New household goods call center opens in San Diego
August, 2011
by Candice Villarreal, NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center San Diego Public Affairs
SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Personnel assigned to NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center (NAVSUP FLC) San Diego celebrated the grand opening of a new household goods (HHG) regional call center in August in San Diego.

NAVSUP Global Logistics Support (NAVSUP GLS) acting commander Bill Bickert, HHG regional director Jeff Clawson and NAVSUP FLC San Diego commanding officer Capt. Pete Stamatopoulos cut a commemorative ribbon to kick off the celebration.

The call center, conceptualized by NAVSUP GLS and implemented by NAVSUP FLC San Diego, is part of an ongoing HHG regionalization program aimed at improving efficiency to better serve customers throughout the fleet.

The new call center will employ six call center representatives and a supervisor to answer the approximately 3,500 phone calls it receives each month. In the past, it fell upon counselors to answer all of the calls while also trying to take care of other matters and attend to customer files.

"[Counselors] were answering so many calls that they didn't have enough time to do much else," Clawson said. "What we did was boost the capacity needed to continue to provide great customer service while streamlining operations and becoming a better service provider."

Customers contact the call center daily with questions ranging from general moving process inquiries and scheduling requests to more detailed questions about unique situations and circumstances. About 360 calls were received on the grand opening day.

The regional call center concept was shaped by GLS last fiscal year and resulted in more defined front and back office functions. Front office functions now reserve counselors for specialized and face-to-face communication and transactions, while back office functions entail representative duties like file processing and record keeping.

Stamatopoulos said the new call center's operational design ensures Sailors are getting the most from essential services that contribute to well-being and family readiness. Meanwhile, he said, NAVSUP FLC San Diego will continue to integrate efforts that ensure a seamless approach to fleet readiness.

"Our goal is to be as efficient and as accessible as possible to our Sailors and civil servants as they go through the moving process," Stamatopoulos said. "In most cases, they're on their way to their next assignments in service to our country, so we're constantly striving to make things as easy and organized as possible for them."

NAVSUP FLC San Diego, one of seven fleet logistics centers under NAVSUP GLS, provides global logistics, business and support services to fleet, shore and industrial commands of the Navy, Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and other joint and allied Forces.

Services include contracting, regional transportation, fuel, material management, household goods movement support, postal and consolidated mail, warehousing, global logistics and husbanding, hazardous material management, and integrated logistics support.

NAVSUP GLS comprises more than 5,700 military and civilian logistics professionals, contractors and foreign nationals operating as a single cohesive team providing global logistics services from 110 locations worldwide.

A component of the Naval Supply Systems Command headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa., NAVSUP GLS is part of a worldwide logistics network of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel providing combat capability through logistics.