Competition between major players in every industry is constantly becoming more and more complex. Companies can no longer afford to lean on hopes that promotional activities will launch you ahead of the pack, and leaders are now realizing that cost mitigation can effectively increase profit margins. In fact, slashing costs involved with your supply chain and logistics operations can improve your bottom line even in the midst of dynamic environmental factors such as competitor behavior and economic shifts.
NASA might be the best example of supply chain management in action. NASA has 14 suppliers of materials needed for shuttle missions within the United States. Each of these 14 supply lines converge onto one location, NASA HQ. Costs associated with the materials used in each space mission are monumental. For example, roughly $316 million is usually required in fuel just to get a shuttle into orbit. Considering an $83,000 cost per pound of cargo just to get to the moon, you can calculate an overall cost of $690,000 just to send 1 gallon (8.3 pounds) to the crater-faced frontier.
When you’re considering costs as large as those that NASA deals with on a daily basis, you are smart to look into all of those costs to see which ones are absolutely necessary and which costs can be cut out. Space exploration is a worthy expenditure based simply on our inclination as a human race to discover the unknown, but when you deal with budgets that reach into 7-9 figures, you should know that capital for such projects didn’t just appear from nowhere. Hard work brought that money into existence, and it’s important to all those at stake to make as efficient use of that dough as possible.
This infographic, courtesy of Florida Tech Online provides a deeper look into space supply chain management.
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