Leap- Ahead Logistics Management Technology: Turning the Evolution in Military Logistics into a True Revolution

Abstract

Abstract : A Revolution in Military Logistics is a necessary precursor to the Revolution in Military Affairs. Army and the Department of Defense senior leaders have affirmed and reinforced this idea in logistics literature throughout the past two years. What, however, is a Revolution in Military Logistics and is the Army actively seeking to bring one about? This monograph provides evidence that the growth of logistics systems in the Army has been incremental and evolutionary and that the Army is not presently seeking profound change in improving its logistic support to the war-fighters. The Army has established criteria for a revolution in military logistics, but the system that it is currently developing, Global Combat Service Support - Army (GCSS-A), does not meet those criteria. There are systems that exist currently in the corporate sector known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions that, if adapted for Army use, would fundamentally improve the Army's logistic posture and bring about a true revolution in military logistics. This monograph examines the Army's current collection of logistics management systems and where they fall short of fulfilling the Army's future logistic requirements. It then examines and compares the Army's system, GCSS-A, and a theoretical ERP solution adapted for the Army's use in light of the tenets of the revolution in military logistics and the descriptive requirements of a twenty-first century logistics system. By the Army's own definition, GCSS-A does not meet most of the requirements necessary to represent a revolution in military logistics. An ERP solution, however, does meet and even exceeds the Army's requirements for a revolutionary system capable of supporting combat forces in the next century.