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Collaboration improves warfighter sustainment: Part I of II: measuring and improving enterprise performance.

Article Excerpt
This is Part I of a two-part series describing how collaboration improves the performance of the Department of Defense (DOD) distribution network that sustains the Warfighter.

INTRODUCTION

Supporting DOD sustainment requirements is a sizeable business operation. Combatant Command (COCOM) customers generate a daily demand of more than 15,000 requisitions against the nation's wholesale supply system, equating to nearly 3000 tons of cargo entering the DOD sustainment supply chain every day. Requisitions can take anywhere from a few days to a few months to be picked from stock, packaged, consolidated, shipped, de-consolidated, and transported to forward supply points. The DOD supply chain is uniquely supported by a worldwide network of supply sources, large fleets of multi-modal transportation assets, and modern distribution infrastructure. It is also complimented by a responsive command and control system that effectively mitigates challenges such as hostile interdiction and nature's unforeseeable events.

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This article introduces the metrics framework that is instrumental in understanding and managing the global distribution system and provides examples of two recent initiatives that improved sustainment distribution performance. The focus of Part II in this series will shift to the application of recent lessons learned in a global performance-improvement effort called Distribution Process...

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