U.S. Transportation Command is the Fedex of the U.S. Military
Do you ever think about the wonders of Amazon or FedEx? How do they move so many items in so many ways to so many different places? Ships. Planes. Trucks. Trains. Schedules timed down to the minute. Trackers and bar codes in the millions.
Now think about that for the U.S. military…and multiply it by 100.
The U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is essentially the FedEx of the U.S. military, moving everything from food and uniforms to tanks and vehicles – every minute of every day. On any given day, USTRANSCOM has more than 20 ships underway, 1500 truck cargo shipments, and aircraft either taking off or landing every two minutes. Tracking every movement of every item on every mode of transportation is a herculean task that in the past has used about 60 different systems. Today, Telesto Group is working to implement a primary platform to facilitate transportation from factory to foxhole.
In 2018, USTRANSCOM awarded a more than $40M contract to Telesto to transform its information technology landscape using an out-of-the-box SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool – the Transport Management System (TMS). The goal of the project is to:
Integrate global operations not just within the military, but also with vendors (cargo ships, logistics truckers, etc.)
Link material and their movements in one system (bar codes, scanners, etc.)
Develop solutions specific to mode of transportation (truck, ship, air, etc.), but that also talk to each other (ships can talk to airplanes; trucks can talk to ships; etc.)
Track associated financials, which will address Department of Defense (DoD) auditability mandates, for which USTRANSCOM struggled with in recent audits
Through this ERP implementation, Telesto Group is setting up USTRANSCOM to improve operational lethality by improving the processes by which items are moved, tracked, shipped, and delivered to ultimately reach service members in the field. The system also will improve communications between and among USTRANSCOM and its vendors to coordinate shipments to support operations and missions. And administratively, the new platform will meet auditability mandates to support DoD requirements seeking to improve how equipment and money are managed.