![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/f35-300x210.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Lt. General Michael Schmidt, F-35 program executive officer,\u00a0 says the Just In Time F-35 parts supply chain is wrong. I can’t agree with him more.<\/p>\n
Just In Time, aka JIT, is a principle widely used in modern manufacturing to try and ensure parts arrive as close to when they are needed as possible, reducing the manufacturer’s on-hand inventory and increasing the number of times inventory is turned over (inventory turns are a widely used metric used to judge how efficient your manufacturing is.)<\/p>\n
In the private sector, Schmidt said, that kind of efficient supply chain works well for keeping costs low. But in a future war involving highly contested environments, it could lead to disaster, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have that [just-in-time] mentality, a hiccup in the supply chain, whether it be a strike \u2026 or a quality issue, becomes your single point of failure,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cWe need to look at, what does \u2018right\u2019 look like in the future, to give us more resilience in a combat environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The F-35 enterprise\u2019s sustainment network is \u201cenormous,\u201d Schmidt said, encompassing airplanes operating from 27 bases and 10 ships. Nine nations fly the F-35 operationally, and there are 17 countries in all taking part in the program.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not sure how many parts are on an F-35, but imagine trying to get all of them arriving where they are needed exactly when they are needed. Sound like a formidable task? It is, and purchasing\/scheduling folks world-wide tear their hair out every day trying to make it happen.\u00a0 A couple of basic truths, however:<\/p>\n
1) It’s a great process when it works. But something, somewhere in the supply chain, always breaks down.<\/p>\n
2) Somebody, somewhere in the supply chain, has to hold inventory. Simple logic tells you that: if you make\u00a0 part with a component that has a 12 week lead time which only ships in bulk, and you have to ship parts weekly, you will hold component inventory.<\/p>\n
JIT is a convenient fiction foisted on stockholders to convince them that their manufacturing is lean (which doen’t mean what you think it does, either) and mean – but think of the ideal end result: You only get parts when you need them. What if there are field losses or catastrophic failures in the field you haven’t forecast (a virtual certainty in war)? Where are you going to get those replacement parts that haven’t been manufactured yet?<\/p>\n
There’s a reason why they say logistics is what wins wars – if you can’t get bullets to the bullet-launchers, your front lines are equipped with awkward clubs, or maybe short spears. Ditto with replacement airplane parts – war by its nature stresses equipment to its limits, causes unforeseen failures, and stresses supply chains. In turn, that means you have to stockpile parts, not for what is happening, but for what MIGHT happen. JIT is the opposite of that.<\/p>\n
We already hear that our full production of artillery rounds is lagging battlefield needs – in one, relatively small, localized conflict. Now we have a tremendously complex fighter with components from an incredible number of sources used in many countries – and we’re set up to have minimal spares capacity? IMO,\u00a0 someone in the Pentagon needs to listen to LGEN Schmidt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"