A Basis for Establishing Order Shipping Time (OST) Standards for the Direct Support System

The Direct Support System (DSS) in Europe is designed to streamline the supply system (via removal of an echelon of supply) and improve its responsiveness. In concept, DSS would increase the percentage of customer requests that are immediately filled, and decrease the waiting time for those that are not. This reduction would be accomplished by reducing overall order shipping time (OST) from 80 to 45 days. Thus, a standard of 45 days OST has been established for DSS. The report analyzes the performance and cost implications of several alternative interpretations of the 45-day standard, and establishes a basis for selecting an interpretation that is at once meaningful, attainable, and worth the cost. The RAC Supply Point Simulation Model (SPSM) was used to consider performance and cost sensitivities to various interpretations of the standard, i.e., 80 percent of fill accomplished in 45 days, 40 percent, etc.