What Happens when the Supply Chain Breaks? Implications for the Army Supply Chain Under Attack

This monograph attempts to answer the question: How should the Army adapt to sudden supply network change? Unexpected catastrophic have significant implications for the strategic-level support provided by the national economic base to the U.S. Army. In a system of tightly linked supply chains consisting of consumers, retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers, a sudden change in their ability to communicate data or distribute product can have a significant effect on the entire organization. Safety stocks are designed to account for variability in supply and demand but do not always account for low probability, high impact events like fire, earthquakes, blizzards, strikes, and terrorist acts. When disruption hits, there is far less time to react and far fewer options. An unexpected or unplanned anomaly causes a "ripple effect" throughout the entire system.