thoughtleaders
very closely what we do at CTL.
Bogotá is a little different. Instead of a full degree program, we created a graduate certificate course in supply
chain management that is supported by a number of academic institutions. To create the center, we partnered with
[the Colombian logistics company] LOGyCA, which supports the program and develops outreach. We do plan to
expand the SCALE network, but we have chosen not to
expand too quickly and will choose our partners carefully.
QWhat research are you working on now?
A Recently, I was asked by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Centerfor Secureand
Resilient Maritime Commerce to apply supply chain
resilience principles to port operations. As part of that project, my group developed Port Mapper, an online app that
allows users to identify where else cargo could go if a particular port had a failure.
Containers can go almost anywhere, but other types of
cargo, depending on their nature, can only go to certain
locations. One question we looked at is, if we took out the
largest port handling a specific commodity, how much
additional capacity would we need at other ports to
accommodate the redirected cargo? We calculated, for
example, that we would need an additional 23 percent
capacity [at the other ports capable of handling] chemicals
and 25 percent additional capacity for food, but those
ports would not be able to provide that much additional
capacity. You also have the issue of hazardous materials
and other specialized commodities. For instance, most
ports that can handle explosives are on the East Coast. If
those ports go out, you have a long trip to reach another
qualified port.
Robert Simpson
When Robert Simpson returned from
Vietnam, where he had served as a combat
engineer/medic, he knew he wanted to pur-
sue a career in health care. Perhaps his expe-
rience there made supply chain management
a natural calling. He recalls that when he was
in Vietnam, “We never had what we needed.”
Today, he is president and CEO of LeeSar
Inc. and Cooperative Services of Florida, the
supply chain and purchasing organizations
for the Lee Memorial Health System and
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. Earlier in his career,
Simpson was director of operations for the Northeast Red
Cross Blood Service, director of materials management and
project coordinator for the first USDA Human Nutrition
Research Center at Tufts University in Boston, and vice pres-
ident of materials management for the Neponset Valley
Health System, also near Boston. Later on, he served as vice
president of Healthcare Services of New England, a major
group purchasing organization, and in executive positions at
TFX Surgical Group. Simpson, a graduate of Stonehill
College in Massachusetts, joined LeeSar and Cooperative
Services in 2002.
“Let’s try once more and bring in a new president.” We took the fill rates to 99 percent.
Here’s what I did: I shut the company
down one afternoon and brought everyone
into a room. I said, “I don’t care if you push
a broom or drive a truck or pick orders.
Starting today, your number one mission in
life is fill rates. We are going to meet every
Thursday afternoon, and you are personally
going to tell me what you did to improve fill
rates, and there’s no pass.” We got focused.
It also helped that we didn’t have to carry 35 different bedpans as a national distributor must. We worked hard with
our hospitals and members and standardized everything. We
have one IV company. We have one suture company. It’s easier to keep your fill rates up if you’re dealing with standardized product lines.
QTell me about your experience at LeeSar.
A We started with a small operation of about 60,000 square feet of distribution space. The fill rates were
horrible [when I arrived]. They were at 62 percent. The
ownership was thinking about shutting it down. They said,
QWhat have you accomplished for your member hospitals?
A We are delivering directly to the nursing floors, so we’ve eliminated a lot of inventory plus all their storerooms. We’re doing a number of other things as well. We
run a surgical pack manufacturing company out of LeeSar
that saves the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars. We
run a pharmaceutical repackaging business that is again
saving money. We do nuclear medicine manufacturing.
LeeSar has really become a supply chain think tank for the
rest of the country. We are the ones out on a limb, taking
risks for health care, trying different things to lower costs.
