From Factory to Field: Modeling Production Capacity and Logistics Effectiveness for Defense System

Abstract

Recent conflicts have underscored the importance of adaptable supply lines in contested logistics and rapidly evolving technological environments. Traditional supply chains respond slowly to changing conditions and often lack traceability to campaign-level measures of performance. To address this gap, we propose a modeling and simulation (M&S) environment that supports data-driven assessment of alternative scenarios. A previous phase of the effort developed an overall logistics model for the delivery and storage of goods, although that model has not yet been fully integrated with the present work. This paper focuses on a higher-fidelity model of a notional manufacturing facility and evaluates how production-line design changes affect campaign-level supply-chain performance. The manufacturing steps are based on publicly available descriptions of Ling-Temco-Vought’s Multiple Launch Rocket System production process. Two scenarios are examined: a battle scenario that transitions from high-demand engagement to lower-demand sustainment, and a second scenario that introduces an unexpected surge in demand.