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Logistics Overhaul
Logistics Overhaul
October 2013
PwCs solution
USTRANSCOM engaged PWC to identify opportunities to support its logistics and
strategy initiatives. The agency knew that PwC has had success in transforming largescale supply chain processes and asked us to analyze USTRANSCOMs supply chain and
then advise and support it on its mission to make it more efficient. There was no time to
waste; USTRANSCOM wanted actionable ideas within months, not years.
We assembled a balanced team that included experts who had commercial supply chain
backgrounds or had done commercial consulting before, as well as advisors who had
military supply chain experience. Knowledge of commercial leading practices was vital,
but adapting that insight into the militarys way of doing things was crucial because we
knew that simply trying to impose successful commercial processes in the military arena
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would never work. Instead, we focused on embracing the relevant commercial processes
in ways that would mesh with the militarys unique needs.
After working with USTRANSCOM to identify several strategic opportunities to improve
efficiency, PwC formulated almost 30 specific initiatives, two thirds of which focused on
cost savings, one third on performance. On the cost side, we took a hard look at
optimizing air and surface transportation, the cost of which represents 60 to 80 percent
of the entire DoD logistics budget. We identified where transportation could be improved,
primarily by analyzing how USTRANSCOMs logistics processes operated compared to
the commercial standards we understood well. We utilized relevant leading practices
from the commercial world and adapted them to the military environment, thusly finding
huge savings in improving utilization of transportation assets, making sure that every
plane or ship in transit was loaded optimally, and thereby cutting back on the total
number of shipments needed.
We also identified savings opportunities by analyzing the blend of transportation
conducted by military organic assets with commercial transportation assets. By reducing
overlap, USTRANSCOM was able to save hundreds of millions of dollars.
When it came to lean process improvements designed to speed up the supply chain, we
turned our attention to the countless requisitions that USTRANSCOM must constantly
process. We isolated groups of requisitions that were either moving slower than other
groups, or groups that were moving slower than requisitions would move in the
commercial environment. We used standard process analysis to see why requisitions
werent moving fast enough and then worked with the stakeholders to identify and
implement the necessary process changes.
Or contact
Phil Tombaugh
Principal
(860) 241-7522
phil.tombaugh@us.pwc.com
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