Suppl Chains

Running Head : INSERT ABBREVIATED TITLE Q1 . What is wrong with the `Iron Mountain` philosophy for supply chain management used by the military in the past

Excessive quantity of anything is a burden . At the same time , shortage is also not a welcomed situation . Thus , there is always a need to maintain an optimal level of stocks . This becomes more important when it comes to critical disciplines such as military . There is a huge list of inventory needed by military to carry out their operations such as ammunition , fuel , food stock etc . To add

further to the complications the demand for each of them varies from operation to operation and is not as predictable as it is for any commercial organization Furthermore , the need variation depends on the performance of the troops and is highly unpredictable even during the operations

Previously , it was a trend in military operations that when the operations were planned , a huge pile of inventory used to be sent to the venue of operation at the beginning of operation , to avoid any shortage This tactic is known as building Iron Mountain

Although , the trend is towards getting lean , yet the Iron Mountain does exist today , but with lesser amount . This tactic was the only way out to avoid shortage , when technological advancements in the field of logistics were rare . However , there were some inbuilt issues with this tactic of Iron Mountain

First of all , it lessens the agility of the troops . If the troops carry higher level...