Partnered Professional Development. A Joint Strategy for the Future of Military Logistics

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1 Partnered Professional Development A Joint Strategy for the Future of Military Logistics

2 Overview The UK Armed Forces have a justified reputation in combat for their professionalism, bravery and success. The key to maintaining this reputation is world class training which delivers military personnel capable of operating to defend the UK s interests at home and anywhere they are threatened globally. This has been reflected most recently in operations involving all 3 Services in the Falklands Islands, the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Iraq, Libya and ongoing demanding operations in Afghanistan. However, in the modern context of achieving not only operational effectiveness but also operational efficiency, the modern member of the Armed Forces can no longer rely solely on military skills. Within the United Kingdom Armed Forces, logistics underpins the ability to project military force. This capability must always ensure battle winning effectiveness but it has also to remain affordable both in terms of manpower and materiel. Recent fiscal constraints have led the Government to impose further stringent control of defence spending. Logistics commanders at all levels must create supply chain linkages that are agile enough to transfer rapidly from peace-time to conflict while keeping close control of spending. Running throughout is also an imperative to continuously improve. These demands are frequently conflicting. It is therefore crucial that important changes to the training and education of logistics specialists have been conceived and enacted. Refining the commercial supply chain tends to result in readily quantifiable and often transparent outcomes leading to competitive profit margins. Whereas military logistics embraces a process of radical and continuous improvements to deliver greater operational effectiveness by releasing more capacity while generating less waste in manpower and resources in the medium to long term. This document highlights the steps being taken towards the professionalisation of the UK Armed Forces logistics personnel. The programme is a partnership between the Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration and the University of Lincoln. It has created a transformational staircase of professionalisation from the most junior ranks to senior officers. Its aim is simple: to create a cadre of world class military logisticians. Key Facts: Army Personnel Army Royal Logistic Corps RAF Personnel RAF Logistics Branch and Trade Royal Navy Personnel Royal Navy Logisticians 3300 Resources devoted to Defence logistics training 664 personnel Total Defence logistics employees

3 Translating logistics performance standards into training and education The sheer number of military logisticians vs. resources dedicated for their development, calls for comprehensive and integrated leading-edge logistics training and education throughout the careers of logistics specialists of all ranks. The delivery of this training is the responsibility of the Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration (DCLPA). Charged with providing tri- Service Logistics training and education for the UK Armed Forces and their supporting elements, the Defence Logistics School (DLS) has become a true centre of excellence. Within the DCLPA, it is the core team of the Logistics Management Training Squadron (LMTS) that have led these innovations and developments towards logistician training and development. This team of 5, based at RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire, work in close partnership with the University of Lincoln s Military Programmes Group. Through this collaboration, the LMTS have been empowered to deliver professional logistics continuous professional development (CPD) across all 3 military services and their associated civil service counterparts. Training and education pathways To ensure that the all ranks remain at the leading edge of professional knowledge and competence a programme of through-life CPD has been introduced, regarded as the transformational staircase. In order to achieve this challenging programme, a unique collaboration has developed between DCLPA and the University of Lincoln on a range of professionally accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. This reflects how the Armed Forces in general and DCLPA in particular are increasingly seeking the highest available equivalence in civilian qualifications for military training and education. Throughout, while training is skills based to enhance operational capability, education aims to harness the academic intellectual capacity of Service men and women through access to higher civilian qualifications and the appropriate level of institutional accreditation. The Transformational Staircase encompasses the following courses: Apprenticeship Foundation Degree Logistics Management BSc(Hons) Logistics Management MSc Logistics Management More information can be found on each stage on the following pages.

4 Defence Logistics School collaboration with University of Lincoln Collaborations between military colleges and universities are not new, but this collaboration is unique in its style and flexibility of delivery options. Working in concert, the Work-based Distance Learning team at the University of Lincoln and the course development staff at DLS have devised a range of distance learning and part-time courses to ensure that higher education needs are met. The overall CPD programme contributes directly to employability and promotability of logistics specialists of all ranks and Services. Mirroring the CILT(UK) grading levels from Affiliate through to FCILT, the programme has very impressively evolved by matching professional requirements with academic rigour. In particular, the programme rapidly became flexible, to ensure it could accommodate the operational deployment of students into combat zones. This exceptional innovation now allows students to suspend their studies for operational reasons and to re-join the course with a later cohort at no additional cost. Logistics Apprenticeships The DLS has established an award winning partnership with CILT UK to deliver an apprenticeship scheme to offer qualification opportunities from the very early stages of training. New supply trade entrants to the RAF begin their apprenticeship programme by undertaking the CILT UK Level 2 qualification just 9 weeks into their careers. In a remarkable testament to their commitment and to the commitment of the apprenticeship centre staff, completion rates have remained at or near 100% for the past 5 years, with a total number of apprentices numbering 870. The scheme does not cease at Level 2, with junior non-commissioned officers (corporals) undertaking the CILT UK Level 3 and senior non-commissioned officers undertaking the CILT UK Level 5 qualifications. The programme has achieved very significant internal recognition with supply trade apprentices achieving the runner up place in the RAF Apprentice of the Year awards for the past 2 years. Key Facts: RAF Apprentice Programme Successful apprentices: 870 Completion rates at or near 100% for the past 5 years University of Lincoln, Brayford Campus

5 Foundation Degree in Logistics Management (FdSc) The most recent innovation in the transformational CPD staircase is a Foundation Degree in Logistics Management. This initiative provides an undergraduate pathway for those who have committed and excelled within the apprenticeship programme. The FdSc offers an additional self-funded stand alone qualification. Tri-Service negotiations with the University of Lincoln and professional institutes are nearing a conclusion for a FdSc which will deliver an accredited foundation degree, with suitable recognition of training. The degree will intentionally benefit from the rolling enrolment and the flexible approach that have already proved so successful at the higher academic levels. It will be aimed at the military Junior NCO Cadre giving them a natural stepping stone onto the BSc(Hons) Logistics Management Programme. The Work Based Distance Learning Degree Programme (BSc Hons) The Work Based Distance Learning Degree is the most successful element of the programme so far. It allows students to make maximum use of their work experience and previous learning, enabling them to achieve the CILT accredited BSc (Hons) degree in Logistics Management. The Work Based Distance Learning Degree programme is the University of Lincoln s contribution to breaking down the barriers between learning at work and learning at university. The programme very positively exploits the high levels of skills and learning that are demonstrated every day in the workplace and provides a degree framework to accredit and develop this learning. Most importantly for the military audience the programme offers the flexibility that a typical serviceman requires; allowing students to interrupt their studies and flex assignment submission dates around the specific demands posed by on-going and future operational commitments. Key Facts: Commenced in military graduates to date 250+ currently working towards degree award

6 The Defence Logistics Staff Course and MSc in Logistics Management The imperative to develop professional military logistics managers has become ever more compelling. Consequently, in 2007 LMTS and the University of Lincoln launched a pilot 7 x one week residential modular programme spread over an 18 month period (known as the Air Logistics Staff Course). Based upon the University of Lincoln s MSc Logistics Management programme, this innovative partnered approach combined specialist logistics management delivery from within the Ministry of Defence, industry, humanitarian agencies and the academic world. Successful completion of the programme led to the award of a Post Graduate Diploma in Logistics Management, which could then be converted into a full MSc Logistics Management through the submission of a 20,000 word thesis. Such was the success of this programme that in 2009 LMTS and the University of Lincoln were challenged with developing the Air Logistics Staff Course still further. The Defence Logistics Staff Course has now been running for 2 years and it has developed into a programme that has met the growing demands for post graduate education across logistics specialists from all three armed Services, Ministry of Defence civil servants and representatives from the Defence Industries. Defence Logistics is an immensely complex and expensive activity and it is vital that our military logisticians possess the specialist professional skills and competencies to equip them to meet current and future challenges. The MSc Defence Logistics Staff Course run by the University of Lincoln represents the capstone course for military logistics professionals Air Vice Marshal Graham Howard Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Logistics Operations) (2012) Key Facts: 150 students currently enrolled on the programme 110 PG Diplomas awarded 14 MSc degrees awarded 38 students engaged in research towards full MSc award Defence Logistics Staff Course Graduation, 2012

7 Contribution to Future Strategy and Current Operations In today s complex environments, Defence logisticians routinely find themselves responding to challenges that quickly blur the boundaries between the civilian and the military domains. It is here that the joint MOD and University of Lincoln Defence Logistics Staff Course adds true value to Defence. Providing students with an in-depth appreciation of military, civilian and academic best practice, this course is fundamental to ensuring Defence objectives are achieved through effective logistics leadership. Major General Ian Copeland, Director Joint Support Chain, Defence Equipment and Support (2012) This partnership is borne from a conviction and commitment to create world class military logisticians. It is therefore very significant that the programme is already making an exceptional contribution to organisational improvements. This is being achieved through the quality of the associated academic submissions which are already acknowledged by the higher echelons of the chain of command to be at the forefront of logistics thinking across the Ministry of Defence. Notable contributions towards Joint Service logistics strategies with corresponding budgetary and manpower resource savings have already been made. For example: A study on the applicability of a reverse supply solution for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft which highlighted the level of risk associated with a high dependency on military resource and process. The study identified enhancements in overall performance that third party logistics can offer military supply chains of the future. A thesis on the preparation for partnering within military Future Logistics Information Services. The study was key to enabling military logisticians to fully understand what attributes and approaches should be considered during the journey towards supply chain partnered solutions. In light of the consistent demand to identify efficiencies within the MOD and in particular within the logistics arena, the RAF approach to the logistics support of fixed and rotary wing aircraft within Afghanistan was reviewed. As a result of the associated findings, the management of forward deployed inventory was optimised by a thesis that proposed integration and far closer coordination of supply chain support. A thesis reviewing the implementation of the Army s new supply system resulted in the initiation of a full Materiel Distribution Process Review with a view to enact the research findings across the Army, driving logistics policy and strategy for many years to come. Such rigorous academic research, innovative outcomes and efficiencies typifies the Ministry of Defence projects which are being transformed by what is an already exceptionally busy student body. Additionally, by way of further acknowledgement, Air Logistics Staff Course and Defence Logistics Staff Course graduates are now being selected for highly influential appointments within the Joint Military Logistics arena, both at UK HQs and on the operational front-line.

8 Summary The transformational CPD staircase is ensuring that the professional excellence achieved by the military on the front line is translated into suitable higher education qualifications and appropriate levels of professional institutional accreditation. This highly innovative and collaborative strategy has been devised by a relatively small but highly motivated team from within the DCLPA and the University of Lincoln to the benefit of a Ministry of Defence wide audience. The programmes are bespoke to a considerable degree and flexible in delivery to cater for operational commitments. Already, graduates of the academic programmes are being promoted and selected for senior influential positions and the standard of work produced is acknowledged as best in field within the higher echelons of the Ministry of Defence s logistics management chain. Perhaps most significantly, student work is being utilised to realise tangible operational improvements, budgetary savings and to drive future policy and strategy. The complexity of supporting cutting edge military equipment and the challenges posed by operating globally in all environmental conditions is driving military logistics professionalisation. This comprehensive education and personal development programme is delivering innovative personnel capable of dealing with uncertainty and able to meet the military logistics challenges of the future. The University of Lincoln is proud of its close educational association with the nation s armed forces. This partnership has been highly successful in creating degree-level study opportunities for a great number of military students. At Lincoln, we are committed to developing this very distinctive aspect of our work as part of our future strategy. Professor Mary Stuart Vice Chancellor, University of Lincoln (2012)

9 If you think education is expensive, try costing ignorance Senior Military Officer (2012) For more information please contact: University of Lincoln Gary Ramsden Military Programmes Leader DCLPA Sqn Ldr Jim Nadin RAFR OC LMTS