Anticipatory Logistics In Their Supply Chain example essay topic

ANTICIPATORY LOGISTICS IN THE CORPORATE WORLD What is anticipatory logistics? It's a system made of information which anticipates the requirement of customers needs so suppliers can provide adequate service production to meet their needs. Anticipatory logistics is part of the supply chain management which is how things get from the manufacturer to the customer, but it also is the raw materials that are needed in manufacturing. The U.S. Army uses Anticipatory logistics in their supply chain to manage ammunition, maintenance and fuel needs; they use C 4 I which stands for computer, command, control, communication and intelligence along with other DOD military branches. Logistics are part of military operation and knowing when solders will need new equipment in the field takes planning and coordination through the supply management board.

In this paper I attend to describe anticipatory logistics and why it works well for the army and that is should be used in corporate business. To understand more about anticipatory logistics, it's important to understand the supply chain management. The supply chain involves how things get from the manufacture to the end user, but its is also how materials which is needed for manufacturing get to the manufacture and the company that makes the goods from them who is the end user in a supply chain of command. If the supply chain isn't managed correctly, there could be delays in production process or there would be too many shipments and not enough places to store them. In the corporate world, a mismanaged supply chain could mean a loss of revenue but on the military side of the supply chain it could be the loss of solders in field which has a great cost that revenue. Logistics today are beginning to receive the same attention in the private sector in the different areas such as distribution management, product life cycle management, process control, and just in time delivery of supplies and services have given advantages the distinguish a world class firm.

Logistics is the basis of sustaining operations which the operation can be manufacturing, customer sales and service, government services, health care, education, disaster relief, or the support of military operations. This is the information age where logistics is becoming more an exercise for applied information management that no longer focuses on the industrial capability, but instead forecasting and controlling supplies and service delivery. Successful operators in every field know how important it is to just getting what is need and when it is needed. Precise planning is where managers fail because there is no plan. In the past information was hard to get and a lot of the time it wasn't up to date information. Precision planning, process engineering, and real time process control.

Precision planning is possible but also essential in a competitive environment in which other plans are carefully and accurately planned. The ability to track and begin a plan or process can help to solve problems that can be corrected. Minimal cycle time is a requirement for the supply chain, businesses talk about reducing time to market and manufactures want assembly time shorter. Military planners like fast strikes and raids. Business all wants next day delivery of anything. One way to accomplish this is to invest a model or plan that accurately predicts when a supply or service will be needed and can pay for itself with reduced delivery bills and process down time.

Collaborative planning is used to bring together different planners from defense establishments around the world. A shared situation database is used containing the latest information the environment, and opposing forces to be able to supply with the needed material and equipment when it is needed. Military Logistics share situational awareness combined with globally distribution and manufacturing system which both will show what is support is needed and how the this can be met, digitized weapon systems can monitor stores and maintained status which can later be fed to emergency to engineering plans that accurately forecasts the repair and support need which in an unfolding operation it will be possible. Logistics interventions can then be planned in conjunction with future operations, providing supplies to the required personal with respect to requirements and resources. Anticipatory logistics provides information to the field that they will know what needed supplies and at a specific time and how much will be needed with the confidence of the process to move the supplies to it designated area. Information technologies are changing fast and management team's needs to change with their processes to keep up.

That's when Anticipatory Logistics helps out because it offers a more responsive support with greatly reduced resource requirements. In conclusion to this paper, anticipatory logistics are used to predict what a customer is going to need and to prioritize these needs so that a certain level of product or other needed item can be maintained. The Army uses Anticipatory Logistics to manage effectively manage their supply chains for ammunition, maintenance and some of their petroleum and oil needs. When the military's forces deploy they use what is called C 4 I (command, computer, intelligence, control and communications systems) and the current mission for the soldiers requirements, affect the supply chain. Because the supply chain management works so well for the military, it is only logical that the anticipatory logistics, in a modified form, would work well for the corporate world with some small changes to focus on profit instead of mission completion.