Strategic Supply Chain Management - Supply Chain Online

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROFILE: Making the Tail Smaller and the Tooth Stronger 181
the source of supply will design the supply chain for whatever is best for
that customer’s requirement. The decisions will be made by the participants
to the agreement.”
Boyanton cites a sterling example of the success of this approach. It’s
a weapons system known as JSTARS on a 30-year-old platform called the
C135, a Boeing 707-type airplane equipped with this highly sophisticated
radar suite that provides ground-situation information such as movements
of vehicles and helicopters, much as the AWACS provides air-situation
information. There’s a performance agreement between the integrating
contractor who put the electronics on the plane and the Air Force, as well
as with the OEM who manufactured the electronics.
“When JSTARS deployed for Afghanistan, they had a 100 percent
sortie rate,” says Boyanton. “They generated 148 sorties during the combat
phase of OIF, and all of them launched. A 100 percent launch reliability
rate is unheard of for such a complex weapon system. Now, what
was responsible for the success I believe it was the PBA in addition to
some very dedicated and skilled Air Force people at the far end of the
pipe that were saying, ‘We’re going to get this airplane off come hell or
high water. We’re going to find a way to make sure this mission flies.’”
IN SUMMARY
Although Diane Morales stepped down as deputy under secretary of
defense for logistics and materiel readiness in January 2004, the life of the
FLE likely will be a long one. Its characteristic will be continuous change.
How will anyone know whether it has been successful Morales summed
it up for us: “The greater logistics community will be measuring success
through the balanced scorecard. It balances the risks among operational
requirements, cost-effectiveness or affordability, and performance by the
service providers.”
Some of the measures of success will be
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Increased capability at no transformational cost
Increased weapon system operational availability
Consistent, reliable, time-definite delivery of support to the
customer
Efficient supply chain business operations
The defining change in perspective is the accent on effectiveness
over efficiency. As Boyanton puts it, “Effectiveness says we’re going to
get the job done because that’s our job. And sometimes it’s going to cost