Lloyd Muller
Dr. Lloyd H. Muller is a logistician with over thirty-five years of experience in all realms of the discipline. He has been involved with all forms of transportation ranging from operating school bus systems to developing and directing strategic sea and airlift requirements for military operations. Management of petroleum, munitions, aviation supply and maintenance has also been among his responsibilities. His planning of logistical requirements and applications for worldwide contingencies led to the development of an automated real time system that managed all of the logistics resources in the Mediterranean during Operation Desert Storm. This system became a prototype for Air Force application. His last assignment was Deputy Commander of 16th Air Force, and he retired as a colonel.

Because of his extensive knowledge of logistics and almost twenty years of applying them in international environments, he has been involved in many diplomatic negotiations that gained significant benefits for both the United States and many of the nations in Europe. Most recently, in behalf of the Defense Institution Reform Initiative (DIRI) Program, he assisted the Romanian Ministry of National Defence in developing their logistics plans.

Dr. Muller is also widely versed in the academic elements of logistics. Bringing his wealth of practical experience to education, he has taught at universities located both in the United States and in foreign countries. Among them are the University of Maryland, Emery Riddle Aeronautical University, La Verne University and Middle East Technical University in Ankara Turkey. He has also been a logistics instructor for the United States Navy. Currently, he is an associate professor of logistics for Florida Institute of Technology. Besides these duties, Dr. Muller is a Past President of SOLE, The International Society of Logistics. Beyond these teaching experiences, he has written numerous articles and books on many aspects of the discipline.

Quality: A Loggie’s Perspective

Date:
April 14, 2016

Time:
9:00 AM US Pacific Coast Time

Details

This discussion focuses on the effects of counterfeit parts being used in modern electronic assemblies. The essence of reliability, maintainability and supportability to a logistician is dependent on quality. Quality must be designed into any system. This quality must be evident from the entire airplane, radio, or computer to the smallest component. Without it, the logistician cannot support the operator who is trying to meet an objective. Support logistics has become increasingly dependent on Just in Time inventory (JIT) management. JIT technology allows inventories to drop to zero with a great savings in financial cost. But, successful JIT is dependent on vendor assurance of quality. The receivers assume that quality has been provided upon delivery and they can directly use it immediately upon receipt for manufacturing higher level assemblies. After the fact quality assurance is not possible due to the time constraints of keeping assembly lines moving. This assumption is not proving to be valid with Chinese suppliers, and the consequences are serious. Chinese suppliers have been harvesting old parts and selling them as new to their customers. Such counterfeiting practices seriously degrades the inherent quality needed for successful maintenance and support. Many name-brand computers have been affected to the dismay of their owners, but of greater concern have been reported incidents of aircraft failures in flight due to counterfeit practices. These practices by the Chinese have attracted congressional attention, but without interest from the Chinese government counterparts.

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