Enablers to Ensure a Successful Force Centric Logistics Enterprise

There is an ongoing logistics management revolution in the Department of Defense that is taking weapons systems life-cycle support from the shadow of acquisition into the daylight of a highly focused success oriented enterprise. Although there are many laudable attributes in this enterprise such as Force-Centric Future Logistics and Performance Based Logistics, the surety of achieving success in the logistics revolution will be a certainty by addressing and correcting certain structural weaknesses that have compromised excellent logistics performance for decades. It is the intention of the author to highlight those weaknesses and recommend corrective actions. A true logistics enterprise that pervades all levels of the DoD and each of the armed services will maximize operational availability. That enterprise will feature improved reliability, reduced maintenance and replenishment cycle times, reduced logistics footprint and a more rigorous approach to life cycle cost management. The imperative that will enable a new logistics enterprise is cultural change. Critical analysis of logistics failures shows the root causes to be cultural failures. We must change the rewards and incentives for every activity that impacts logistics. The Defense Acquisition Executive Summary (DAES) must be changed to include Operational Availability as a key baseline target and at the same time this target must have service-wide commitment. The Army is on the right track by requiring reliability as a key performance parameter in the acquisition process. Overcoming cultural inertia is difficult.