Military Supply Chain Management and People's Liberation Army Logistics

Rajiv Chauhan

• Publisher: VIJ Books (India) Pty Ltd
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9789382652977
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Military logistics is a relatively new word to describe a very old practice; the supply, movement and maintenance of an armed force both in peace time and under operational conditions. Logistic considerations are generally built into battle plans at an early stage. Without logistics, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, aircraft are just numbers on a table of organization and equipment.Through this book an endeavor has been made to understand the logistics of People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China. An introduction to the theory of supply chain management and logistics of foreign Armies is discussed. Today 'Revolution in Military Logistics' (RML) is taking place in the People's Liberation Army. An attempt has been made to study this evolution, development and rapid modernization of the People's Liberation Army logistics.

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World Wide Trends of SCM in Foreign
Armies

Trends in Foreign Armies

All nations have armies according to their geographic location, threats and national interests. It is intended to examine a cross section of SCM in armies of the world.

General Trends in SCM in Modern Armies

Basic Principles and concepts that are engaging attention of foreign armies are:-

(a) Replacing mass with velocity.

(b) Expediting deliveries by simplifying acquisition procedures.

(c) Realistic inventory management.

(d) Forward and backward integration of means of logistics.

(e) Multi point resource allocation.

As the whole concept of modern warfare has seen a radical shift, Western nations have fine tuned their practices of inventory management to cater for this change in focus. Growth of the private sector in the field of supply chain management has also acted as a catalyst for the armies of these nations to modify their policies so that the expertise and infrastructure available in the private sector can be synergised. The SCM philosophy of these armies is based on “Outsourcing” and “Reaching out”.

When a soldier reaches down for ammunition or a part that is needed to keep a tank running, that item better be there. It is logisticians job to ensure that essential items are available whenever and wherever they are needed. Although a lot has been done in the Indian Army to improve the age old replenishment system, a lot still remains to be done. A holistic review of the Supply Chain Management system of our Army is required to be carried out and if need be, policies and procedures that require to be addressed. Integration of procedures that are required to be handled similarly by the Army, Navy and Air Force and use of the existing expertise and infrastructure of the private sector are some areas that would require special focus.

Outsourcing

The US private sector‘s restructuring experiences of the last decade yield an important lesson in concentrating on core expertise-and spinning off the rest-contributes to the bottom line. The Pentagon learnt much from the experiences of IBM, AT&T, and others. The popular media and business journals bemoaned the declining competitiveness of American business and pointed to the growing economic clout of Europe and Japan. But instead of the triumph of Japan, Inc, the US has a revitalized and growing business sector that is envied the world over. This transformation was painful but it created an American private sector that is the world‘s most efficient and competitive. To survive the private sector had to merge, consolidate, restructure, re-engineer and unfortunately eliminate jobs. They also turned to outsourcing non-core operations in order to tap services and support from providers who were “world class” in their own fields. The short term restructuring costs and the realignment of jobs into entitles of core competence were the price of future competitiveness.

Reaching Out

One of the factors that determine the efficacy of a SCM system is its reach. Reaching out in the shortest possible time frame and supplying stores to the forward most units during peace as well as during operations is the essence of the effective replenishment system. This needs to reach out has been in existence ever since armies were conceived enhance hierarchy of the present logistic support system on the philosophy, “just in case” instead of “ just in time”. Fundamentally, the supply chain management of an army is no different to any commercial enterprises.

No armed force can afford to ignore or fail to take advantage of development in the commercial world, specially that of real time economy. Therefore, armies of western nations are trying to resort of the following means to try and make their “reaching out” process fast and more effective.

(a) Use of commercially derived Enterprises Resource Management Systems. Most of US army‘s old automated systems were designed from scratch as “military specials‘. This dates back to the relative infancy of computer technology and the US army‘s overriding military need for effective system. The US military was among the first to use computer technology but, since then, there has been an explosion of outwardly system in the commercial world. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications integrate transition based process such as shop floor control, shipping, traffic, logistic and inventory management, potentially offer better functionality then can be developed in house.

(b) Developing sound infrastructure. Armies all over the world have fine tuned logistic into an art by developing sound infrastructure such as National Acquisition Universities, which churn out specialists in contract management.

(c) Concept of Modular Logistic Units. Modular logistic units today provide flexible and responsive capabilities that can be rapidly aligned to support fluid and variable tasks organization. US Army CSS (Combat Service Support) concept is designed to enable logistic support through sustainment. A brigade that can be tailored for specific missions by selecting any combination of supporting elements from a force pool. US Army theatre sustainment commands are designed to plan, control, synchronized and integrate logistic for the unit of employment or joint force commander.

(d) Modernisation of the existing automated logistic systems.The US Army has embarked on a Logistic Modernisation Program (LMP) to arm their Army Material Command (AMC) with the world‘s most advance logistic tools. The AMC‘s supply chain is one of the largest and most complex in the world. It is spread across 41 states and 38 countries with more than 50000 vendors. During the course of an average year, a million -plus army customers place more than 8 million orders. At any given moment, thousands of orders are being processed, thousands of shipments are in transit, hundreds of tanks and helicopter components are being refurbished, and billions of dollars in new and refurbished inventory is being moved into and out of inventory management centers and an industrial complex of depots, arsenals and plants. LMP provides powerful tools equal to this gargantuan management task :-

(i) Real Time Single View. A single data model and standardized item definitions result in a seamless, end-to-end, real time view across AMC and single “version of the truth” to support rapid, confident decision making at all levels.

(ii) Total Asset Visibility. AMC will be able to locate all items that are in storage, in progress and in transit - anywhere, anytime. LMP coordinates with other major distribution information systems, such as the Global Transportation Network (GTN) to provide this capability.

(iii) Collaborative Planning. As everyone is shares the same data and the same virtual business warehouse, planning and scheduling become fast and highly precise. Warfighters can conduct forward and backward planning to ensure that the weapon system - a tank in overhaul, for example- are available when and where they are needed.

(iv) Powerful Forecasting. When all AMC financial information will be integrated, AMC will be able to forecast accurate and rapid force projection capabilities without the need to write new applications.

(v) Predicting Future Usage&Supply Needs. As all orders will be processed through a single system, AMC will be able to better determine what items are being used where. Referencing historical usage patterns, they will be able to predict the optimum amount of supplies that will be needed to support future requests.

(vi) Velocity Management. As the new system will provide timely decision - making information with speed and accuracy, it will allow “Velocity Management”. Visibility of items within the pipeline, and an awareness of when they will be delivered, will replace the need to stockpile. Warfighters will be able to base decisions on knowledge instead of guess work.

(vii) Reduced Footprint. Army material Command (AMC) will no longer need to create “Iron Mountains” to support warfighters, fewer resources will be needed to effectively support tactical missions. The new system, with “more teeth and smaller tail”, will reduce the Army‘s logistics footprint.

Importance of Supply Chain or Logistics in Operations

Supply chains have always existed in the armed forces. However; it is only recently that adequate attention has been paid to make them efficient, responsive and leaner. Logistics is not only about the supply of stores to an army in times of war. It also includes the ability of the national infrastructure and manufacturing base to equip, support and supply the Armed Forces, the national transportation system to move the forces to be deployed and its ability to maintain that force once they are deployed.

The First World War was unlike any other war before it. Not only did the armies initially outstrip their logistic systems (particularly the Germans with their Schlieffen Plan) with the amount of men, equipment and horses moving at a fast pace, but they totally underestimated the ammunition requirements (particularly for artillery). On average, ammunition was consumed at ten times the pre-war estimates, and the shortage of ammunition became serious, forcing governments to vastly increase ammunition production.

It was not until 1918, that the British, learning the lessons of the last four years, finally showed how an offensive should be carried out, with tanks and motorised gun sleds helping to maintain the pace of the advance, and maintain supply well away from the railheads and ports. The First World War was a milestone for military logistics. It was no longer true to say that supply was easier when armies kept on the move due to the fact that when they stopped they consumed the food, fuel and fodder needed by the army.

From 1914, the reverse applied, because of the huge expenditure of ammunition, and the consequent expansion of transport to lift it forward to the consumers. It was now far more difficult to maintain an army on the move, while the industrial nations could produce huge amounts of stores, the difficulty was in keeping the supplies moving forward to the consumer. This of course, was a foretaste of the Second World War.

The conflict was global in size and scale. During this conflict in which the British Indian Army not only took active part, its combatants and supply routes moved over greater distances from the home base, but these forces tended to be fast moving and voracious in their consumption of fuel, food, water and ammunition. The supply chains extended to Africa, Iraq, Burma and the far Eastern countries. Railways again proved indispensable, but sealift and airlift made ever greater contributions as the war dragged on (especially with the use of amphibious and airborne forces, as well as underway replenishment for naval task forces). The large-scale use of motorised transport for tactical re-supply helped maintain the momentum of offensive operations, and most armies became more motorised as the war progressed.

The outbreak of the Korean War (in June 1950) and the early test of a Soviet nuclear device in August 1949 led to fears of a major expansion in Soviet activity. This prompted the Alliance into converting itself into a standing military organisation, necessitating the stockpiling of large amounts of munitions, equipment and spares; “just in case” it was needed.

In a highly mobile war, the main consumable used will be fuel rather than ammunition, but in a highly attritional conflict, the opposite will apply. Ammunition will be used to a larger extent than fuel. For example, Soviet tank armies advancing at a rate of between sixteen and forty-five kilometres a day in 1944 - 45 suffered far lower losses in men and tanks and consumed a third less fuel and one sixth the ammunition of tank armies that advanced at a rate of between four and thirteen kilometres a day. However this requirement will have to be modified to take account of what Clausewitz termed the ‘friction of war’- terrain, weather, problems with communications, misunderstood orders etc. not to mention the actions of the enemy.

As experience in the Falklands War shows, actual ammunition expenditure rates would have been far above those planned. It is also worth remembering that one British armoured division would have needed around 4,000 tons of ammunition of all types per day. The Soviets (and hence Warsaw Pact) view was that while a short war was preferable, it was possible that the conflict might last some time and stay conventional. There is no such word as ‘sustainability’ in Russian, the closest being ‘viability’. This has a much broader context, and includes such matters as training, the quality and quantity of weapons and equipment, and the organisation of fighting units, as well as supply, maintenance, repair and reinforcements.

The Soviets also relied on a scientific method of battle planning. The bulk of logistic resources were held at Army and Front level, which could supply two levels down if required. This gave a false indication to the West of the logistic viability of the Soviet division.

However, it is pertinent at this point, to briefly examine what commercial practices are being considered. Just after the Second World War, the United States provided assistance to Japan. Out of this, the Japanese have become world leaders in management philosophies that bring about the greatest efficiency in production and service. From organisations such as Toyota came the then revolutionary philosophies of Just in Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM). From these philosophies have arisen and developed the competitive strategies that world class organisations now practice.

They are just as true today for our Army as they were in the times of the Assyrians and Romans. The military environment in which they can be applied is considerably different, and, as can be seen in our case during OP PARAKARAM, adopting and adapting military logistics to the operational scenario is an essential feature for success. Ultimately a “real knowledge of supply and movement factors must be the basis of every leader‘s plan; only then can he know how and when to take risks with these factors, and battles and wars are won by taking risks.”

US Army Logistics

US military logistics have no parallel in the commercial world, from its size and scope to the deadly seriousness of the term “mission-critical” during wars. In this world, the soldier is the customer waiting for products like ammunition, food, water, medicine and fuel for tanks and other combat vehicles.

The military supply-chain can be divided into three distinct chains, note military logistics experts. One chain, fast but low volume, moves commodities like food, medicine and clothing - the commercial world equivalent of a Wal-Mart. The second chain transports major components like weapons systems that require maintenance and repair over extended periods. Boeing and Caterpillar would be their commercial equivalents. The third is the deployment chain in which the military must move large number of troops and material in a short period in trying conditions. There is, of course, no commercial equivalent to this chain.

US Army has been mainly organized, equipped and trained to essentially operate away from the main land and to fight along with armies of other countries with which they have treaties such as NATO. The US army relies on bases provided by supporting countries for its logistics and supply chain continuity. The technological superiority and ability to produce weapons, ammunition and other needs of the army and the ability in terms of their Navy and Air Force to supply almost anywhere in the...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgment
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Understanding Supply Chain Management and its Processes
• World Wide Trends of SCM in Foreign Armies
• PLA Logistics : Historical Background & Evolution
• Organisation & Functions of GLD & GAD
• Infrastructure Development in Tibet
• PLA Logistics Modernization
• Bibliography
• Index