OPTIMIZATION OF LOGISTIC SUPPLY CHANNELS OF THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF SMALL-ARMS AMMUNITION

Abstract

Today, the responsibilities of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) have become broader and increased in scope. The basic readiness and training requirements for each German service member to be employed domestically (for national defense or a state of emergency) or deployed internationally are focused on training and qualification with small arms. This thesis describes a two-stage scenario robust integer linear optimization model of logistic supply channels of the German Armed Forces for the transportation of small-arms ammunition. Based on different study cases, we explore how individual units should be optimally assigned to a primary and alternate supply depot. To accomplish this, we optimize the supply routes for each unit by calculating the shortest travel times meeting certain transportation requirements. We consider potential depots to open in the first stage of the model. We wish this decision to be robust to demand uncertainty and adaptability for future supply processes from the perspective of given supply perturbations. Our second-stage decisions reflect day-to-day vehicle routing decisions; these decisions are made after the daily demands are revealed. Finally, we analyze the results for three deterministic cases and a robust case including five demand scenarios.