Transportation and Distribution

Capabilities

LMI has technical and functional experience and subject matter experts on our staff in the following areas:

• End-to-end analysis of supply chain distribution
• Transportation process and related information exchange reengineering
• Warehouse process flow and synchronization with upstream distribution processes
• Department of Defense distribution, deployment, and transportation systems operating in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and joint commands
• Application of automatic identification technologies (AITs) in commercial and military logistics processes
• Evaluation and applicability analysis of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and government automated systems for transportation, warehousing, asset, and in-transit tracking.

clients and solutions

USTRANSCOM

LMI has a long history of support to the U.S. Transportation Command. We provide research and analytical support for various logistics investment business cases, process reengineering, in-transit visibility improvements, science and technology studies, third-party logistics (3PL) solutions, strategic outsourcing, and distribution network workload analysis and reconfiguration across USTRANSCOM’s many business areas. To serve the command better, we opened a field office in nearby Fairview Heights, IL.

One of our particularly significant and transforming support roles is with the Defense Transportation Coordinator Initiative (DTCI)—for which we are the primary project support contractor. LMI is teamed with our commercial partner, GENCO, Inc., a leading 3PL company that analyzes distribution network data, researches markets, and consults on 3PL commercial best practices. The DTCI is a DoD transportation reengineering effort to create a more effective, efficient DoD business model for the management of the domestic freight physical distribution network. In this new business model, a world class 3PL coordinator receives shipment requirements, identifies consolidation and optimization opportunities, produces a shipment plan for delivery, arranges for the carrier, and performs carrier quality assurance functions. Our analysis demonstrated a clear potential to reduce DoD’s transportation expenditures through better visibility and coordination of transportation requirements across multiple shipping activities. We have analyzed historical shipment demand, identified savings opportunities, researched the 3PL industry market, analyzed the initial business case, and helped the project management office (PMO) develop the acquisition strategy, source selection plan, independent government cost estimate, bundling analysis, concept of operations, market research, and performance work statement. We are helping the DTCI project manager develop the information technology integration concept and requirements, and advising the PMO team of 3PL best business practices.

GSA—Benchmarking DDS Transportation Rates

Users of the General Services Administration’s Domestic Delivery Service (DDS) schedule contract exercise better management practices to monitor and gauge small package carrier performance. In the first part of our study, LMI surveyed the GSA DDS marketplace by measuring the market as a whole, examining preferred service offerings, and identifying commercially based benchmarks for gauging contract performance and price. In part two of our study, we are teaming with a world-class 3PL provider to compare detailed DDS customer spending data with industry benchmarks. Our work will help GSA improve the way it measures the DDS marketplace, while enhancing its position to negotiate better services for its customers.

DLA—Integrating Vendor Shipments into the Defense Transportation System

LMI has exhaustively studied the issues of obtaining in-transit visibility of vendor-arranged shipments destined for DLA container consolidation points (CCPs), a key node in the Defense Transportation System (DTS). Our intimate understanding of DoD procurement, purchasing, distribution, and transportation practices and their supporting information systems enabled us to propose a new web-based practice for managing shipments that vendors drop at DTS nodes. The result was a new process that enables vendors to easily generate web-based military shipping labels while pushing automated advanced shipping notices to DLA. This new process accelerates shipment receipt processing by reducing vendor shipment check-in times. This practice also reduces reorders from customers by enabling vendors to automatically provide customers with DTS tracking information. The success of this project led DLA to adopt this new business model and integrate it into its Distribution Planning and Management System (DPMS).

U.S. Army LOGSA—Using IT to Improve Distribution Asset Management

The U.S. Army currently owns or leases more than 100,000 intermodal containers, flat-racks, and other distribution assets. These assets, assigned to units and commands worldwide, must be maintained and ready for use when and where needed. To improve their visibility and management, the Army Intermodal Distribution Platform Management Office, a component of the Logistics Support Activity (LOGSA), turned to LMI for assistance. With our help, the Army identified, reviewed, and assessed more than 35 existing COTS and government off-the-shelf (GOTS) software options and selected an established web-based commercial asset management tool. Suited to LOGSA’s operational requirements, this tool allows users to manage the location, status, and maintenance of Army-owned and -leased assets. The system, called the Army Container Asset Management System—or ACAMS—is currently being implemented.