Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. - Marking the thirteenth year of a special award, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division logistics community took time to remember the legacy of Michael G. Simodejka, the man primarily responsible for the establishment of logistics as a major force within NAWCAD.

Michael Simodejka, an Army ranger and bronze star recipient started his civilian career with the Navy in 1977 as a staff logistics manager for the Naval Air Engineering Center, Lakehurst, N.J. He went on to establish the first Logistics Department at Lakehurst and also became the first civilian director of the Logistics Competency for NAWCAD in 1997. His civilian naval career spanned 23 years before being cut short by his untimely death in August 2000 as one of the passengers on the shuttle flight traveling from Lakehurst to Patuxent River, Md. In his honor, the Michael G. Simodejka Award was created within the NAWCAD Logistics and Industrial Operations Group.

On Nov. 13, the 13^th annual award ceremony was held at Lakehurst and via video-teleconference to Patuxent River and Whidbey Island, Wash.   Attending was Pat Simodejka. Simodejka spoke of her appreciation for this award and how it helps to keep the memory of her husband alive within the logistics community. She referenced her own experience with process improvement and commended the award winners for their commitment to always working to make things better.

Presenting the awards were Rear Adm. Paul Sohl, assistant commander for Logistics and Industrial Operations, Naval Air Systems Command, and Todd Balazs, SES, deputy assistant commander for Logistics and Industrial Operations, NAVAIR, with master of ceremonies, Christopher Reymann the NAWCAD logistics Lakehurst site lead.  Also in attendance were Daniel Nega, SES, director Aviation Readiness and Resource Analysis Department, NAVAIR, Capt. C.J. Junge, vice commander NAWCAD and Michael Breckon, director NAWCAD Logistics.

The NAWCAD 2013 Michael G. Simodejka Outstanding Logistics Manager of the Year award was presented posthumously to James Hughes, the EP-3E aircraft fleet support representative at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Hughes was the Naval Air Systems Command liaison to Command, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing (CPRW) 10 and  Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VQ) 1. He worked closely with the fleet to provide customer support and avionics system management and reliability for the EP-3E. He instituted a local screening process to reduce the number of “no defect” components returned from depots. By working in-house, Hughes instituted a testing program for components to fully determine if they needed to be sent for commercial repair. This process helped greatly to reduce unnecessary costs and improve aircraft readiness. Accepting the award via video-teleconference was Pam Hughes, Jim’s widow.

The Outstanding Logistics Team of the Year award was presented to the Support Equipment Management System (SEMS) AUTOSERD team at Lakehurst. They streamlined the NAVAIR – NAVSUP Master Inventory File (MIF) in the Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (NERP) system, a monthly process run across three DoD organizations. The process had been a time and labor intensive task requiring 30 hours of work. Through the SEMS team’s innovation and design, the process is now an automated, hands-off, 15-minute procedure that can be accomplished during non-duty hours. It can also be accomplished across many Navy ERP information technology (IT) systems requiring no data interface and no additional costs. The SEMS team has tangibly provided the fleet with improved efficiency, timeliness and data integrity while reducing operational costs an estimated $6 million over five years. The team members include: IT specialists Heidi Klein, Domenick Deroma and Jose Rivera.