Transforming Logistics Networks with Location of Repair Analysis

Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition and sustainment activities face new challenges due to the rapidly increasing complexity of both weapon system technology and logistical infrastructure. Traditional supply support concepts for sustainment do not adequately address the need for a holistic product support strategy throughout the system lifecycle. Defense specifically needs to look beyond Big "L" Logistics as not simply the procurement and transportation of spare parts, but also the additional sustainment factors, such as support and test equipment, deployed across multiple echelons within the sustainment organization; repair depot resources, including up-to-date technical documentation and a sufficiently trained workforce; and in-service technical assistance and sustainment engineering services. Program managers must consider all Integrated Product Support (IPS) elements during initial lifecycle planning, as well as future program milestones and reviews, while recognizing that both assumptions and input parameters will change over time.We conclude that the convolution of system design complexity and support system complexity necessitates a model-based approach that can be rapidly updated to reflect new real-world constraints and updated assumptions of operational usage based on those constraints, the sustainment organization capability, and the weapon system configurations. This requires leaders in DoD and industry in modeling and simulation to establish and maintain baseline weapons system sustainment models that will be utilized throughout the Materiel Solutions Analysis, Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction, Engineering and Manufacturing Development, Production and Deployment, and Operations and Support phases to continually optimize weapon systems readiness at the lowest possible life cycle cost.