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Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2006 Symposium (2007) / Chapter Skim
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From Factory to Foxhole: Improving the Army’s Supply Chain
Pages 131-138

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From page 131...
... MILITARY VERSUS TRADITIONAL SUPPLY CHAINS Traditional commercial supply chains focus on physical efficiency, with the emphasis on operating at the lowest possible cost, minimizing investment in inventory, and maximizing capacity utilization. Supply chains that support justin-time manufacturing (e.g., the Toyota production system)
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From page 132...
... In contrast, military supply chains focus on responsiveness and surge capabilities. The Army must be able to deploy quickly anywhere in the world, and its supply chain must be able to adapt and respond to unpredictable demands and rapidly changing environments.
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From page 133...
... When you take into account the commodity characteristics and a mission that must respond to unpredictable surges and spikes in demand, the differences between the Army's supply chain and the supply chains of commercial companies become readily apparent. VELOCITY MANAGEMENT TO SPEED UP FLOW The purpose of the Army's Velocity Management Initiative, begun in 1995, was to improve the responsiveness, reliability, and efficiency of a logistics system based on massive stockpiles of supplies and weapon systems, many of them prepositioned "just in case" (Dumond et al., 2001)
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From page 134...
... The Army now has premium-level service that is faster, better, and cheaper. Other improvements include better coordinated requisition processing and financial reviews, the adoption of simple rules to "clear the floor" daily, and the establishment of a high-level governance structure to measure performance and ensure continuous improvement.
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From page 135...
... Besides the contingency surge, they included financial delays and the underfunding of war-reserve inventory prior to the war. The implementation of best PSM practices, such as reducing lead times and total costs, could greatly improve future supply performance.
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From page 136...
... Dramatic reductions in the Army's OST have accelerated flow and streamlined the Army's supply chain. The current challenge is to leverage the distribution improvements achieved by velocity management with higher and more robust wholesale stock availability.
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From page 137...
... 2005. Sustainment of Army Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom: Major Findings and Recommendations.
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Key Terms

  • supply chains
  • velocity management
  • commercial supply
  • supply management
  • psm practices

  • improvements achieved
  • management initiative
  • reverse logistics
  • distribution improvements
  • physically efficient

  • stock availability
  • supplier management
  • chains focus
  • lead times
  • reducing lead

  • supply performance
  • waiting times
  • equally big
  • service expected
  • national wholesale

  • mission requires
  • commodity characteristics
  • psm goals
  • entire army
  • routinely receive

  • coordinated requisition
  • demand responsive
  • ensure continuous
  • unpredictable surges
  • army troops


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