Benchmarking the efficiency of government warehouse operations: A data envelopment analysis approach.

摘要

The purpose of this research was to benchmark the performance of 18 Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) supply warehouses located within the contiguous United States using 22 months of historical data. This study used a mathematical programming tool, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to measure the relative overall efficiency of the warehouses and to determine the sources of inefficiency where they exist.;DLA anticipates a reduced workload for each of the warehouses in the future, which translates into excess capacity and increased inefficiency for the system. With this methodology, DLA can intelligently target facilities for closure. The closure of facilities can result in potential savings of millions of tax dollars.;This study concluded that less automated warehouses are more efficient than warehouses with higher levels of automation, and that larger warehouses are more efficient than smaller warehouses.