The Bizzaro Supply Chain

My dad never outgrew his comics, even to this day, he is a huge fan of Superman. Which made me a fan and thinking back Superman had an arch nemesis called Bizarro Superman, who would do the opposite of everything superman would do. After reading the NY Times article last week with the headline "Supplier Under Scrutiny on Arms for Afghans" I think I discovered the bizzaro supply chain.

One of the key staples of any successful supply chain are partners you work with. Any supply chain worth a damn has a procurement team that established a secure, reliable and trusted partner network. It's just a must. But in the bizzaro supply chain, its just the opposite. For example, the NY Times reports that the US Military is procuring $300 million in ammunition from a 21 year old in Miami, that is buying old Soviet era equipment and reselling it to them. I mean this is procurement 101. But the bizzaro supply chain doesn't stop there, apparently, some of the ammo arrived to the troops in paper bags! Hello logistics team, where are you? Can you imagine the look on the troops when they receive a paper bag of ammo that they are suppose to then depend on with their life?

My suggestion to the US Military, stick to your core competency of organizing strategic military attacks and outsource your supply chain to a trusted expert.