What is motivational dysfunction? You have seen it, you may even have experienced it, and you have certainly felt the effects of this dysfunction in your workplace. Often undiagnosed, employees suffering from motivational dysfunction have lowered motivation caused by a lack of excitement for their job. This serious issue can cost companies billions of dollars per year in lost productivity. How can you combat this in your organization? Simply put, leadership is the cure. Focusing on the people aspect of supply chains, Modeling and Benchmarking Supply Chain Leadership: Setting the Conditions for Excellence provides the framework for leading people to achieve new levels of excellence.

Applying his 30 years of supply chain experience and exemplary leadership, Joe Walden details the qualities considered benchmarks for measuring leadership success. He uses the LEADERSHIP(c) acronym to establish a framework. Each chapter examines a critical attribute, defining it and using examples of good and bad leadership from the military and a range of commercial industries. Just as the study of operations management used the House of Quality to describe how quality is designed into and built into a product; Walden looks at how the attributes of leadership form a House of Leadership.

More than a few business leaders have insinuated that the supply chain is where future competitions will be and winning those competitions will require leadership. While technical skills, automation of functions, and information systems are important, without the right people with the right training and skill set, supply chains will fail and motivational dysfunction will take hold. This book provides a model of leadership to motivate your team and empower them to make the decisions that set the conditions for supply chain victory.

The Army has a serious problem with materiel in the supply chain that is moving in the reverse direction. The supply chain is a series of inter-related processes and activities that move supplies and services from the suppliers to the ultimate end users. The reverse supply chain contains items that are either defective, damaged, or otherwise unneeded by the intended user. These items must be returned to the supplier for credit or disposal. The items in the reverse supply chain take longer to identify and process. This delay coupled with a lack of visibility of the items moving backward slows the movement of items into and out of major distribution centers. This delay can have an impact on readiness of combat units and increase the amounts of supplies retained at the unit level. Commercial industry has recognized that managing the items in the reverse supply chain results in better customer service and improved profits. Although the Army is not concerned with profit margins, they are concerned with improving customer service and improving readiness. These concerns lend themselves to the application of reverse supply chain management. After establishing a clear definition of the supply chain and the reverse supply chain, this paper examines the shortfalls in the Army's handling of serviceable excess items in the supply chain and how commercial industry has tackled this problem. The Army has a system in place to track and manage unserviceable major assemblies throughout the maintenance system, but has fallen short in the area of serviceable items. A careful look at commercial practices provides the basis for recommendations on how to improve the Army's reverse supply chain management. The Army is experiencing return rates as high as some Internet retailers. One possible solution to improve the management of these items, as proposed in this paper, is to establish a central returns management center at the Red River Army Depot. This center would be established along the

"The Forklifts Have Nothing To Do!" provides practical methods for improving supply chain operations. Colonel Joe Walden has spent more than 25 years leading supply chain operations. Improving your supply chain will improve your bottom line, regardless of your industry.

His recommendations draw on examples in civilian industry and military operations, including his recent experiences in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Supply chain operations in the military are very similar to supply chain operations in commercial industry. Both have the ability to improve operations for the customer.

Conducting "business as usual" is out of step with today's rapid-fire, global economy. Velocity Management in Logistics and Distribution: Lessons from the Military to Secure the Speed of Business alerts commerce to the new reality that it must be more flexible and responsive in managing the unpredictability of its environment, particularly when it comes to the supply chain process. This comprehensive resource explains how to successfully migrate towards velocity management, which espouses replacing traditional reliance on mass quantities of inventory with receiving what is needed when it is needed - providing businesses with the ability to rapidly meet customers' ever-changing requirements. The velocity management paradigm is based on the highly successful example set by the United States Army, as illustrated by the author, a renowned speaker and retired colonel with more than 26 years of supply chain and leadership experience. He explains how the Army went from being mired in a mammoth, archaic, Cold War logistics infrastructure to achieving a lean, agile, world-class supply chain network. Chapters detail how this transition can be accomplished in the business arena. They relay aspects essential to achieving a successful supply chain: maintaining security, achieving velocity, and applying military theories, practices, and lessons learned. This invaluable and timely reference concludes with a summary of key themes and their relevant application to modern supply chains.