Responsive Logistics (Movement Must Replace Mass).

Abstract

This study asserts that DOD's wholesale logistics systems are not designed for and do not provide responsive logistics support to warfighting CINCs. Conditioned to accept long order-ship-times (0ST), warfighters have historically compensated for this lack of responsiveness by relying on massive buildups of supply inventories in theater and at intermediate staging bases. This supply buildup strategy has proven successful and has been institutionalized in Joint and Service doctrines. Both warfighters and logisticians are comfortable with a logistics system based on mass inventories. The paper argues that a downsized DOD can no longer afford, either financially or from a combat readiness perspective, to continue to use mass to compensate for a lack of system responsiveness. Both warfighters and logisticians need to shift their paradigm from logistics based on mass to a concept that relies on total visibility over a responsive reliable flow.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 15, 1996
Accession Number
ADA308989

Entities

People

  • Robert J. Hauser Jr

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Armored Vehicles
  • Army Operations
  • Combat Readiness
  • Control Systems
  • Deployment
  • Doctrine
  • Logistics
  • Military History
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Persian Gulf
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Supply Depots
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.