Supply chain management in the military

Supply chain management in the military

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to address the usefulness of Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) in the DOD combined joint military supply to be both more efficient and effective. Joint chain supply faces potential risks such as broken communication, which hinders optimum performance. The supply chain could also face the challenges of incompetent leadership, poor planning, unforeseen calamities, lack of training, and other issues that may interfere with end to end delivery of supplies. SCOR advocates for an end to end communication between all the stakeholders of the supply chain. Therefore, the paper will examine how SCOR can improve and enhance communication in the supply chain to eliminate all barriers and streamline the supply chain.

Introduction

Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) addresses, improves, and enhances communication between the involved parties in the supply chain management in an organization. It streamlines the decision making processes by communicating decisions between the company, vendors, and end-users. Normally, it has three components, which are: analysis of the best practices, reengineering of the business process, and standardization (Lambert, 2008).

The SCOR model identifies involved risks, funding activities, processes involved, best practices, performance benchmark, as well as individuals in a certain organization. The department of Defense (DOD) supply chain is a worldwide network that conveys military materials and equipment to the joint force. Its main objective is to maximize the readiness of the force while optimizing the issuing of resources. There are various ways in which the combined joint military supply chain could use the SCOR framework to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. These include:

Strategy level and policies

Coming up with new strategies and policies is very important for the DOD as it acts as a guide in making future plans.  Failure to do this places the organization at a risk of facing issues that limits it from reaching its optimum potential. The policy for the supply chain should only be the focus on the management of the supply chain, but should not be incorporated with the management guidance of military materials and equipment. Therefore, DOD4140.01 should major its focus on supply chain management and also integrate all major organizations that participate in the end to end supply chain (Lambert, 2008).

SCOR Hierarchy

The SCOR model entails four main levels that can help the DOD improve the performance of its supply chain. The three levels focus on increasing the process element and specificity. The 4^th level focuses on operational tasks. The DOD is able to pinpoint and make changes to achieve a design that has been created with the help of the SCOR model. Level 1 entails the landscape of the SCOR model. It entails five phases, which include plan, source, develop, deliver, and return. Since supply and demand planning is the foundation of the supply chain, it is therefore important that the DOD ensured communication between all the partners involved in supplying the product it demands. There has to be a plan that ensures the synchrony and optimization of inventories, ordering, and distribution of products.

Level 2 focuses on configuring, where the DOD now analyses the flow material move in from end to end of the supply chain. The company has to ensure that the infrastructure is efficient enough. Level 3 is a detailed level that drills deeper into the company to understand how tasks and information flow through the supply chain. It examines the key transactions such as the inputs and outputs, performance metrics, systems, and processes. This level is important because it pinpoints at the weaknesses or the supply chain or rather what may need some changes to improve the efficiency of the supply chain.

The final level, level 4, involves the implementation of management practices. At this level, tasks are now implemented. Whatever was achieved in the three prior processes will need to be implemented in the e4th level to ascertain the full capabilities of the supply chain. These activities focus on designs, processes, and systems that best suit the organization.

The responsibility of the supply chain process should be given to a combatant organization that is well functioning, which will be responsible for ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the wide supply chain processes. It should also ensure the supply chain process perfectly align with the DOD operations. When implementing a strategic-level policy to its success, the supply strategy should fully emphasize on the end to end supply chain of the DOD.  Currently, the strategy does not draw much attention to the supply chain in the wider logistics framework of DOD. Due to this, the 2010 DOD Logistics strategy emphasizes on the DOD supply chain, that is, it facilitates the end to end talks about the weaknesses experienced by the system that has been pointed out by GAO (Delipinar & Kocaoglu, 2016)

The integration of end to end supply chain, practices, concepts, and processes into the J-4s into calculated plans and joint logistics ideas will bring an understanding of why end to end supply chain will enable future favorable results of a joint force. To achieve this, the methods, tactics, and ideas used must be on par with the future operating environment and also the best business practices that are well informed. This will ensure strategies used in chain supply greatly improve, thus inhibiting its previous poor performance. In addition to this, the supply chain council should be mobilized in the entire DOD to help with coming up and maintaining practices that are success-oriented for a business in order to achieve maximum support within the military environment. Partnership with the most performing institutions will ensure that informed business practices will be assimilated into the strategy and policy of DOD.

Processes and management

In order to achieve a successful supply chain operation, the management of possible risks is very crucial due to greater chain interdependencies and proliferation. In order to prevent future risks associated with the supply chain in DOD, logistics managing future disruptions is crucial. Through integrating best operations, culture, and planning into the organization, risk control can be achieved. This will ensure flexibility, repetition, and an increased supply chain, therefore, greatly reducing the vulnerabilities in the supply chain. This can only be achieved by establishing an office that only deals with supply chain risk management (Delipinar & Kocaoglu, 2016)

The application of SCOR’s model within DOD should be expanded in order to tighten connections between best business practices, technology, and processes used for optimal results. This will lead to a unified action through a common framework that encourages communication among the supply chain components. Where complex supply chain initiatives are required, the supply chain council should intervene by training the organization on the SCOR model and how it can be implemented to meet the DOD’s supply chain demands ( Maciaszek & Węcel, 2011)

Further research

Further study on the SCOR model of the supply chain within the DOD will identify gaps than needs to be filled in order to achieve optimal results in the supply chain. Reviewing more on the best practices to be applied, supply chain policies and operations, as well as management, will enable the DOD to achieve their set goals in the future.  The inclusion of the national strategy into DOD policy and strategy is very beneficial because studying it will enlighten the joint staff on the policies and strategies that can be applied. This is because the National strategy for global chain supply security helps to develop and achieve goals that focus on a secure, efficient, and streamlined global supply chain (Maciaszek & Węcel, 2011).

Organizational changes

Changes within the DOD will bring new capabilities in the organization that will support end to end supply chain, capability portfolio management, decision-making investment, proper planning on all operations, force development-based capabilities, which will have a positive impact on the supply chain. Organizational changes will equip DOD with a focused system that the supply chain management needs in the future operational environment of the joint force (Delipinar & Kocaoglu, 2016). These changes will also improve the office of the supply chain integration, therefore, leading to more informed decision-making processes. Most importantly, the organizational changes will enable the operations of the supply chain management of the combatant command level that will ensure an end to end process in the joint force. (Delipinar & Kocaoglu, 2016)

Conclusion

Over time, it has been demonstrated that a military force that easily adapts to new changes and clearly comprehends its operational environment will have major successes in the control of warfare. Essential supplies are handled during the supply chain, such as food for the military, and weapons. Control of these supplies determines the strength of the military. It is upon the military and national leadership to change the operational environment of the DOD in order to be adequately prepared for any future inconveniences in their operations. Incorporation of the SCOR model in their supply chain will highly enhance their effectiveness and efficiency in the joint force for future operating systems and the environment. Therefore, there is a need to stress the importance of the union between the national defense strategy and the supply chain for optimal results.

References

Abramowicz, W., Maciaszek, L., Węcel, K., & International Conference on Business Process and Services Computing. (2011). Business information systems workshops: BIS 2011

Delipinar, G. E., & Kocaoglu, B. (2016). Using the SCOR model to gain competitive advantage: A Literature. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 229, 398-406.

International Workshops and BPSC International Conference, Poznań, Poland, June 15-17, 2011, revised papers. Berlin: Springer.

Lambert, D. M. (2008). Supply chain management: Processes, partnerships, performance. Sarasota, Fla: Supply Chain Management Institute.

Siegl, M. (2008). Understanding the Supply Chain Operations Reference Model. 40(3). Retrieved from https://alu.army.mil/alog/issues/MayJun08/ref_model_supplychain.html

U.S. Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 4140.01, DoD Supply Chain Materiel Management Policy. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Defense, 2011.

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