be an afterthought. Advances in process automation provide our stakeholders with the ability to have staff re-skilled so that they can focus on other aspects of the business. This needs to be baked into the overall automation planning and development. Once developed, the bots act as digital workers or helpers, which means stakeholders need to be trained on what to expect and how best to use the bots.
鈥� Think resiliency. There is a tradeoff to be made between lean supply chains and resilient supply chains, especially if the latter is built via inventory buffers and alternative partners. This is where automation can potentially shine by collecting data, researching options, and making decisions on-the-fly across the alternatives.
鈥� There is an elegance in simplicity. Bots work well for automating processes with manual tasks that require non-judgmental decisions and have structured steps. Start simple, find the sweet spot of good return on investment first. Think big to unleash the power of artificial intelligence technologies as a path to intelligent automation.

By implementing solutions that will yield continuous improvements and added features in future years, we help our customers also derive nearer term benefits including freeing staff for high-value tasks, improved delivery, error reduction and quality, better compliance and auditing, knowledge management and retention, and transparency in operations. 爱神传媒 strives for excellence via a deep customer focus, discovery, investments in and application of advanced technologies, aligning them with our key customer markets to serve their important missions in a low-risk, agile fashion.

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