[LINK] RFID problems for Iraq military supply chain

[Jan Whitaker]

http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,94768,00.html

Supply chain system failures hampered Army units in Iraq
Logistics and supply chain operations were 'barely above subsistence level' 
during the Iraq war

News Story by Marc L. Songini

JULY 26, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Because of the failure of automated supply 
chain management and tracking systems in Iraq, U.S. Army combat units 
fighting there last year had to resort to capturing key supplies such as 
lubricants and explosives from enemy stockpiles, according to a review of 
the war that was written by military analysts.

In addition, food supplies barely met demand, and stocks of ammunition and 
spare parts were nearly depleted during combat, wrote analysts at the 
Center for Army Lessons Learned, a military think tank that's sponsored by 
the U.S. Department of Defense and based at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

After studying the Iraq war up to the fall of Baghdad, the CALL analysts 
found that the performance of logistics and supply chain operations were 
"barely above subsistence level," in large part because of problems with 
software based on radio frequency identification technology (RFID) and 
network communications.

[snip]


JLWhitaker Associates
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at melbpc.org.au  --  http://member.melbpc.org.au/~jwhit/whitentr.htm
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