The Development Of Military Logistics And Its Implications On Modern Supply Chains

The aim of this work is to show how war experience historically impacted the transportation industry and to highlight the strong connection between military logistics, procurement and distribution and modern civil supply-chain systems. In this work the emphasize will be put on highlighting major factors affecting the supply network and define the best logistic practices by analyzing major wars and conflicts when the normal life is disrupted, economies have to operate under tremendous pressure, and people are forced to work in dreadful conditions.War is acting as a stress-test for the supply-chain system and reveals all the difficulties and hardships that arise in moving resources, people and equipment. In order to better understand the modern supply chain principles and underlying logic it is important to go back in history and see how current logistic system was shaped, what forces molded its structure and how the advantage in logistics translated in prevailing on the battlefield.Wars and businesses, despite differences in objectives, have a lot in common:both involve large number of people, division of labor, hierarchy, unity-of-command principle and stemming from these factors complex organizations that operate in uncertain, competitive environment. Furthermore, bloodshed and death can be replaced with exhaustion and layoffs. One of the key factors that determine the success both in military operation or business project is the efficiency and effectiveness of logistics, the fate of both enterprises hinges predominantly on how fast, timely and reliably the necessary resources are coming to the frontline.