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Logistics without borders?
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WHEN THE COUNCIL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Professionals held its annual conference in Atlanta in October, it offered
its usual stellar lineup of presentations on a wide variety of topics of
interest to logistics and supply chain professionals.
I’d like to focus on one track that I found particularly intriguing for
shedding light on how professional management of supply chains is not
only good for business, but can also be a source for social good. The
track, titled “Supply Chain Saves the World,” offered insights into what I
think can fairly be divided into two principal areas: risk management and
supply chain resiliency for businesses and, second, how supply chain and
logistics skills can contribute mightily to relief efforts in response to dire
conditions, whether singular or endemic.
The two are closely related. The knowledge and skills
needed to prepare for and respond to business crises
are much the same as those needed to respond to
broader disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, or war.
The first session in the track focused on the role of
supply chain management in helping to improve
access to medicines in developing countries. It is a critical need not easily addressed. Even the best-qualified
clinicians can be hamstrung by failures of their medical supply chains.
In another session, our old friend Jock Menzies of
the American Logistics Aid Network, or ALAN, joined
the few years since its founding, has proved to be an exemplary model of
how logistics expertise can be brought to bear when things go very badly.
ALAN makes no pretense that it can do a better job on the ground than
the first responders, nongovernmental organizations, or other specialists.
Instead, it provides a clearinghouse for businesses that want to offer
transportation or material handling resources to those organizations to
help speed disaster response, and it has worked.
ALAN is focused on North America. But it is a model that could be
extended farther abroad. I had a chance to discuss that idea with Ravi
Anupindi, a professor at the University of Michigan and one of the
chairs for the “Supply Chain Saves the World” track. He speaks with
some passion about the idea of harnessing supply chain expertise for
such humanitarian causes as delivering medicines to developing countries. Think of something like a global version of ALAN, or a logistics
version of Doctors Without Borders. It is an ambitious idea and a daunting challenge that would require broad international cooperation. It
would be worth the effort.
