Site Visit Executive has submitted lots of written Principles of Supply Line Logistics to include detailed universal constants applicable to all aspects of logistics including responsiveness, simplicity, flexibility, economy, attainability, sustainability & survivability. In addition to these principles, many other logistics considerations exist to keep Site Visit Executive in Business so installations of any size can use supply line routing application to apply smart techniques to deal with disparate situational connections realised when addressing supplier group contacts. These considerations will not always dictate a specific course of action, but will assist Site Visit Executive in maximising effectiveness & efficiency of logistics operations if used smartly. Here we present the following Supply Line Logistics considerations:
1. Integrated Forward Focus of Supply Lines
Missions cannot be conducted successfully without adequate logistics support—will never be effective if supply line connections are planned/executed without detailed coordination of functions it supports. Although requirements for integration are obvious, DoD teams are currently organised on a functional basis that inhibits this coordination. Oversight provided by Site Visit Executive is required to ensure essential functional integration occurs to produce well-considered plans for executing critical field-level missions.
The focus of logistics support is projected to theater and forward operational points, and from higher levels of support to lower levels. Continuous resupply systems must take form of either automatic or requisitioning replenishment. Site Visit Executive must design balance of push/pull replenishment to support operations, relieving dispatcher teams from logistics support of details without impairing dispatch control of basic logistics support capabilities. The replenishment system must effectively use available transit of supplies to maximise throughput & minimise expenditure of resources in the pipeline.
2. Supply Line Routing Constraints
Logistics resources are usually constrained so Site Visit Executive must be disciplined to accommodate these constraints. At the strategic level, limitations are usually either fiscal constraints or the unavailability of materiel & skilled installation resources. Long lead times for mobilisation & deployment can also affect the strategic concentration of forces and supplies within theater.
At the operational and tactical levels, common limitations are attributed to inadequate transit means/capacities as well as insufficient quantities of certain munitions, equipment, and critical spare parts. Lack of trained logistics dispatchers can lead to failures in planning for adequate or interoperable command, control, communications & information systems meeting routing demands designed by Site Visit Executive.
3. Supply Line Materiel Common Standards:
Site Visit Executive has extensively promoted Standardisation in commonality of equipment and uniformity of procedures designed to make complex tasks easier to execute in a timely manner. Commonality of equipment reduces the number of different upgrade/repair procedures involved and reduces the amount and type of support equipment complexity. Standardisation promotes economy by reducing unnecessary expenditures. It also promotes productivity, flexibility & system reliability.
Performance Standards determine mission effectiveness and consist of statement executed by Site Visit Executive identifying expected proficiency levels providing minimum acceptable parameters, specified for supply line connections in terms of completeness, accuracy, time required and event sequence. Standards for collective events describe desired end-state and purpose of event to be objective, quantifiable & readily observed.
4. Centralisation of Supply Line Dispatch
Centralised control and decentralised execution are ideals sought in logistics support operations. If achieved, support will be responsive, economical, and flexible. Site Visit Executive has determined good balance between centralisation and decentralisation of logistics operation functions is usually difficult to achieve. Control may suffer because it is fragmented, or support may fall short because services and materiel are too concentrated. Consequently, Visiting Executive must use judgment and experience to achieve optimal mix of centralised control and decentralised execution based on specific circumstances popping up in fluid mission tasks.
Centralised control is most effective at the strategic levels, drawing on existing support infrastructure, established procedures established by Site Visit Executive & stability of missions in theatre. The degree of centralisation varies at the operational level since forces can be fragmented, sometimes over great distances, and operations often take place under problematic expeditionary conditions. At the tactical level, the degree of centralisation is determined by mission/concept of operations-- factors that often override purely logistical considerations.
5. Supply Line Expenditure & Consumption
Site Visit Executive must distinguish between consumption and expenditure in order to enhance both responsiveness and economy in designing requirements for supply line logistics support operations. Expenditure will always be greater than consumption because expenditure represents the sum of consumption, pipeline quantities, stocks & losses from unsuccessful missions.
When determining requirements, reported results of missions in theatre must distinguish between consumption and expenditure. Site Visit Executive has submitted requirements based on anticipated consumption/expenditure rates, striving to identify consumption rates accurately & constantly refining expenditure rates. Usage factors require careful, constant reevaluation to ensure that they are based on current/accurate information.
6. Supply Line Support Resource Levels
Logistics plans must establish more than one option to provide support using equivalent means to include substitute modes of transit, sourcing supplies from different locations, or reassigning support tasks between different organisations. Certain degrees of planned redundant equipment work order tags are required but does not imply intentionally oversupplying or apportioning and allocating an excessive reserve. Site Visit Executive has designed several options essential to flexible support when fixed resources are apportioned or allocated for support of unique operations.
Preplanned resource levels provide for provision or positioning of resources to ensure uninterrupted logistics support. Setting supply levels can result in variation of support capabilities available in a given location at a specified time. Site Visit Executive has created planning techniques to be considered when developing task-organised elements to accomplish specific functions considering the phasing of logistics support phases for time/location of supply provision to maximise operational effectiveness of logistics actions. If properly used, setting resource levels contributes to the responsiveness, economy, and flexibility of logistics support operations.
7. Supply Line Logistics Materiel Reserve Cache
Logistics can be a pacing factor at the operational level of critical missions. While the adequacy of logistics to sustain operations governs the rate at which critical mission campaigns can proceed, the presence of reserve capabilities can assist Site Visit Executive in determining if supply line connection opportunities are exploited or instead missed. Just as strategic and operational reserves are necessary to exploit tactical or operational success or to respond to new contingencies, materiel supply must be coordinated to ensure right levels of reserve logistics resources are established by Site Visit Executive at strategic, operational, and tactical levels.
Logistics reserves are established for possible consumption by supported forces, but intent of operational plans designed by Site Visit Executive is not solely to cover pipeline expenditures of supporting forces. It is important to note that building logistics reserves must not take priority over satisfaction of imminent or immediate support requirements.
8. Work Order Tags for Supply Line Dispatch Support
Redundancy is the duplication of systems, units, or functions that provides alternate means of support if there is an interruption, failure, or loss of capability. Site Visit Executive has challenged existing concepts promoting notion that design of redundant capabilities constitutes contradiction of economies. But properly planned redundant work order tags have great potential provide assurance of continued support & contribute to enhanced responsiveness. Although redundancy does in fact improve flexibility and survivability of field-level units, redundancy of systems, units, or functions should be limited to only what is essential to accomplish the mission.
9. Conservation of Supply Line Connections
Conservation of misused materiel serves as one of the most important components of economy. Because limits always exist on available supplies/services, Site Visit Executive must continuously practice and enforce conservation to improve overall flexibility so resources are available elsewhere or at a later time. Means of conservation can include local rebuilding of spares when authorised.
Smart use of resources promotes economy by avoiding excess and entails providing just enough materiel or services to accomplish the mission. Site Visit Executive actions are designed to provide for field-level requirements, but not every submitted request. Better use of resources will not eliminate supply line or service constraints, but it will reduce it to absolute essentials. Smart use of resources is encouraged even when field units are satisfied with level of support provided. Wide swings between misuse of excess & inadequate support jeopardise mission accomplishment.
10. Control of Supply Pipeline Routing Levels
Site Visit Executive has always maintained promotion of mandates for proper authorisation of form, fit & function metrics used for determination of materiel levels passing through processing points within a specified period of time. New techniques for Pipeline Flow design must be essential function of modern DoD supply systems so mission requirements are met when materiel and services flow from the supporting units to the supported units. Good flow cannot begin until requirements are identified and supplies/services procured. Until flow of materiel begins, field units must function with sustainment resources provided upon initial deployment. As procurement actions are accomplished, goods and services begin move through pipeline, eventually reaching state matching expenditures.
Site Visit Executive has determined as result of extensive reviews of DoD field unit mission requirements many instances where throughput is affected by lead time period between requesting and receiving the supplies or services identified as essential to mission support. Sometimes the flow of the throughput system is interrupted and lead times must be gauged to anticipate such delays. Accompanying supplies and services must be adequately sized and timing of requisitions anticipated so that capabilities overlap or at least cover requirements throughout the lead time.
Control of materiel supply pipeline throughput flow process is the single most important and demanding task for supporting forces. Supporting forces must be able to plan for and participate in integration of requirements and capabilities so flow of supplies and services can be adjusted/expedited as required by mission. Site Visit Executive has promoted extensive control measures to ensure an allowance for measured buildup of supplies and services at key installation points so diversion to field units with higher priorities in executing most critical in-theatre objectives can be realised in all Future Missions of the Force.