Why Logistics Systems Depend on Human Experience and Common Sense
Imagine if you will a futuristic military logistics system that
you could view on a wall or a laptop computer. It would allow
you to instantly acquire real-time data on items expended and
that need to be replaced to support organizational needs.
Imagine that the view you have is of the earth's surface, like a
Google satellite map, and with a single click you can zoom in to
any portion of the world where you have logistics or resupply
responsibilities. A single click and you can instantly obtain an
accurate logistics situational assessment of a broad,
wide-ranging area.
Click again and your view and focus narrows even more. At this
new level, you get a more detailed, local assessment of the
logistic situation, say of a particular country. Click once more
and you're presented with a picture of the logistical situation
of a particular city or perhaps a company within that
municipality.
Sound like the far off future? Not at all.
The hardware and software to accomplish the "futuristic" scenario
just described has been developed and is available for use
practically worldwide. And the implications are phenomenal in
terms of the production, moving and storing whatever types of
materials a given company might require. But there's a big
problem looming for those who might mistake these modern tools
for cure-all logistic wonders.
Granted, much of the hardware and software capabilities available
in today's marketplace comes to industry from military
applications where the concepts were battle-tested and proven
effective in all types of terrain and environments. And the
software and hardware has been refined to the point that now most
of these "futuristic" applications can be run on a simple hand
held device like a Palm pilot.
These applications literally allow the operator to "see" the
logistic situation of the entity that is being examined and to
quickly assess and make reliable logistic estimates based upon
the scenario presented. But, guess what. The system isn't
perfect.
In fact, the system is far from perfect because it's reliability
hinges on something that often times proves quite unreliable –
the human being.
Any logistic system such as the one envisioned above requires
three distinct and separate components to provide useful logistic
data to the end user. First, the person designing the system has
to have a thorough understanding of the organizational needs of
the company or entity that will utilize the system. A
miscalculation in this vital area can have devastating effects on
the system's overall reliability and usefulness.
But let's say the planners get it right and the logistician now
holds the "perfect" hardware and software combination required to
produce an accurate logistics assessment for his particular
needs. That leads us to our secondary concern – the person
inputting the logistics data at the organizational level where
the goods are required. If that data is faulty, then the
information others in the supply chain rely on is equally suspect
and prone to inaccuracies.
But let's say we've got the perfect system, and our logistic
operator at the organization level inputs accurate data. That
still leaves one final area of concern - the recipient of the
logistic estimate.
In other words, the logistician on the receiving end of this
equation must make reasonable judgments when interpreting the
data the system provides. That's the reason it's called a
logistics "estimate." And if he doesn't interpret the data he
receives correctly and develop a reasonable resupply strategy
based upon it and his logistical experience – no amount of
"futuristic" software or hardware will help.
A prudent logistician will realize that software and hardware
tools are just that. Tools to help him make better supply
decisions. No tool yet has been developed that can replicate
human experience and common sense. Perhaps that's a good thing.
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posted by George @ 1:43 PM
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