# Value Stream Analysis in Military Logistics:
## 6 Discussion  
This work presents the implementation of lean methodology value stream analysis in a particular case of military logistic processes. Specifically, the lean methodology value stream analysis (VSM/VSD) was applied satisfactorily to the material order processing procedure, which plays a key role in the ABC military organization supply chain. First, the state-of-art study showed that there is a lack of references with the same purpose and field of application. Although lean tools, such as VSM/VSD, are widely used in the industry, military issues are not so common in the literature when relating lean thinking and logistics. In addition, the case study is characterized by the special operating conditions. The high number of material references, the absence of demand patterns, and the high variation of the spare parts orders were the main challenges faced during the project.  
The critical activities of the process were identified, and the times invested in each task together with the value-added in the affected areas were assessed. Therefore, we carried out a complete evaluation of the value-added chain of the order processing procedure in the project. This was extremely important to define the key activities to eliminate, improve, or redefine with the ultimate target of increasing the value-added of the complete supply chain. Kaizen ideas were detailed to illustrate the solution strategy proposed for this project. The development of a lean logistics concept, eliminating the waste and increasing the added value of the spare parts supply process, enables the improvement in the delivery fulfillment of the ABC organization to the requesting military units, qualifying the correct achievement of their missions in national territory or operation zone.  
The implementation of the two pilot phases of the ideal VSD process performed successfully showing a clear improvement in the key performance indicators. The validation of the actions derived from VSM/VSD in the test period was decisive to finally decide the implementation in the complete order processing procedure from the beginning of 2017. After the ideal VSD process deployment, the results indicated that the future state map could increase added-value activities from 44% to 70%, and the average and deviation of the lead-time was reduced up to 69.6% and 61.9%, respectively, from 2014 to 2017.  
The integration of analytical tools to evaluate the system variation, including modeling and simulation of the system before and after the value stream analysis application is recommended as future activities and research lines. The implementation of the lean management approach presented in this work in a military logistics procedure highlights the need for reinforcing these practices in the military context. According to the obtained results, we can also conclude that lean methodologies could be further extended to other military logistics processes and units with the ultimate target of improving the military unit's delivery fulfillment.  
Conceptualization R.A., M.T.; Validation: R.P.-M., J.A.P.; Methodology, R.A., M.T.; Investigation, R.A., M.T., R.P.-M., J.A.P.; Resources, R.P.-M., J.A.P.; Writing--Original Draft Preparation, R.A., M.T.; Writing--Review and Editing, R.P.-M., J.A.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was funded by the Centro Universitario de la Defense (Zaragoza-Spain) via project number CUD 2015-21 and by Aragon Government through the Research Activity Grant for research groups. The authors thank the ABC military organization unit for providing the case study and their collaboration. The authors declare no conflict of interest.