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Introduction
For 41 years the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) in Capellen, Luxembourg, has been the principal NATO logistics agency. NAMSA is the largest of the NATO agencies, with an international workforce of some 950 logisticians, engineers, contracting officers, and administrative support personnel drawn from the NATO nations. Other NAMSA facilities outside Luxembourg include its Southern Operational Centre in Taranto, Italy, and the HAWK Logistics Management Office near Paris. NAMSA is represented at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command in Huntsville, Alabama, at SHAPE AWACS Force Command in Mons, Belgium, and at the latter's main operating base in Geilenkirchen, Germany. NAMSA's business philosophy is simple and effective: by consolidating nations' requirements for maintenance, engineering and supply management services, making bulk procurements and maintaining central stocks of spare parts, it is possible to supply services and parts at lower cost and more quickly than is the case when individual nations make their own arrangements, sometimes competing with one another.
The NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO) of which NAMSA is the executive arm was formed following U.S. and German initiatives, and the North Atlantic Council approved the NAMSO charter in 1958. Germany and the U.S. are still the major customers. Almost all of the systems NAMSA supports are of U.S. origin, but this is beginning to change. Military Committee 319/1 Principles and Policy for Logistics and AJP4 (A) Allied Joint Logistics Doctrine (supply, maintenance, transportation, medical, centralized contracting, and infrastructure engineering) are creating a trend towards joint logistics responsibilities.
NAMSA is not a commercial company and operates on a no profit, no loss basis. NAMSA brings NATO/Partnership for Peace (PfP) nations together through cooperative logistics to achieve economies of scale by means of consolidation, redistribution, centralization, flexibility and international competition. Since 1990 NATO has changed dramatically and so has NAMSA. Warsaw Pact Cold War adversaries are now peace keeping partners. In 1995 the North Atlantic Council approved NAMSA technical support for PfP nations. NATO operations are now joint operations, and logistics is becoming a joint responsibility. NATO nations have realized peace dividends by reducing forces and withdrawing systems from use, but the nations are demanding
technology revolution has occurred making electronic business a reality. To increase cutomer satisfaction NAMSA has two major initiatives. The...