CASE STUDY CONCEPT: Strategy and Logistics are Two Sides of the Same Coin. "There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war." - Carl von Clausewitz The path taken by the German Army in its advance on Moscow in the summer
Strategic Supply Chains – Improving Battle Strategies
Teams of Air Force officers studying military logistics at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) used simulations to recreate and redesign the supply chains that supported three critical campaigns of World War II. Those campaigns were: 1) British Army's campaign against the Italian and
Alexander the Great Needed Great Supply Chains
CASE STUDY CONCEPT: Military Logistics 101 — Napoleon said, “An army marches on its stomach.” In the spirit of that saying, lets look at the campaigns of Alexander the Great. For those who think Alexander's greatness was due only to his ability to dream up bold moves and cut a dashing figure in
Ancient Silk Road – First Global Supply Chain
CASE STUDY CONCEPT: Timeless Supply Chain Challenges -- Inventory, Location, Transportation, and The Bullwhip Effect. It is the year 210 AD, and you manage the largest merchant trading house on the ancient Silk Road. The long prosperity of the Pax Romana has created strong demand in the Roman Empire
Supply Chains of the Roman Empire
CASE STUDY CONCEPT: Supply chains of the Roman Empire had much in common with modern supply chains. Supply chains then and now require development of good mental models to understand them and keep them working well. Some ancient supply chains can also teach us lessons about sustainability that we
Cuba 55 Years On: Impact of Supply Chains
Arriving in Cuba for the first time is like stepping into a time capsule that has preserved different periods of the country’s history, and then mixed them all together. There’s old Havana, the center of the city, filled with block after block of cobblestone streets and two and three story Spanish
Taking Care of Business on the Silk Road
CASE STUDY FOCUS: Timeless Supply Chain Challenges (Master Distributors and their Inventory Buffers Stabilize Product Flow). Simulations show the best way to support a continuous and predictable flow of merchandise on the ancient Silk Road was to have large stocks of inventory at key locations.
Taming the Bullwhip on the Silk Road
CASE STUDY FOCUS: Timeless Supply Chain Challenges (managing the Bullwhip Effect). How was it possible in the year 210 AD to maintain a continuous flow of merchandise on the Silk Road and to match supply with demand as conditions changed from one year to the next? How could people without