Supply Chain Transformation
ARMY’S LOGISTICS MODERNIZATION PROGRAM INTEGRATES DATA FROM FACTORY TO FRONT LINE.
Army logistics item managers arrive at work each day knowing they are responsible for delivering critical equipment to soldiers in battlefield environments. Delivering the right equipment to soldiers whenever and wherever they need it defines success. With the real-time logistics information capabilities provided by the Army’s Logistics Modernization Program (LMP), item managers have immediate access to the data they need to meet time-sensitive requirements.
Supporting America’s soldiers on the frontlines in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world since 2003, LMP is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that manages $4.5 billion in inventory, processes transactions with 50,000 vendors and integrateswith more than 70 Department of Defense systems. The system, which is one of the largest ERP implementations in the world, provides the infrastructure to sustain the Army’s national-level logistics systems.
“LMP is fundamental to the Army’s transformation efforts and is the cornerstone of the Single Army Logistics Enterprise, which is integrating business processes across all of the Army’s logistics systems,” said Lieutenant General William E. Mortensen, deputy commanding general of the Army Materiel Command.
The system processes 1.6 million transactions daily. It exceeds industry standards for response time, completing transactions in less than two seconds in 98 percent of all cases, compared with the industry standard of 85 percent. It is compliant with the Clinger-Cohen Act and is certified by the DoD Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process.
LMP is making a significant and measurable difference in the lives of troops conducting vital combat objectives by streamlining many of the labor-intensive processes involved in using multiple legacy systems. Also, by leveraging industry technology and integration methods to realize logistics improvements throughout the Army’s supply chain, LMP is connecting the foxhole to the industrial base in a way that would have been difficult to imagine only a few years ago.
When fully deployed to 17,000 users, LMP will deliver total situational awareness of Army assets within five seconds of submitting a request, enabling more rapid decision-making capabilities and improving soldier readiness. Inventories can be significantly reduced because LMP allows logisticians to better plan and allocate resources, which also can be used to dramatically reduce theater footprint.
By delivering the capability to improve planning for maintenance and supply activities, LMP also will have a direct effect on weapon systems operational availability.
In the backdrop of Operation Iraqi Freedom, units continually request spare parts for night vision goggles (NVGs). For example, when a unit in Iraq orders 200 NVG light interference filters and 200 image intensifier tubes to complete an upcoming mission, the item manager has full visibility of the newly input order and the dependencies required to fulfill the order.
To ensure that the limited quantity of NVG supplies is directed to the most urgent needs, the item manager uses LMP to determine the unit’s geographic location and mission product code and confirm that the criticality factor is in line with the request.
In contrast to reviewing the status contained within multiple legacy systems, LMP allows the item manager to quickly verify on-hand inventory balances using real-time information from two principal storage depots. With a few clicks of the mouse, the item manager is able to release all 400 orders instantaneously and deliver a confirmation to the logistics soldier waiting for a reply. ♦
