Beyond distribution and assignment: managing navy careers

Abstract

Numerous studies have attempted to provide technological solutions to the problem of sailor distribution and assignment. But they have failed to model the roles of several stakeholders. This paper aims to provide timely technical support and relevant information to the stakeholders. The approach is to model a sailor's sequence of jobs as a supply chain. The contribution of this effort is to introduce supply chain management as a way of thinking about the problem. Each command receives a sailor's services, but that command also invests in the sailor by providing training and experience. It is this investment activity that makes the sailor more valuable to commands later in the supply chain. An optimal system will encourage commands to invest in sailor attributes that are desired by other commands with jobs later in the supply chain. The model that is outlined in this paper measures the value of assigning a sailor to a particular job early enough to encourage this investment while recognising the inputs of all relevant stakeholders.