Eric Peltz

Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations

Santa Monica Office

Education

M.B.A. and M.S.E. in industrial and operations engineering, University of Michigan; B.S.E. in systems engineering, United States Military Academy, West Point

One Page Bio

Media Resources

This researcher is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.

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Overview

Eric Peltz is senior vice president of Finance and Operations at the RAND Corporation. He oversees RAND International, Corporate Planning, and enterprise functions to include External Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Information Services, and Workplace Services, which encompasses Facilities, Real Estate, and Security. He has wide ranging RAND experience as a researcher, in research management, and in the management of corporate services and operations. Through the course of his career at RAND, he has served as vice president of Research Services and Operations with responsibility for several enterprise functions, as associate director of RAND's National Security Research Division (NSRD), and as the director of the Army Research Division Logistics Program, NSRD's logistics research, the RAND Supply Chain Policy Center, and NSRD's International Security and Defense Policy Center. While serving in these research management roles, Peltz continued to conduct research and led a broad range of projects on military global responsiveness, supply chain and logistics management, and fleet management. Prior to joining RAND, he held management positions at Chrysler and served in the U.S. Army. He holds a B.S.E. in systems engineering from the U.S. Military Academy, and an M.B.A. and M.S.E. in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan.

Research Focus

Selected Publications

Eric Peltz et al., Improving DLA Supply Chain Agility: Lead Times, Order Quantities, and Information Flow, RAND Corporation (RR-822), 2015

Eric Peltz et al., DoD Depot-Level Reparable Supply Chain Management: Process Effectiveness and Opportunities for Improvement, RAND Corporation (RR-398), 2014

Michael Lostumbo et al., Overseas Basing of U.S. Military Forces: an Assessment of Relative Costs and Strategic Benefits, RAND Corporation (RR-201), 2013

Eric Peltz and Marc Robbins with Geoffrey McGovern, Integrating the Department of Defense Supply Chain, RAND Corporation (TR-1274), 2012

Eric Peltz et al., Effectively Sustaining Forces Overseas While Minimizing Supply Chain Costs: Targeted Theater Inventory, RAND Corporation (DB-524), 2008

Eric Peltz and Marc Robbins, Leveraging Complementary Distribution Channels for an Effective, Efficient Global Supply Chain, RAND Corporation (DB-515), 2007

Eric Peltz et al., Sustainment of Army Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom: Major Findings and Recommendations, RAND Corporation (MG-342-A), 2005

Eric Peltz et al., Speed and Power: Toward an Expeditionary Army, RAND Corporation (MR-1755-A), 2004

Recent Media Appearances

Interviews: Inside the Army; Inside Defense

Commentary

Lean Thinking Comes to the Battlefield
The 1991 Gulf War represented the pinnacle of the U.S. industrial approach to warfare: overwhelming mass. Subsequently, the U.S. military began the shift to a new support paradigm, adapting the lean, best practices of contemporary business, write Eric Peltz and Rick Eden.
Jun 5, 2008 Forbes

Publications

Report
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM: Decisive War, Elusive Peace
Summarizes a classified five-volume report on the planning and execution of operations in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM through June 2004. Recommends changes to Army plans, operational concepts, doctrine, and Title 10 functions.
Jan 4, 2016
Report
Improving DLA Supply Chain Agility: Lead Times, Order Quantities, and Information Flow
This report examines how the Defense Logistics Agency could improve its supply chain agility, focusing on reducing lead times, right-sizing order quantities, and mitigating the effects of demand shifts through improved customer information flow.
Jan 5, 2015
Report
DoD Depot-Level Reparable Supply Chain Management: Process Effectiveness and Opportunities for Improvement
Examines Department of Defense depot-level reparable supply chain management to identify the most common reasons for apparent inventory excess and customer support shortfalls and associated process improvement opportunities.
Jun 9, 2014
Report
Overseas Basing of U.S. Military Forces: An Assessment of Relative Costs and Strategic Benefits
Assesses the advisability of changing the overseas basing presence of U.S. forces based on strategic benefits, risks, and costs. Characterizes how this presence contributes to assurance, deterrence, responsiveness, and security cooperation goals.
Apr 29, 2013
Research Brief
U.S. Overseas Military Posture: Relative Costs and Strategic Benefits
In an environment of fiscal constraints and shifting strategic needs, policymakers should carefully weigh the strategic capability effects, relative costs, and risks associated with potential changes to U.S. overseas military posture.
Apr 29, 2013
Report
Integrating the Department of Defense Supply Chain
Provides a guide for the design and improvement of Department of Defense supply chain policy, structure, and management practices, along with associated opportunities for efficiency gains.
Sep 4, 2012
Report
Equipment Sustainment Data in Standard Army Management Information Systems: Needs, Gaps, and Opportunities
Effective ''cradle-to-grave'' management of weapon and materiel systems requires ongoing assessment of life cycle sustainment data -- information about the operation, support, and disposal of Army equipment -- available in Standard Army Management Information Systems.
Jul 9, 2012
Research Brief
Is There a Cheaper and Faster Way to Distribute Medical Supplies?
Examines whether there is a less costly medical distribution structure for U.S. Central Command that would maintain or improve performance.
Nov 29, 2011
Research Brief
Targeted Use of Theater Inventory to Effectively Sustain Overseas Forces While Minimizing Supply Chain Costs
Discusses how to design a distribution network that takes advantage of the respective strengths of different modes of transportation to meet combatant command needs while minimizing total supply chain costs.
Nov 29, 2011
Report
Assessment of the USCENTCOM Medical Distribution Structure
Examines whether there is a less costly medical distribution structure for U.S. Central Command that would maintain or improve performance.
Mar 8, 2010
Report
Withdrawing from Iraq: Alternative Schedules, Associated Risks, and Mitigating Strategies
In studying the withdrawal from Iraq, RAND assessed logistical constraints, trends in insurgent activity, and the implications of the readiness of Iraqi security forces on the size of the residual U.S. force and on security in Iraq and the region.
Jul 21, 2009
Report
Effectively Sustaining Forces Overseas While Minimizing Supply Chain Costs: Targeted Theater Inventory
Discusses how to design a distribution network that takes advantage of the respective strengths of different modes of transportation to meet combatant command needs while minimizing total supply chain costs.
Jun 15, 2008
Report
Stockage Determination Made Easy
This article explains how the Army has been able to achieve historically high levels of performance in its tactical inventories of repair parts by applying a series of RAND-developed process and algorithm improvements.
Dec 19, 2007
Report
Leveraging Complementary Distribution Channels for an Effective, Efficient Global Supply Chain
Analyzes the five different distribution channels used to sustain U.S. military forces overseas. Discusses which transportation modes should be chosen and where materiel should be stocked to provide effective support as efficiently as possible.
Jun 5, 2007
Report
Logistics: Supply Based or Distribution Based?
Rather than choose between distribution-based and supply-based logistics system designs, the Army, in conjunction with its joint supply-chain partners, should seek optimal, balanced systems that it can adapt quickly to changing conditions.
2007
Periodical
RAND Review: Vol. 30, No. 1, Spring 2006
Addresses a set of shortfalls in U.S. performance in Iraq and identifies options for improvement, particularly with respect to sustaining army forces, promoting reenlistments, and rebuilding Iraqi security.
2006
Report
Sustainment of Army Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom: Major Findings and Recommendations
Describes how well the Department of Defense logistics system supported Army forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, documents the major reasons for shortfalls in performance, provides recommendations for improvement, and points to questions raised with respect to the design of future forces.
Dec 13, 2005
Research Brief
Getting Value from the Reverse Logistics Pipeline
Researchers from RAND Arroyo Center studied the Army's reverse logistics system with an eye to initiating continuous process improvement efforts to make it more efficient and effective.
Nov 25, 2005
Report
The Effects of Equipment Age on Spare Part Costs: A Study of M1 Tanks
Examines the relationship between equipment age and spare part costs for M1 Abrams tanks.
Oct 24, 2005
Report
Sustainment of Army Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom: Battlefield Logistics and Effects on Operations
Describes how Army forces were sustained with materiel during Operation Iraqi Freedom, examines how well this support performed, and discusses the effects on operations, emphasizing the period from the start of ground combat to the fall of Baghdad.
2005
Testimony
Toward an Expeditionary Army: New Options for Combatant Commanders
Testimony presented to the House Armed Services Committee on March 24, 2004.
Dec 21, 2004
Report
Value Recovery from the Reverse Logistics Pipeline
Defines metrics to evaluate the Army’s process for returning and repairing reparable spare parts.
Oct 28, 2004
Report
The Effects of Equipment Age On Mission Critical Failure Rates: A Study of M1 Tanks
Assesses the relationship between tank age and the mission-critical failure rate for the Army's M1 Abrams tank.
2004
Research Brief
The Effect of Age on the M1 Tank: Implications for Readiness, Workload, and Recapitalization
This research brief describes a RAND Arroyo Center study that investigated the relationship between age and mission-critical failures and how other factors such as use and location affected the failure rate in M1 Abrams tanks.
2004
Report
Speed and Power: Toward an Expeditionary Army
Explores ways in which the Army might improve its ability to contribute to the prompt, global power-projection capability of the United States.
2003
Report
Combat Service Support Transformation: Emerging Strategies for Making the Power Projection Army a Reality
Examines the Army's strategies for transforming its combat service support (CSS) activities in support of its goal of attaining power projection capability.
2003
Report
Equipment Sustainment Requirements for the Transforming Army
Assesses how the Army should define equipment sustainment requirements, what methods and tools equipment developers might need to use these requirements effectively, and their merit as key performance parameters.
2003
Research Brief
Improved Equipment Sustainment Is Critical to Army Transformation
The Army's Transformation and new operational concepts put a premium on ''equipment sustainability,'' the ability to keep weapon systems available during operations.
2003
Research Brief
Strategies for an Expeditionary Army
The Army is transforming itself so that, among other things, it can be more deployable.
2003
Research Brief
Toward an Expeditionary Army
An ability to deploy capable combat forces quickly is increasingly seen as an important national capability. Such forces could be needed for small contingencies or as the initial element for a large conflict.
2003
Report
The U.S. Army and the New National Security Strategy
How should the Army transform to meet the new strategic challenges?
2003
Report
Diagnosing the Army's Equipment Readiness: The Equipment Downtime Analyzer
The Equipment Downtime Analyzer provides an integrated set of metrics that tie equipment sustainment and reliability to equipment readiness.
2002
Research Brief
Keeping the Army's Equipment Ready to Fight: A New Tool for Understanding Equipment Readiness
To help improve the Army's understanding of equipment readiness, RAND Arroyo Center researchers have developed a management and analysis tool that is the focus of a new report, Diagnosing the Army's Equipment Readiness: The Equipment Downtime Analyzer (EDA).
2002
Research Brief
F-15 Avionics Intermediate Maintenance Options for Expeditionary Air Force Support
We examine alternatives that eliminate or reduce AIS deployments by providing spare-parts replenishments to FOLs through distribution rather than local repair, comparing these alternatives both to each other and to the current system.
2001
Research Brief
Improved Inventory Policy Contributes to Equipment Readiness
Develop a new algorithm for calculating inventory levels in SSAs. Known as dollar cost banding (DCB), the new algorithm has produced immediate and significant gains in performance at little or no additional inventory cost.
2001
Report
Velocity Management: The Business Paradigm That Has Transformed U.S. Army Logistics
Velocity management has brought a new way of doing business to U.S. Army logistics, with a renewed focus on the Army customer and a powerful approach for process improvement that cuts across three critical performance dimensions: time, ...
2001
Report
Supporting Expeditionary Aerospace Forces: A Concept for Evolving the Agile Combat Support/Mobility System of the Future
The Air Force has begun to reorganize into an Expeditionary Aerospace Force (EAF). This report summarizes RAND work to date on designing and evaluating the future agile combat system and mobility system needed to meet EAF operational objectives.
2000
Report
Supporting Expeditionary Aerospace Forces: An Analysis of F-15 Avionics Options
Assesses how well alternative logistics processes and organizational designs for meeting F-15 avionics maintenance demands across the spectrum of EAF operations support this concept.
2000
Report
Supporting Expeditionary Aerospace Forces: An Integrated Strategic Agile Combat Support Planning Framework
The report argues that the new Expeditionary Aerospace Force (EAF) concept requires a complete reexamination of the combat support system, especially the planning framework for combat support.
1999
Journal Article
Expeditionary Airpower: A Vision for Agile Combat Support
To a large extent, success of Expeditionary Aerospace Forces depends on turning the current combat support system into one that is much more agile.
1999
Journal Article
Expeditionary Airpower: F-15 Support Analysis: Exploring F-15 Avionics Intermediate Maintenance Concepts to Meet AEF Challenges
Examines options the Air Force might consider for F-15 avionics maintenance to work toward achieving EAF goals.
1999