Analysis of the Marine Corps Supply Management Unit's Internal Operations and Effect on the Warfighter

Abstract

The primary mission of the Marine Corps Supply Management Unit (SMU) is to act as the intermediate supply activity by providing requisitioning support between the wholesale and consumer levels of supply within the established Marine Corps supply chain. The SMU stockpiles supplies close to the warfighter in order to decrease requisitioning cycle time and, in essence, has become a natural bottleneck between the wholesale and consumer levels of supply. The speed at which the SMU can effectively fulfill and ship a requisition has a direct impact on the supply, maintenance, and sustainability levels of its supported units. This project centers on determining and analyzing the internal processes of the SMU's requisition management cycle and its distribution capabilities in order to identify potential areas of improvement. The objectives of this project include an analysis of current SMU requisitioning procedures and protocols, the Marine Corps continuous process improvement program, and the incentives within the logistics contracts supporting SMU operations.