Fully engaged during "an era of persistent conflict", the United States Army is also committed to a comprehensive and ambitious "Transformation" endeavor. Fundamentally, however, without an enabling transformation in logistics there can be no Army-wide transformation.
This tutorial offers a practical approach for understanding the Army's extremely complex global logistics system, one of the largest in the world. Logically structured using an operations research (OR) approach with an enterprise analytical framework, the new concept of "management innovation as a strategic technology" (MIST) is introduced and described. Cutting-edge supply chain theory, powerful analytical methods, and innovative strategic planning and management concepts are applied to this seemingly intractable national security resource challenge which has remained on the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) "high-risk" list for two decades now. This project overview simplifies a very complex, "large-scale" system to enable clarity, provide insight, and guide understanding through analysis, synthesis (integration), design and evaluation, and change management. In order to fully capitalize on advances in information technology (IT), the complementary power of modeling, simulation, and rigorous analysis for dramatic performance improvement is demonstrated.
The focus is on inventory management policy prescriptions illuminated through the prism of an enterprise-wide supply chain analysis. Although Army aviation logistics examples are emphasized throughout, the fundamental issues and potential solutions identified are broadly applicable to other large-scale military and industrial supply chains as well. Following a summary of recent trends for background and context, a multi-stage conceptual model of the logistics structure is presented to segment and guide the effort. The multi-stage model is used to systematically analyze major organizational components of the supply chain, diagnose structural disorders, and prescribe remedies � "catalysts for innovation". A summary of these disorders and their consequences is presented. Integration challenges are addressed using cost-benefit perspectives which incorporate supply chain objectives of efficiency, resilience, and effectiveness. The design and evaluation section develops an "analytical architecture" � a comprehensive roadmap - referred to as "dynamic strategic logistics planning", to enable a coordinated, enterprise approach for Army Logistics Transformation. An organizational construct is presented for an "engine for innovation" to accelerate and sustain continual improvement for Army logistics and supply chain management.
Finally, strategic management challenges associated with enterprise integration and transformational change are addressed: organizational design; management information and decision support systems; workforce considerations including human capital investment needs; and strategic alignment for a learning organization. The tutorial concludes with a relevant historical vignette and closes with a summary of expected benefits.
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Greg is a retired US Army Colonel. A West Point graduate and Air Defense Artillery officer, he began his 30-year career as a section leader in an airborne infantry battalion and retired as the senior, most experienced operations research analyst in the Army. A combat veteran with multiple tours in the 82nd Airborne Division, he also served as an assistant professor of operations research at West Point. His five OR assignments focused on building, developing, and leading successively larger analytical teams confronting increasingly more demanding transformational challenges in large, complex commands. The organization he led at US Army Recruiting Command earned distinction as a finalist for the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award. He holds graduate degrees in Operations Research, Systems Engineering, National Security Studies, and was a National Defense Fellow at MIT. Currently, Greg is an independent consultant and serves on the adjunct research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) where he has been an advisor to several foreign governments, and recently served as IDA's team leader and senior deployed analyst in Iraq.
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