Utilising Digital Twins for Increasing Military Supply Chain Visibility

Abstract

The dynamic and complex nature of the military supply chain (MSC) requires effective monitoring of supplies and timely decisions to ensure success in combat operations, particularly in the face of unexpected disruptions such as inclement weather conditions and terrorist attacks. Although, existing technologies such as RFIDs, Next-Generation Wireless Communication (NGWC) and RuBees are applied MSC, they are not sufficient in ensuring end-to-end visibility across the entire SC. However, digital technologies such as the internet of things, cloud computing, Application Programming Interface (APIs), machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, big data, analytics and pervasive computing play a critical role in improving visibility to ensure effective SC management. Hence, the introduction of the concept of digital twin enabled by these technologies creates a digital replica of the whole supply chain operations, ensuring adequate end-to-end visibility through real-time data that ensures effective tracking, monitoring and reporting of all SC activities. The focus of this paper is to explore the enabling technologies of digital twin and its implementation to achieve end-to-end visibility in the military supply chain. In this paper, the authors identify the digital twin’s tracking and monitoring capability, which will improve supply chain management by enabling a cycle of continuous adjustment of the SC against unexpected disruptions.