December-January 20168 logisticstechoutlook.comcarriers, and supply routes extending across many countries and continents. The cargo includes everything from toothpaste and peanut butter to delicate scientific instruments and samples that require special packaging and handling. Multiple technology systems support and facilitate the management and logistics challenges, but despite the supply chains' extreme complexity, the success of these missions still hinges on the foundational principles of robust planning and uncompromising attention to detail.In Time to Catch a RocketThe NASA Cargo Mission Contract (CMC) operates out of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where we warehouse and maintain more than three million Out of this World to the Ends of the Earth, Details MatterBy Art Ibers, VP-Exploration & Mission Support, Lockheed MartinSupply chains vary greatly in length and complexity. They can be as simple as moving office supplies across town, or as complex as coordinating just-in-time parts deliveries from multiple suppliers across thousands of miles. But no matter how much they differ, all supply chains are mission-critical to someone, on some level, and it's essential that everyone involved treat them that way.This basic tenet of successful supply chain management is demonstrated on an extreme level at Lockheed Martin, where we move material through supply chains that stretch from out of this world to the end of the Earth--literally. Through our Cargo Mission Contract with NASA, we prepare supplies for delivery to the International Space Station, and our Antarctic Support Contract with the National Science Foundation (NSF) includes responsibility for resupplying the NSF-managed U.S. Antarctic Program, the national program of scientific research in Antarctica.Both of these contracts involve thousands of different items, scores of vendors, multiple IN MY OPINION
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