Establishing a Baseline and Reporting Performance for the Order and Ship Processes

Publication Date: January 1996

Publisher: RAND Corporation

Author(s): Kenneth J. Girardini; William Lewis; Rick Eden; Earl S. Gardner

Research Area: Military and defense

Type: Brief

Abstract:

This document annotates a slightly modified version of an executive briefing that was presented to the Logistics Triad in August 1995. The briefing's purpose is to (1) establish the order and ship time (OST) performance of the Army's order and ship processes during the baseline period (July 1994 to June 1995) preceding the introduction of Velocity Management improvements and (2) recommend mechanisms for monitoring and reporting improved OST performance. The briefing begins by defining the order and ship processes by which active TRADOC and FORSCOM units in CONUS order and receive materiel from the Army's wholesale supply system. The Army's Logistics Intelligence File (LIF) provides OST data on six segments of these processes. The briefing proposes supplementing the Army's traditional metric of mean OST time with three additional metrics--median, 75 percent, and 95 percent--to permit additional insight into the variability of the performance, a chronic problem. A presentation of selected results of the LIF data analysis shows baseline OST performance to have been very slow and extremely variable. Appendices provide more detailed analyses. The briefing recommends that LOGSA provide (1) senior leaders with monthly performance reports by post and priority group and (2) Site Improvement Teams with weekly reports as well as access to the pertinent LIF data.