Value Stream Analysis in Military Logistics: The Improvement in Order Processing Procedure

Abstract

Military logistics is a complex process where response times, demand uncertainty, wide variety of material references, and cost-effectiveness are decisive for combat capability. The demanding flexibility can only be achieved by improving supply chain management (SCM) to minimize lead times. To cope with these requirements, lean thinking can be extended to military organizations. This research justifies and proposes the use of lean methodologies to improve logistics processes with the case study of a military unit. In particular, the article presents the results obtained using value stream mapping (VSM) and value stream design (VSD) tools to improve the order processing lead time of spare items. The procedure starts with an order generation from a military unit that requests the material and ends before transportation to the final destination. The whole project was structured, considering the define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) problem-solving methodology. The results show that the future state map might increase added-value activities from 44% to 70%. After implementation, it was demonstrated that the methodology applied reduced the lead-time average and deviation up to 69.6% and 61.9%, respectively.Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 106 2 of 17 in the supply chain reliability by synchronizing each element internally and externally, forecasting the demand and managing inventories and assets efficiently.To minimize response times and to assure the required flexibility avoided wastes, the lean philosophy can be extended to supply chain management in military organizations. For example, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has been working intensively together with service providers and supporting contractors to introduce and apply lean principles into their organizations to optimize internal lead times [7]. The origin of lean philosophy is generally attributed to the practices developed from the TPS or Toyota Production System [8,9], pioneered by Taiichi Ohno [10] and Shigeo Shingo [11]. Their lean principles related to philosophy, processes, people, partners, and problem-solving allow organizations the implementation of lean thinking at different levels. Moreover, TPS has influenced not only manufacturing concepts but also supply chain management ones [12][13][14]. The concept of lean supply is described in [15,16] as an operating attitude that needs to be changed in relation to suppliers so that the effect of associated costs to non-perfect processes will not be limited to the location of the execution. This approach targets long-term customer satisfaction. Thus, supply chain optimization is possible according to the three main TPS goals: best quality, lowest cost, and shortest lead-time, which are achieved by continuous improvement and increasing operations' added value.This work evaluates the use of lean methodologies and their application to military logistics functions, focusing on supply chain management processes for spare parts. We present a case study to improve military material order processing pr...

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