Improving the Efficiency of Military Vehicle Outload and Deployment

Abstract

The United States military must maintain the ability to rapidly deploy, world-wide, under severe time constraints. As a result, units and organizations have developed standardized, documented processes and procedures to quickly deploy personnel, equipment, and supplies. This research examines a typical military vehicle outload process, models the process with a discrete-event simulation, and identifies opportunities to increase process efficiency. The recommended improvements are incorporated within the simulation to identify the impacts of the changes. Model analysis reveals that an increase in a critical resource (i.e. vehicle inspection teams) can significantly reduce the time required to process a 350-vehicle fleet. Additionally, automating the hazardous material (HAZMAT) documentation and vehicle weight and center of balance computations resulted in time savings, although less significant. It is possible to implement these two automated activities across all installations, further improving deployment operations. With only minor modifications, the presented model can be adjusted to replicate other installation deployment processes and can have significant impacts on how the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force deploy equipment.