Velocity Management: The Business Paradigm That Has Transformed U.S. Army Logistics

Abstract

Since 1995, the Army's Velocity Management (VM) initiative has brought a new way of doing business to U.S. Army logistics. As the term "Velocity Management" implies, this initiative focuses on improving the speed and accuracy with which materials and information flow from providers to users. As a result of the VM initiative, key Army logistics processes have improved dramatically in terms of time, quality, and cost. Velocity Management was developed as an alternative to the Army's traditional mass-based approach to logistics, under which vast quantities of supplies-spare parts, fuel tanks, extra vehicles, ammunition, and so forth-are kept on hand "just in case" they are needed. This approach was limited in responsiveness, reliability, and efficiency. The existence of massive stockpiles of supplies does not ensure that combat forces will get what they need when they need it, and mass requires a great deal of manpower and resources to manage and control. Moreover, mass-based logistics poses a tremendous cost to the warfighter in terms of footprint, risk, and mobility.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA395095

Entities

People

  • John Dumond
  • John Folkeson
  • Kenneth Girardini
  • Marygail K. Brauner
  • Rick Eden

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Business Administration
  • Combat Forces
  • Information Systems
  • Logistics
  • Maintenance
  • Management Information Systems
  • Management Personnel
  • Money
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Second World War
  • Supply Chain
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Supply Depots
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).