This content is sponsored by LMI.

One thing has become clear over the course of the past two years — our day-to-day lives are dependent on massive logistics networks that are invisible when they work well but can adversely impact every facet of our daily lives when they do not.

Increased awareness of our global supply chain’s fragility has accelerated a trend that was already underway pre-COVID-19: increasing the use of data and analytics to understand, manage and optimize logistics operations. In the commercial world, venture funding is flooding to sectors such as freight tech, supply chain tech and asset performance management, alongside more established investments in automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms.

Most government logistics managers see great opportunity in the intersection of data, analytics and logistics but also a daunting landscape of proprietary tools, widgets and capabilities. The result can be uncertainty and “the tyranny of choice” — the sense that “we have to do something” without a clear idea of where to start or how to turn technical capability into tangible value. One senior officer in the Pentagon recently shared that he feels as though his leadership just wants him to “sprinkle some AI” on every project.

Building on 60-plus years of federal experience

LMI developed LogSmart to break through the confusion and inertia that can inhibit the timely delivery of digital logistics and sustainment capabilities within federal agencies. LogSmart is a family of digital solutions that combines LMI’s 60-plus years of federal logistics experience with contemporary data engineering, data science and agile software development to maximize operational impact. Today, LMI’s tailored solutions target the needs of fleet operators and maintainers, supply chain analysts and program managers, among others.

Our experience across agencies tells us that our customers do not need to pay for more enterprise software or black box algorithms. For digital transformation to truly take hold and accelerate, federal users need solutions that deliver the fastest time to actionable insight at a manageable cost. Thus, LMI developed our LogSmart solutions to:

• Start with the trusted data available today in enterprise systems. Adding sensors and other new data feeds can be expensive and time-consuming in the federal IT environment; useful solutions should start by showing what is possible with the immense amount of data agencies already collect.
• Go beyond describing and predicting reality to modeling options and recommending actions. Most government agencies are so complex that simply illuminating reality in greater detail can be more overwhelming than helpful. Choosing between multiple, often suboptimal solutions, is overwhelming. The government needs useful tools that identify and explain the best choice given an organization’s goals and constraints.
• Leverage existing tools the government has in place. Most of LMI’s customers have powerful enterprise tools currently at their disposal to organize, analyze and visualize data; the trick is configuring those tools with the right models, workflows and interfaces to deliver actionable insights to logistics-focused users.
• Build organic capability rather than vendor dependence. It is possible to deliver indispensable tools without the contractor themselves becoming irreplaceable. That is why we developed LogSmart tools to be seamless for the government to understand, operate and sustain. LMI also offers advanced training for government data scientists and analysts so that, once a LogSmart solution is implemented, our customers are not dependent upon our organization to experience the inherent value.

Digital transformation opportunities

In a world where logistics and supply chain resiliency have gone from being an esoteric concern of specialized professionals to an everyday dinner table conversation for Americans, opportunities for transformation are everywhere. That does not mean transformative projects have to start everywhere, solve everything or involve hefty upfront expenditures on sensors, software or outsourced support.

Chances are that your organization may already have much of the data, tooling and expertise you need to put powerful solutions in the hands of your people to improve asset availability, supply chain performance or service delivery. You need the right partner to turn general purpose tools into predictive logistics solutions.

To learn more about LMI’s LogSmart, please contact Todd Stiefler at tstiefler@lmi.org.

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