PROFILE
AS A FORMER Army officer who has transitioned from a life in the Armed Forces to working and living among civilians , I like to keep an eye on what my previous employer is up to and to see how I can apply some of these learnings to our everyday lives .
During my time in the Army , I gained a lot of experience with logistics , working with the Royal Logistics Corps ( RLC ), a vital cog in the Armed Forces machine and a topic that still forms part of my career today in discussions with my employees , partners and customers .
In the Armed Forces , the RLC provides constant support to the Army , whether that ’ s supplying vehicle parts , tools , ammunition , food rations – or even water . A ‘ Logistic Supply Specialist ’ in the RLC has to support the Army whenever they ’ re needed - sustaining and recovering all military operations worldwide . They support all aspects of the Army , no matter what terrain or what the threat is , the RLC will be there making sure that all needs are catered for . While a business supply chain is often about getting a product from A to B , the RLC does for the Army what the combination of Shell , Sainsbury ’ s , EDF and say Thames Water do for civilians , only on a greater scale , with even more elements to navigate .
Following the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War , the Army was subject to some downsizing . Then , when the Gulf War hit , suddenly a lot of resources had to be relocated from Germany across to Kuwait as effectively and efficiently as possible - albeit with less resource . In the Army , the need of the ‘ customer ’ can change so quickly and significantly , for example switching from peacetime to wartime operation , the RLC has to be able to react at significant speed . It ’ s this precision and need for efficiency amid seemingly constant cost-cutting that means the RLC can completely understand the pressures businesses are facing today in managing their supply chains .
But here ’ s where businesses can learn from the RLC to help the situation . The need to use technology was , even back then , recognised . The military knew handling the cuts while getting everything in place at the right time would need a system in place to work out exactly who and what was needed where and when , with spot on precision . And deploying technology equivalent to our current data analysis
8 November 2016