Scrooge, Marley and 21st Century Supply Chains
The Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) public blah seems to be management 'ollocks on steroids,
The reshaping of DE&S is being carried out under PACE (Performance, Agility, Confidence, Efficiency)...
and
As the Defence Management Journal understands it, the EDS Supply Chain Management system is based on Supply Chain Consulting's 'Viewlocity' Control Tower Platform and uses SAS' Enterprise Intelligence Platform to provide performance analysis and reporting.
Sorry, I have no idea what it actually means but I feel the need to stand up for some good souls. The Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA) deployed an Ops Support Group to Iraq to make better sense of containers. The Joint Force Logistic Component HQ has led Op BROCKDALE with its recovery/re-distribution of kit and should be home soon. Their facts and figures look encouraging.
Meanwhile, MoD and IT projects make for an uncertain future. The Management of the Joint Deployed Inventory (MJDI) is worth a mention as it will absorb all fixed and rotary air stores (USAS and USAS 2 as was) and is apparently due to go live next month. Jabber referred to MMiT (Management of Materiel in Transit) and FLIS (Future Logistics Information Systems). The latter is a difficult beast to find and the only reference so far is a note in a Defence Management Journal article 'Best in Class'. Silence is unhealthy so I'll stick with Jabber for the moment.
The distant past has been awful. I suspect that I am one of many from the Lynx community who has ransacked stores dumps in far-flung places looking for windscreens, intermediate gearboxes and hydraulic bits. The supply bible JSP 886 stacks volumes and annexes higher than the blankets it is supposed to manage. The blah heralds "21st Century Supply Chains" while the combined UK/US thirst for water, fuel and spares increases radically across Helmand.
At the same time, we should not ignore the pockets of improvement that are driven by dedicated teams whose efforts have been missed by the media. The Combat Log Patrols in Helmand certainly have a far better idea of what they are moving over dangerous routes. Perhaps it will be worth another look at the end of September?
Last edited by Data-Lynx; 20th Aug 2009 at 17:19.