Turkish Air Force's experiences in chemical material acquisition

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Turkish Air Force's experiences with the acquisition of chemical materials. It highlights the issues, concerns and risk areas associated with the chemical material acquisition and examines how the Turkish Air Force tries to mitigate the associated risks. In addition, it analyzes the chemical material acquisition from business perspective. Due to operating in different environments, the Turkish Air Force and the private sector have different objectives in the acquisition of chemical materials. Turkish Air Force operates with excess amount of chemical materials in the inventory to prevent material outages. This attitude leads to shelf life expirations and testing processes in chemical materials. Conversely, business perceives inventories as costs and endeavors to reduce them to the maximum extent possible. The conclusion is that Turkish Air Force is operating at a reasonable effectiveness level while fulfilling its chemical material needs. However, given the long procurement lead times and high rate of shelf life extension tests, the Turkish Air Force performs at a low efficiency level. Business practices employed in the acquisition of chemical materials offer viable alternatives to improve current acquisition methods.