Logistics is defined in the Concise Oxford
Dictionary as "the art of moving and quartering troops,
and supplying and maintaining a fleet". While this
definition is rather narrow, it nevertheless gives a
general guide to the broad military support field known
as logistics. This thesis is concerned with one of the
more complex military logistics problems - namely the
allocation of men, equipment and materiel to the engineer
tasks associated with the movement, maintenance and
support of military forces in a theatre of operations.
The major factors are:
a. tasks to be carried out by engineers;
b. the number and type of available
engineer construction units.
c. stores and transport constraints imposed
by other agencies in the Defence logistics
system;
d. deadlines imposed by the Commander and his
staff;
e. efficiency and proficiency of engineer
constructions units in carrying out
particular tasks;
f. risk, including
(1) possible enemy action (both directly
against units, or indirectly against
other elements in the logistics system)
(2) adverse weather (both direct and indirect)
Current military procedures for solving this
type of problem are based on practices developed during
World War II, and rely heavily on support from external
sources (this was the case throughout the conflicts in
Korea, Malaya and Vietnam). The recent change in Government
defence policy requiring greater reliance on our own
resources has meant that new solutions have had to be
found to old problems. The aim of this thesis is therefore
three-fold:
a. to analyse the problem in terms of
its various components;
b. to develop a method whereby the problem
can be solved manually in an efficient
manner (but still considering all the
relevant factors); and
c. to develop a method whereby the solution
to the problem can be optimized, using
computers where necessary.
Mathematical equations are developed for all factors in
the engineer logistics planning problem, and a graphical
technique is developed which enables a solution to the
problem to be found quickly using manual methods.
The approach to-the development of the graphical technique
is based on some ideas presented by V.V. Kolbin in his
book "Stochastic Programming".
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218880 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Denham, David R., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Information Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright David R. Denham |
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