European Award for Logistics Excellence 2007

The Swiss Armed Forces Logistics Organisation wins the European Award for Logistics Excellence 2007 in Berlin

With its location model for logistics the Armed Forces Logistics Organisation (AFLO) wins the European Award for Logistics Excellence 2007. In 2004, size, number and geographical locations for the future logistic facilities were calculated for the Swiss Armed Forces on the basis of client, product and process information. Within the context of the stationing concept for the Swiss Armed Forces the five logistics centres and six infrastructure centres were presented, discussed with all Swiss cantons and accepted in July 2005. AFLO's location model which concentrates Switzerland's stationary logistic resources in 11 main locations constitutes a first step within the reorganisation of the logistics of the armed forces and entails annual savings of about 300 million CHF.

The Armed Forces Logistics Organisation (AFLO) gives logistic support to the Swiss Armed Forces in all its operations in Switzerland and abroad. AFLO came into existence on 1 January 2004 and has been tasked with a significant cost reduction mission. Compared to a past annual budget of 1.4 billion CHF, it will be obliged to recurrently save about 300 million CHF annually until 2010 and eliminate some 1,800 jobs. The reductions in staff amount to nearly half the work force. Armed forces logistics will be subjected to a massive change until 2010 and will be adjusted to the standards of civilian logistics.

Up to the end of 2005, the historically evolved locations for logistic services were widely distributed over the entire area of Switzerland. Equipment was stored, maintained and repaired, prepared and returned in some 30 arsenals and army vehicle parks at approx. 600 locations. Now since 1 January 2006, only five logistics centres and six infrastructure centres constitute the main locations for armed forces logistics. With about 100 remote locations they form the future stationary logistics. About a million square metres of storage space and obsolete military equipment purchased for approximately ten billion CHF will be liquidated until the end of 2010.

The locations for the new logistic facilities were calculated with an operations research model. In this project AFLO was able to rely on the support of the Consultants League GmbH firm. The AFLO location model has been the object of debates between the Department of Defence Civil Protection and Sport and its cantonal partners and is being implemented locally since the middle of 2005. For Swiss conditions, the implementation of the location model forms an extensive and complex project with interfaces to the armed forces, policy and administration.

The modernisation of the entire supply chain from the evaluation to the decommissioning of systems will continue in the coming years. With new processes and the transition from a collect to a requirement focused delivery principle the scarce resources of the armed forces will be managed even more economically. Logistic resources will be deployed where they are required by the client. Management of goods will be further optimised with the support of electronic data processing. With preliminary measures it has already been possible to recurrently save some 100 million CHF annually from 2004 to 2006. This is a third of the sum that has to be saved until 2010.