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Kit management in humanitarian supply chains
Abstract
With the continuous growth in world population and increasing disruptions due to climate change around the world, global humanitarian organizations are hard pressed to improve their capacity to respond to emergencies. Such operations require the ability by humanitarian organizations to be dynamic and react to a wide range of situations on a short term basis and kits help them do so. The aim of this research is to understand how the capabilities of a large humanitarian organization help support kit management. The method used is a multiple case study on kitting activities that are managed by a large United Nations agency. Kits offer the possibility to combine both the knowledge and skills from technical specialists and local country office staff to offer a relevant solution for emergency response. Developing relevant kits for the humanitarian context require strong collaboration between partners in the preparedness phase and thorough follow up in monitoring and evaluation to develop standards and build up relevant knowledge. With proper kit management comes improvement in flexibility, timeliness and quality and these can be shared across supply chains when kits are transferred from one humanitarian organization to another.
... A different approach to mitigation is to ensure the interoperability of items, identification of interdependencies, and the preparedness of joint modules (Saı €ah et al., n.d.) or even kits (Vaillancourt, 2016). Kitting interdependent items to ensure all of them are available when needed, and to ensure the interoperability of the response across organisations is used in the humanitarian context and is considering as important element to ensure effective response in (Jahre and Fabbe-Costes, 2015;Vaillancourt, 2016;Kov acs and Falagara Sigala, 2021). ...
... A different approach to mitigation is to ensure the interoperability of items, identification of interdependencies, and the preparedness of joint modules (Saı €ah et al., n.d.) or even kits (Vaillancourt, 2016). Kitting interdependent items to ensure all of them are available when needed, and to ensure the interoperability of the response across organisations is used in the humanitarian context and is considering as important element to ensure effective response in (Jahre and Fabbe-Costes, 2015;Vaillancourt, 2016;Kov acs and Falagara Sigala, 2021). Multiple sourcing strategies, both across multiple suppliers and multiple geographic regions, to overcome shortages from one site or supplier are also recommended as mitigation strategies to disruptions (Yang et al., 2018;Berger and Zeng, 2006). ...
... Apart from unearthing all these disruptions, our interviews also discovered which mitigation strategies were used to counter them. In the past, typical mitigation strategies to counter supply chain disruptions in epidemics had included pre-positioning (Altay et al., 2009;Comes et al., 2020;Kov acs and Spens, 2009;Tang, 2006;Toyasaki et al., 2017), kitting (Jahre and Fabbe-Costes, 2015;Vaillancourt, 2016), multiple sourcing (Yang et al., 2018;Berger and Zeng, 2006) and pre-qualifying (alternative) suppliers (Kumar and Chandra, 2010;Tang, 2006). ...
Purpose
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented health crisis worldwide and heavily disrupted the healthcare supply chain. This study focuses on analysing the different types of disruptions occurring in personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic and on proposing mitigation strategies that are fit to the global scale and many interdependencies that are characteristic for this pandemic. The authors construct a conceptual system dynamics model (SD) based on the literature and adjusted with the use of empirical data (interviews) to capture the complexity of a global supply chain and identify leverage points (mitigation strategies).
Design/methodology/approach
This research follows a mix-methods approach. First, the authors developed a conceptual framework based on four types of disruptions that usually occur during health emergencies (direct effect, policy, supply chain strategy, and behaviourally induced disruptions). Second, the authors collected and analysed data from interviews with experts in the PPE supply chain. Based on the interviews data, the authors developed a conceptual system dynamics (SD) model that allows to capture the complex and dynamic interplay between the elements of the global supply chain system, by highlighting key feedback loops, delays, and the way the mitigation strategies can impact on them. From this analysis, the authors developed four propositions for supply chain risk management (SCRM) in global health emergencies and four recommendations for the policy and decision makers.
Findings
The SD model highlights that without a combination of mitigation measures, it is impossible to overcome all disruptions. As such, a co-ordinated effort across the different countries and sectors that experience the disruptions is needed. The SD model also shows that there are important feedback loops, by which initial disruptions create delays and shortages that propagate through the supply chain network. If the co-ordinated mitigation measures are not implemented early at the onset of the pandemic, these disruptions will be persistent, creating potential shortages of PPE and other critical equipment at the onset of a pandemic – when they are most urgently needed.
Originality/value
This research enriches the understanding of the disruptions of PPE supply chains on the systems level and proposes mitigation strategies based on empirical data and the existing literature.
... A distinct approach to mitigating risk involves ensuring the interoperability of items, identifying interdependencies, and preparing joint modules or even kits. (Vaillancourt 2016). In the humanitarian context, kitting is used to guarantee that all necessary supplies are on hand at the right time and that the response is coordinated between different organisations (Jahre and Fabbe-Costes 2015; Kovács and Falagara Sigala 2021;Vaillancourt 2016). ...
... (Vaillancourt 2016). In the humanitarian context, kitting is used to guarantee that all necessary supplies are on hand at the right time and that the response is coordinated between different organisations (Jahre and Fabbe-Costes 2015; Kovács and Falagara Sigala 2021;Vaillancourt 2016). As a means of mitigating disruptions, it is also advised to employ numerous sourcing methods to address shortages from various suppliers and geographical areas. ...
Relief organisations face significant logistical challenges in the aftermath of natural disasters, characterised by volatile environments. Effective risk management in these contexts hinges on the identification, evaluation, and mitigation of potential risk events. This study addresses this critical need by aiming to identify and prioritise the most critical strategies to improve resilience. To achieve this, a novel framework, the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process - A fuzzy Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FAHP-FTOPSIS), is proposed. An empirical application demonstrates that this framework effectively and systematically prioritises strategies for mitigating risks. This study examined existing mitigation strategies and identified eight that are particularly significant. Among these, collaboration and coordination, flexible transportation capabilities, and flexible supply bases emerged as the three most critical mitigation strategies for emergency supply chains. This finding emphasises the importance of prioritising these critical strategies in the development of strategic emergency supply chain plans. The practical implementation of these strategies, substantiated by empirical data from credible sources, would significantly enhance the preparedness of stakeholders and relief actors. This translates to a proactive ability to anticipate and respond to potential risk factors, ultimately leading to a more effective response to natural disasters.
... Despite being commonly implemented by responding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and United Nations (UN) agencies, hygiene kit distributions are under-researched (Vaillancourt, 2016;Yates et al., 2018a;Kohrt et al., 2019). In two systematic reviews of WASH interventions in humanitarian response in 2015, hygiene kits were not described as an implementation activity (Ramesh et al., 2015;Taylor et al., 2015). ...
... The kits were also described as, 'easy, feasible and valued by the target population' (Gartley et al., 2013). The third published document focused on global reflections of five different NFI kits, including hygiene kits, from UNICEF staff (Vaillancourt, 2016). Interviews with 14 staff revealed that: strong collaboration was needed for NFI kit distribution, from logistics to post-distribution monitoring; and there is a need for standardized kits. ...
... Užsienyje išvykimo krepšio klausimas nagrinėtas gana plačiai, įvairiais aspektais, tačiau tyrimo nagrinėjančio atitikimą oficialioms kurios nors šalies civilinės saugos rekomendacijoms bei rinkos kainos tyrimų aptikti nepavyko. Dažniausiai akademiškai svarstomi sekantys išvykimo krepšio klausimai: įrodymai apie išvykimo krepšio turinio efektyvumą ir panaudojimo galimybes prasidėjus ekstremaliai situacijai (Heagele 2016); išvykimo krepšių įsigijimo didėjimo-mažėjimo pokyčiai prieš ir po katastrofos (Beatty, Shimshack ir Volpe 2019); kitais tyrimais siekta nustatyti išvykimo krepšio turinio elementų būtinybę ekstremalioje situacijoje, tad svarstytas klausimas ar tikrai viską ką rekomenduojama reikia su savimi turėti (Sopha ir Asih 2019) ir sukomplektuoto išvykimo krepšio svarba pasirengimo ekstremalioms situacijoms planavime (Wukich 2019), taip pat įvairiuose pasirengimo ekstremalioms situacijoms planavimo lygmenyse (Vaillancourt 2016) bei sveikatos apsaugos sistemos srityje (Sohn, Jae, Bum, Won ir Kyoung 2016). Kai kurių tyrėjų buvo paliestas išykimo krepšio turinio klausimas Covid-19 pandemijos metu (Schnall et al. 2023). ...
Anotacija. Prasidėjus karui Ukrainoje, civilinės saugos mokymų metu Lietuvoje, visuomenė pradėta supažindinti su išvykimo krepšiu, jo paskirtimi ir turinio elementais. Mokymų metu dalyviai dažnai teiraujasi kokį išvykimo krepšį pirkti arba kurioje parduotuvėje jį galima įsigyti. Klausimas aktualus, nes tikrai kai kuriose internetinėse parduotuvėse atsirado tokių krepšių pasiūla. Internetinių parduotuvių išvykimo krepšių turinys nėra reglamentuojamas jokiais specialiais įstatymais, tad tik nuo paties pardavėjo priklauso kokį turinį jis komplektuoja parduodamame išvykimo krepšyje. Tyrimo metu siekta ištirti ar Lietuvoje parduodami išvykimo krepšiai atitinka oficialias rekomendacijas skelbiamas internetiniame puslapyje LT72.LT. Tyrimo metu buvo palyginti penkių internetinių parduotuvių išvykimo krepšių siūlomo turinio sąrašai su oficialiu sąrašu. Taip siekta išsiaiškinti ar parduodamas turinys atitinka oficialias rekomendacijas. Taip pat siekta palyginti vieno iš Lietuvoje parduodamų išvykimo krepšio kainą, kurią pirkėjas sumokėtų jei įsigytų iškart sukomplektuotą išvykimo krepšį, su kainomis jei pirkėjas įsigytų pavienius to paties krepšio turinį sudarančių elementus. Pirmuoju atveju išsigryninus rekomenduojamą sąrašą buvo lyginama kiek jie sutampa ir pagal tai daromos išvados ar galima tokį krepšį rekomenduoti įsigyti; antruoju vieno išvykimo krepšio siūloma kaina buvo lyginama su jo turinio sąraše esančių pavienių elementų kainomis kitose internetinėse parduotuvėse. Tyrimas parodė, kad jei vertintume tik sąrašą, kai kurie išvykimo krepšiai iš dalies atitiktų oficialias rekomendacijas (t. y. vertinant tik elementų skaičių, bet ne jų kokybę, perteklinius ar besidubliuojančius daiktus). Kita tyrimo dalis parodė, kad perkant iškart sukomplektuotą išvykimo krepšį, mokama beveik dvigubai didesnė kaina nei tuo atveju jei asmuo išvykimo krepšį komplektuotų savarankiškai. Siekiant įgyvendinti pirmąjį uždavinį naudotas lyginamoji analizė, siekiant pagal krepšio paskirtį apibrėžti jo turinį. Antrajam uždaviniui naudota palyginimo-sugretinimo metodas, kuriuo vadovaujantis nustatytas Lietuvos rinkoje parduodamų išvykimo krepšių atitikimas oficialioms civilinės saugos rekomendacijoms. Trečiasis uždavinys įgyvendintas naudojant atvejo ir duomenų analizės metodus, kurių dėka buvo galima apskaičiuoti kiek pirkėjas permoka įsigydamas konkretų išvykimo krepšį. Pagrindinės sąvokos: išvykimo krepšys, pasirengimas ekstremalioms situacijoms, prekyba išvykimo krepšiais, išvykimo krepšio kaina, civilinė sauga. Įvadas Karo Ukrainoje kontekste, Lietuvoje vykstančiuose civilinės saugos mokymuose atsirado tema vadinama išvykimo krepšiu. Nepaisant to, kad išvykimo krepšio principai, tiek Lietuvoje, tiek užsienyje, jau seniai yra išdėstyti civilinės saugos vadovėliuose, tačiau Lietuvos visuomenei ši tema vis dar yra nauja ir sunkiai suprantama. Dėl sąlyginio naujumo, parengtus temą gvildenančius metodininkus turi tik Priešgaisrinės apsaugos ir gelbėjimo departamentas bei Lietuvos šaulių sąjunga. Dėl pažinimo stokos visuomenėje randasi įvairių spekuliacijų apie išvykimo krepšį, tiek kalbant apie jo turinį, tiek apie paskirtį. Paklausa kuria pasiūlą, tad Lietuvos internetinėse parduotuvėse pamažu atsiranda galimybė įsigyti įvairius išvykimo krepšio atitikmenis, tačiau kyla klausimas: ar jų turinys atitinka oficialias rekomendacijas? Asmeninė autoriaus patirtis rodo, kad noras įsigyti parengtą krepšį, vilioja ne vieną mokymų dalyvį, todėl jie dažnai klausia: Kur galima įsigyti išvykimo krepšį? Kurį krepšį
... Moreover, this study contributes to research by identifying which components most critically improve humanitarian aid provision, such as aligning the language, transferring expertise or making the service practical. Bilateral sharing of cumulative knowledge and experiences allows HSC members improve their capabilities accordingly (Bollettino, 2008;Vaillancourt, 2016;Paciarotti et al., 2021;Tabaklar et al., 2021). Besides, improving service effectiveness increases overall performance (Panayides, 2007;Yuan et al., 2018). ...
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how humanitarian service triad members contribute to value co-creation, and how they assess the continuity of services in humanitarian supply chains (HSCs) to ensure support for beneficiaries.
Design/methodology/approach: The study applied a qualitative methodology through a single case study of a humanitarian service triad composed of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), service providers and beneficiaries. Empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observations.
Findings: The findings confirm that the humanitarian service triad perspective in HSCs allows better understanding of humanitarian assistance. The findings indicate six components grouped into a humanitarian service triad framework, namely: service design, service reachability, training serviceability, collaboration, synergy, ethical considerations and after-service care.
Research limitations/implications: This research contributes to understanding of humanitarian services provision by studying service triads in humanitarian settings. It also confirms the need for cooperation between practitioners in services provision. The findings are limited to the context of refugees in Turkey, specifically humanitarian service triad located in Izmir area.
Practical implications: The Humanitarian Service Triad Framework for Service Provision proposed in this paper can be used as a tool for policy makers and practitioners involved in service design in HSC contexts, stressing the need for including all the framework components in practice.
Originality/value: This study is one of the first to focus on a humanitarian service triad, which includes beneficiaries as triad members in long-term humanitarian service provision.
... Then, one can define a combination of items needed for a group of people, which can be called a "kit." Vaillancourt [23] emphasized the importance of kit management, which includes kit design. In our study, we assume one type of kit and consider kit management steps beyond the scope of our study (A#2). ...
Intermodal freight transportation facilitates today’s global trade. The benefits of intermodal freight transportation have been studied and are more observable in commercial logistics; however, the potential benefits of humanitarian logistics have not been thoroughly investigated. This research aims to present a resilient transportation framework by modeling intermodal transportation utilizing interoperable loading devices during disaster responses. We developed an integer programming model based on a time–space network by considering route and vehicle availabilities that are allowed to change with time. We consider vehicles with varying capacities in three transportation modes (i.e., ground, maritime, and air). The contribution of this study is threefold: (1) Two compatible unit load devices are proposed for humanitarian logistics; (2) a mathematical model that includes integer variable representation for vehicle fleets in different transportation modes is developed; and (3) intermodal transportation is compared with single-mode transportation using a real-life dataset. Our main results are as follows: In terms of cost, intermodal transportation is effective when demand occurs in consecutive periods and response time is short. Inventory is held more in intermodal transportation when it is cost-effective to use transportation modes with large capacities. Thus, the benefits of the responsiveness of intermodal transportation outweigh the costs of mode interchange and inventory holding for sudden-onset disasters where quick responses are needed within a short time.
... The taxonomy of knowledge can be an answer to the need for a standardised structure of information sharing; it can facilitate the collection, organisation, storage and recovery of the massive body of existing knowledge in the field of the humanitarian supply chain. Vaillancourt (2016) proposed a multiple case study on kitting activities managed by UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). Different of kit types can be delivered to individuals or families in need by humanitarian organisations; there are, for example, hygiene, agricultural, shelter, chlorine and cooking kits. ...
Purpose
The paper is focused on standards in humanitarian logistics and supply chain. Standards, implemented between organisations, allow improving the interoperability of humanitarian operations. The paper aims (1) to review a state-of-the-art approach to the topic by the academic community, (2) to evaluate the current use of standards among humanitarian organisations and (3) to investigate the perceived need for further and specific standards.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the aims, the literature was reviewed; then a survey on 227 professionals from the humanitarian logistics sector was conducted.
Findings
Based on 227 responses, it is possible to conclude that most surveyed professionals recognise the need for and the importance of standardisation in humanitarian logistics, especially in areas such as procurement, distribution, medical logistics and logistics planning, which were perceived as critical areas that require standardisation.
Research limitations/implications
Practitioners and scholars were targeted via social media, through mailing lists and via communication from the practitioner organisation – the Humanitarian Logistics Association (HLA). While it provided good access to different groups of respondents, the response rate is not possible to calculate.
Practical implications
The findings confirm the high importance of standardisation, indicating areas and functions that should be standardised first. Standardisation may improve cooperation between different humanitarian actors, allowing better service provision for beneficiaries. Thus there are also potential negative impacts, i.e. impact on localisation, which should be overcome.
Social implications
Results do not have a direct social impact; however, they stimulate research and work among practitioners on standardisation, which in turn could improve cooperation between humanitarian actors, thereby enabling a better humanitarian response in emergencies.
Originality/value
The majority of papers on standardisation use a qualitative approach. This paper applies a survey among a large network of humanitarian practitioners, capturing their view on the topic and perception of the need for standardisation. The work is descriptive; however, it could be used as a base for further studies related to humanitarian standards.
... Given that organizations are linked in supply chains, they can create synergies. They can also improve their internal efficiency (Vaillancourt, 2016) by maximizing the value of operations (Beamon & Kotleba, 2006) and balancing responsiveness vs. efficiency (Altay et al., 2009;Gunasekaran et al., 2008). Concerning safety and security, they can move faster to deliver as planned and prepare responsive solutions to address uncertainty. ...
Supply chains can play a major role in reducing countries’ safety and security threats; the role of network responsiveness offers insights into management exchanges responding to the preparedness of developed countries like Sweden. Illustrating the managing of overall supply chain capabilities among network responsiveness stems from the supply chain responsiveness concept. Several challenges to responsiveness prevent actors’ networks from fully benefitting from coordination. A management approach is employed to explore the impact of network responsiveness on the supply chain as an overarching strategy for safety and security. The study suggests three different approaches which differ in their impact on the network’s responsiveness: (i) an overall strategic planning approach, (ii) one integrated system approach for the overall response, and (iii) a coordination approach for managing the overall supply chain responsiveness strategy.
... Politics of the humanitarian supply chain: Disasters are known to have political consequences as their response is usually open to political interpretation. How fast/slow governments respond, do they make disaster declarations, how many people have died and the length of the recovery efforts are all impacted by political judgment (see Sylves, 2019;Vaillancourt, 2016). Epidemic and pandemic response decisions are made in political venues where competing interests often work at counter-purposes and muddle the response efforts. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is three-fold: (1) this editorial viewpoint gives context to the manuscripts included in this special issue on pandemics and epidemics. (2) The viewpoint frames a research agenda for the vital work necessary to understand and make the humanitarian supply chain more resilient. (3) The authors hope that the viewpoint as well as the included papers contribute to the dialogue and facilitate a research program over the short- to medium-term about mass complex disasters, including epidemics and pandemics, and their effects on the humanitarian supply chain and logistics.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines COVID-19 response by focusing on the USA as a mini case study. It utilizes contemporaneous reporting in USA newspapers between February and July of 2020. Reports made during an incident or event provide some of the most accurate records of that event and point to gaps in our understanding of research in the humanitarian supply chain.
Findings
The novel COVID-19 pandemic highlights unanticipated ways that pandemics and epidemics impact HLSCM and display the supply chain's fragility in stark terms. The paper layouts some of the thematic issues that emerged from COVID-19 that could point the way for future research in the field in the short run.
Research limitations/implications
The articles accessed for the paper dated February–July 2020. With the pandemic ongoing, many more thematic areas or more enduring ones might surface that could change the direction of the findings or recommendations. In addition, relying on secondary sources like newspapers for this research largely depends on the quality of the reports. Moreover, newspaper articles are not as scientifically robust as are academic journals as some. The viewpoints could be biased. It is also difficult to verify the best news sources, if they are not known a priori .
Practical implications
Thematic lessons from America's COVID-19 impact set the stage for future research agenda in the humanitarian supply chain and logistics response over the next few years. There will be other pandemics. The question is not if, but when.
Social implications
The COVID-19 pandemic makes it impossible for us to ignore the link between the global supply chain, natural and human-made disasters, including epidemics and pandemics, environmental degradation and deforestation.
Originality/value
The paper's originality lies it being one of the first, if not the first, to deal with this topic within the operations/logistics/supply chain management field. It therefore helps to pave the way for other perspectives and approaches to understand and advance the field of humanitarian logistics and supply chain management.
... strengths identified from this data set include that: the use of sequential mixed methods, including quantitative questionnaires and qualitative group discussion and interviews, generated broad results; and monitoring data was used to improve programming and the strategy over time. ideally, standardized post-distribution monitoring should be comparable and used to improve and adjust hygiene kit composition and distribution more universally (Vaillancourt, 2016;sphere association, 2018). it is recommended not only to standardize data collection tools, but also data analysis and visualization tools, and to include raw and analysed data in reports to the WasH cluster, which can then be summarized in one database. ...
Hygiene kits are commonly distributed in humanitarian emergencies to interrupt disease transmission and provide dignity. Despite being commonly implemented, hygiene kit distribution interventions are under-researched, and there is a lack of knowledge on kit efficacy and effectiveness. In Myanmar, the WASH cluster developed a national hygiene kit distribution and monitoring strategy. The research was aimed at determining the effectiveness of this strategy in the context of protracted internally displaced persons camps in Myanmar. To understand programme strategy, we reviewed documents against inclusion criteria; extracted and categorized data for included documents; analysed data; and summarized results. Twenty-six documents met the inclusion criteria of describing strategy development (47 per cent), monitoring in Rakhine (47 per cent) or Kachin State (3 per cent), or monitoring menstrual health and hygiene programme (3 per cent). We identified the strategy was successfully adopted and adapted for Kachin and Rakhine states; however, limitations were identified in receiving consistent monitoring data. We found hygiene kit distributions need to consider local context, including population mobility, local markets and availability of products, and household expenses and debt. Due to these interrelated factors, the percentage of households selling kit items decreased over time; additionally, soap and sanitary pad presence was significantly associated with household income. Consistently, women reported preferring disposable pads for menstrual health and hygiene due to privacy concerns. Programmatically, it is recommended to adapt hygiene kit distributions to local contexts, continue to distribute hygiene kits in protracted contexts to identified at-risk households, distribute disposable pads, and continue revising and improving strategy and monitoring tools.
... To speed up the deployment of any urgent such items, humanitarian organizations have come together to develop (interagency health) kits for specific purposes: malaria kits and cholera kits, to entire field hospitals. These interagency health kits even standardize across organizations what to expect each box of a kit to contain (Vaillancourt, 2016). Thereby, if one organization procures a kit, another gets the funding to mobilize it, but it is used by a third in the field, any one logistician or healthcare staff would know what to expect where, and how to use it. ...
The Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID‐19) outbreak affects not just populations but also global and local economies and supply chains. The outbreak itself has impacted on production lines and manufacturing capacities. In response to the outbreak, policies have been put in place that block the movement of people as well as materials, causing supply chain disruptions.
Mainstream supply chain management has been at a loss in responding to these disruptions, mostly due to a dominant focus on minimising costs for stable operations, while following lean, just‐in‐time and zero inventory approaches. On the other hand, pandemic response supply chains, and their related supply chain disruptions, share many characteristics with disaster response, and thereby with humanitarian supply chains. Much can thus be learned from humanitarian supply chains for managing pandemic‐related supply chain disruptions. What is more, facing, and managing, supply chain disruptions can be considered the new norm also in light of other disruptive forces such as climate change, or financial or political crises.
This article therefore presents lessons learned from humanitarian supply chains that help mitigate and overcome supply chain disruptions. These lessons relate to preparedness, mobilisation, but also standardisation, innovation, and collaboration. Together, they brace organisations, supply chains, and societies, to manage current and future disruptions.
... Our methodology run a dynamic IMLP iteratively, this model is an enhanced version of the one in Ref. [2], which assumes absolute readiness of items upon the occurrence of the disaster. In contrast, in this paper we consider that, in order to have items ready for distribution, we must use them to assemble standard relief kits, which is a common practice at relief agencies [3][4][5]. The standardization of the relief products into kits allows to satisfy demand while considering equity and fairness [6,7]. ...
Models for the distribution of relief supplies often assume immediate availability of relief items upon the occurrence of a natural disaster. However, such an assumption does not always apply in realistic settings. In some cases, at least it is necessary to assemble relief items into kits before distributing them among the affected population. This paper presents a rolling horizon methodology that considers dynamic parameters such as demand, capacities and demand priorities for the problem of distributing relief supplies after the occurrence of a natural disaster by including such assembling activities before the delivery.
... The aim of the authors' research was to manage the capabilities of a large humanitarian organization help support kit management. The method was used in a multiple case study on activities managed by a UNICEF (Vaillancourt, 2016). Noham and Tzur (2018), developed a mathematical model and a Tabu-search method for improving supply chain performance in post-disaster decisions. ...
Humanitarian supply chain management (HSCM) has gained popularity in recent years in research fields. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on humanitarian operations and crisis/disaster management from 2010 to the latest researches, in order to identify the current research and to provide direction for future research in this growing field. Studies are classified considering the research publication year and research fields. Articles from humanitarian supply chain management were reviewed, and keywords were identified within a disaster management lifecycle framework. Research gaps are identified for future research areas.
... Our study supports HSC literature regarding the impact of different domains and criteria on flexibility. For instance, it validates the positive influence of product mix (Vaillancourt 2016) and using IT (Kabra and Ramesh 2016) on HSCs' flexibility. Similarly, delivery and decision support systems, which ranked first and fifth in our fuzzy AHP analysis respectively, had been previously referred to as important factors for flexibility (Charles et al. 2010). ...
The efficient and effective response to disasters critically depends on humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). HSCs need to be flexible to adapt to uncertainties in needs, infrastructure conditions, and behavior of other organizations. The concept of ‘network flexibility’ is, however, not clearly defined. The lack of an unanimous definition has led to a lack of consistent understanding and comparisons. This paper makes a threefold contribution: first, it defines the concept of network flexibility for HSC in the context of sudden onset disasters. Second, it proposes a framework to measure network flexibility in HSCs. Third, we apply our framework to the 2015 Nepal earthquake case and provide evidence-based insights regarding how humanitarian organizations can improve network flexibility in HSCs. Our analyses for Nepal case show that delivery, IT support, and fleet criteria have the most influence on flexibility. Also, the application of our framework on the downstream network of nine humanitarian organizations shows low levels of network flexibility in all but one. This finding explains why several disruptions happened in relief distributions during the Nepal response.
The objective of this study is to identify crucial problem areas related to the logistics of
international humanitarian aid by compiling and analyzing current academic literature. The study
findings shed light on significant problem areas that need to be addressed in international humanitarian
aid logistics. The study comprises an analysis and compilation study based on a sample of twenty
qualitative studies published between 2000 and 2022. In the field of international humanitarian aid
logistics, which includes multiple variables and a dynamic structure, we identified the three most
emphasized problem areas as well as the fourth factor that had an impact. Our analysis determined
that the most crucial issue is the lack of collaboration and coordination among the actors involved.
Presenting a focused approach to the challenges encountered in humanitarian logistics, this qualitative
compendium study will aid in developing improvement strategies in detail. It will contribute to subsequent
studies, particularly the national literature on the subject, and benefit practitioners, particularly those
involved in humanitarian aid, and public institutions. This study offers a valuable perspective.
The objective of this study is to identify crucial problem areas related to the logistics of international humanitarian aid by compiling and analyzing current academic literature. The study findings shed light on significant problem areas that need to be addressed in international humanitarian aid logistics. The study comprises an analysis and compilation study based on a sample of twenty qualitative studies published between 2000 and 2022. In the field of international humanitarian aid logistics, which includes multiple variables and a dynamic structure, we identified the three most emphasized problem areas as well as the fourth factor that had an impact. Our analysis determined that the most crucial issue is the lack of collaboration and coordination among the actors involved. Presenting a focused approach to the challenges encountered in humanitarian logistics, this qualitative compendium study will aid in developing improvement strategies in detail. It will contribute to subsequent studies, particularly the national literature on the subject, and benefit practitioners, particularly those involved in humanitarian aid, and public institutions. This study offers a valuable perspective.
In disaster response phase, different types of emergency relief materials are prepared simultaneously. Assorting and packing a proportion of relief items into relief kits will benefit in improving relief distribution agility and efficiency. This study focuses on the relief kit assembly and distribution problem, which includes two stages. The first stage solves the facility location and relief kit assembly problem with the minimum operation cost. The second stage optimizes the relief kit distribution plan with the minimum distribution cost and maximum demand satisfaction, in which an epsilon-constraint method is adopted to transfer the bi-objective model into a single one with the minimum total cost. Then, a min–max robust model is developed to cope with the uncertain demand and travel time. Computational experiments are provided to validate the effectiveness of the min–max robust model compared with deterministic model and two-stage stochastic model. A realistic case study based on earthquakes in Yunnan Province is provided to illustrate the applicability of the proposed min–max robust model. Some managerial insights are obtained by sensitivity analyses as follows. Assembling relief kits in the distribution centers is more effective than that in the demand points. Specifically, the average cost and 95% percentile of the former are 19.45% and 20.52% lower than those of the latter respectively. The vehicle loading capacity has a greater influence on the optimal solution than that of the available working time. Decision makers can balance the total cost and uncertainty budget by adjusting the conservatism level under expected demand satisfaction.
The area of disaster management has become increasingly prominent in a context of frequent political, religious change and conflict, and within it, the field of knowledge on humanitarian logistics and supply chain management (HLSCM) has attracted attention from a variety of stakeholders, such as scholars, practitioners and policy makers. Consequently, humanitarian logistics and supply chain research has seen a significant increase in the quantity of works emerging, particularly journal articles. In this context, we aim to systematize the selected contemporary literature on humanitarian logistics and supply chain management. After identifying the relevant literature on Scopus and Web of Science, we chart a systematization of this body of knowledge by applying a system of codes and classifications to it. Based on research gaps found, we propose an original research agenda for further developing the humanitarian logistics and supply chain management field, as suggested avenues for future research.
Purpose
By constantly working in environments with high degree of uncertainty, humanitarian organizations end up becoming specialists in the implementation of agile systems. Their counterparts in profit‐making organizations have a lot to learn from them in this domain. Volatility of demand, imbalance between supply and demand and disruptions are all factors that affect commercial supply chains and call for a high level of agility. The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to clearly define the concept of supply chain agility, and second, to build a model for assessing the level of agility of a supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
Three approaches are used in this research: literature review, case study and symbolic modeling.
Findings
The paper developed first, a framework for defining supply chain agility and second, a model for assessing and improving the capabilities of humanitarian and commercial supply chains in terms of agility, based on an analysis of humanitarian approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The model has been developed thanks to inputs from humanitarian practitioners and feedbacks from academics. The practical application to various humanitarian relief operations and commercial supply chains is yet to be done.
Originality/value
This paper contributes significantly to clarifying the notion of supply chain agility. It also provides a consistent, robust and reproducible method of assessing supply chain agility, which seems appropriate for both humanitarian and business sectors. Finally, it is complementary to existant research on humanitarian logistics. It shows that though humanitarian professionals have a lot to learn from the private sector, the reverse is also true.
With an increasing number of disasters disrupting commerce and community life around the world, it is timely to position humanitarian and disaster relief supply chains (HDRSC) within the broad field of supply chain management. This article presents a framework to that end. It distinguishes attributes of the environment that illustrate the difficulties encountered in supply chain management. Although considerable research has been conducted in logistics issues affecting HDRSCs, very little management research speaks to the complicating attributes. Thus, this article describes activities such as demand determination, supply chain coordination, recognizing when to move along the life cycle and post‐disaster reconstruction that differentiates supply chain concerns from logistics concerns. From this backdrop, some of the areas where research into HDRSCs can inform supply chain management in general are presented. The article concludes by discussing critical areas of research need as identified by experienced practitioners. Research in these areas will provide insights for supply chain managers facing similar issues in other environments.
One of the most problematic issues for researchers who conduct qualitative research using semi-structured, unstructured interviews or story telling data collection methods is the analysis of large quantities of rich data. In the past this has often led to fairly unmethodical approaches to analysis which in turn has led to qualitative business and management research being seen as insubstantial and unworthy of consideration. A relatively recent development in organisational research has been the application of Template Analysis to rich unstructured qualitative data following the primary data collection phase. Template Analysis appears to have emerged from the USA during the 1990s and academics familiar with the Grounded Theory approach to data analysis may see similarities in the techniques used. Nevertheless, it has gained credibility in the UK through the work of Nigel King and other colleagues researching in health and sociology related fields. This paper provides an overview of the origins of Template Analysis and discusses how it has been used to structure qualitative data. It then goes on to examine through the two case studies how Template Analysis has been extended and used by the authors in two different research projects. In the first case study the research team worked within a Primary Care Trust in the North East of England on a project that explored the Diffusion of Innovation of clinical and administrative computer systems across General Practice within the Trust. Seventeen Trust members were interviewed for approximately one hour and this led to over 85000 words of rich data. The second project focused on the NHS Secondary Care sector and examined IT project management practice related to the development of integrated pathology computing systems across eight separate laboratories in the North of England. Eight senior managers were interviewed and this, combined with participant observation and over 3 years of document collection, also resulted in a large volume of rich textual material. The use of template analysis, combined with a critical success factors methodology, resulted in a novel approach for learning about current IT project management practices. This paper critically examines these two case studies in terms of their particular research philosophy, epistemological approach and the lessons learnt from the techniques employed. The paper then provides a discussion of the principles and practicalities of template analysis and explores the benefits to the business and management research community at large.
In this study, we consider facility location decisions for a humanitarian relief chain responding to quick-onset disasters. In particular, we develop a model that determines the number and locations of distribution centres in a relief network and the amount of relief supplies to be stocked at each distribution centre to meet the needs of people affected by the disasters. Our model, which is a variant of the maximal covering location model, integrates facility location and inventory decisions, considers multiple item types, and captures budgetary constraints and capacity restrictions. We conduct computational experiments to illustrate how the proposed model works on a realistic problem. Results show the effects of pre- and post-disaster relief funding on relief system's performance, specifically on response time and the proportion of demand satisfied. Finally, we discuss the managerial implications of the proposed model.
Purpose
– Distribution arrangements are becoming increasingly complex and dynamic in business as well as in consumer markets. The purpose of the present paper is to explore and discuss the theoretical frameworks available to interpret these distribution arrangements, to uncover how they are interrelated and to suggest extensions.
Design/methodology/approach
– A survey of extant research is undertaken, starting with the literature on supply chain management (SCM). It turns out that prior to the launch of the SCM concept in the early 1980s, two separate research streams coexisted which both pertain to aspects of distribution. These two research streams are described and traced back to a common root.
Findings
– It is suggested that SCM may be regarded as an attempt to unite the two separate research streams known as business logistics and marketing channels, respectively. These two approaches have focused on different aspects of distribution arrangements, but both are preoccupied with managerial challenges faced by individual companies. The managerial focus is also very clear in SCM. The paper traces the common roots of all of these approaches to the marketing discipline in the first half of the twentieth century and suggests that this constitutes a basis for the future development.
Originality/value
– The contribution of the paper is twofold: first the overview of the different streams of literature dealing with distribution arrangements and how they are interrelated has not been spelled out so clearly before. Second, the discussions undertaken suggest that future research would benefit from going “back to the future” in the sense that one can learn from frameworks developed for the purpose of understanding the supply system as a whole, the role of the individual participants in that system, and the underlying economics of such a system.
Purpose
By constantly working in environments with high degree of uncertainty, humanitarian organizations end up becoming specialists in the implementation of agile systems. Their counterparts in profit‐making organizations have a lot to learn from them in this domain. Volatility of demand, imbalance between supply and demand and disruptions are all factors that affect commercial supply chains and call for a high level of agility. The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to clearly define the concept of supply chain agility, and second, to build a model for assessing the level of agility of a supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
Three approaches are used in this research: literature review, case study and symbolic modeling.
Findings
The paper developed first, a framework for defining supply chain agility and second, a model for assessing and improving the capabilities of humanitarian and commercial supply chains in terms of agility, based on an analysis of humanitarian approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The model has been developed thanks to inputs from humanitarian practitioners and feedbacks from academics. The practical application to various humanitarian relief operations and commercial supply chains is yet to be done.
Originality/value
This paper contributes significantly to clarifying the notion of supply chain agility. It also provides a consistent, robust and reproducible method of assessing supply chain agility, which seems appropriate for both humanitarian and business sectors. Finally, it is complementary to existant research on humanitarian logistics. It shows that though humanitarian professionals have a lot to learn from the private sector, the reverse is also true.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to underline the advantages offered by applying the collective strategy model in the context of humanitarian logistics, enriching the existing benefits that operations management and business logistics techniques have brought to the field. In both man-made and natural disaster relief, humanitarian logistics operations have been hampered by a lack of coordination between actors, which directly affects performance in terms of reactivity and reliability. Adapted collective strategies could offer a solution to this problem. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review deals with the issue of humanitarian logistics through an operational dimension, followed by a strategic approach. This is rounded out with a case study dealing with the Pisco earthquake in Peru (August 2007), which is based on a participant observation methodological approach. Findings – The research presented in this paper reveals that a collective action approach has a positive impact on the working of humanitarian supply chains, as long as a “hub” is used to provide accountability and reliability. If a technical approach, particularly in matters of operations management (optimization of transportation, location of regional warehouses, etc.) is essential to better manage humanitarian logistics, it must also be in the service of a collective strategy, notably in the pre-positioning of supplies and the coordination of relief efforts. Originality/value – There is an emerging body of work on managing logistical operations in a humanitarian context, but less on strategic readings of humanitarian supply chains. In addition, the application of methods from the field of business logistics is possible, but too often underestimated. This work helps to address both gaps.
This paper discusses what local governments must do to prepare for various disasters, including terrorist attacks. It provides background information on preparedness and highlights lessons from prior research. It also identifies the process of establishing local ordinances, assessing risk, creating emergency operations plans, acquiring resources, instituting mutual aid agreements, training, exercising and educating the public. Finally, it concludes with recommendations to implement these preparedness measures.
The present paper focuses on parts presentation in manual assembly. Its aim is to determine how kitting affects the time spent by the assembler fetching parts and, more specifically, what is the impact of the proportion of parts included in the kit. The present paper is based on four case studies of automobile assembly, in which parts presentation by kitting is compared with parts presentation in component racks. In the case studies, kitting enabled shorter distances between parts presentation and assembly object and thereby a potential reduction in the time spent fetching parts. However, when only a proportion of parts were kitted, the time spent fetching parts was not always reduced, in spite of this potential. The present paper finds that when deciding which parts should be kitted, attention should be paid to how and in what order assembly operations are performed.
Purpose
This study seeks to provide insights into corporate achievements in supply chain management (SCM) and logistics management and to detail how they might help disaster agencies. The authors aim to highlight and identify current practices, particularities, and challenges in disaster relief supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
Both SCM and logistics management literature and examples drawn from real‐life cases inform the development of the theoretical model.
Findings
The theoretical, dual‐cycle model that focuses on the key missions of disaster relief agencies: first, prevention and planning and, second, response and recovery. Three major contributions are offered: a concise representation of current practices and particularities of disaster relief supply chains compared with commercial SCM; challenges and barriers to the development of more efficient SCM practices, classified into learning, strategising, and coordinating and measurement issues; and a simple, functional model for understanding how collaborations between corporations and disaster relief agencies might help relief agencies meet SCM challenges.
Research limitations/implications
The study does not address culture‐clash related considerations. Rather than representing the entire scope of real‐life situations and practices, the analysis relies on key assumptions to help conceptualise collaborative paths.
Practical implications
The study provides specific insights into how corporations might help improve the SCM practices by disaster relief agencies that continue to function without SCM professional expertise, tools, or staff.
Originality/value
The paper shows that sharing supply chain and logistics expertise, technology, and infrastructure with relief agencies could be a way for corporations to demonstrate their good corporate citizenship. Collaborations between corporations and disaster agencies offer significant potential benefits.
In Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan, Waters (2001) argues that bureaucratic rationality distracts humanitarian agencies from the needs of the people they are supposed to assist, in favour of other values that their institutional frameworks dictate. We test his claim by investigating the response to the Pakistan 2005 earthquake. One of us (Dittemore) worked with the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre in the theatre, managing a relief cargo shipment database. The response, known as 'Operation Winter Race', was hampered by extreme logistical challenges, but ultimately succeeded in averting a second disaster resulting from cold and starvation. We use statistical models to probe whether survivor needs significantly guided decisions to deliver relief to affected communities. Needs assessments remained incomplete and incoherent. We measure needs through proxy indicators and integrate them, on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, with logistics and relief delivery data. We find that, despite strong logistics effects, needs orientations were significant. However, the strength of decision factors varies between commodity types (food versus clothing and shelter versus reconstruction materials) as well as over the different phases of the response. This study confirms Thomas's observation that logistics databases are rich 'repositories of data that can be analyzed to provide post-event learning' (Thomas, 2003, p. 4). This article is an invitation for others to engage in creative humanitarian data management.
This paper discusses the results from a number of case studies carried out within a research project concerned with the design and performance of materials kitting systems. The paper focuses on the design of the kitting systems in terms of location of the order picking activity, work organisation, picking method, information system and equipment. These design considerations are related to performance measurements, such as picking efficiency and picking accuracy, and are discussed in relation to the preconditions of the kitting system. In kitting systems, results show that picking efficiency and accuracy can be improved by making better use of the product structure when designing the picking information and when deciding the storage assignment policy. Also, batching of picking orders is cost efficient when extensive sorting and administration can be avoided. In general, combining the work roles of assembly and picking results in less administration.
In the wake of disaster, several organizations work for the welfare of the disaster victims, although lack of coordination among them hampers the performance of relief operations. This study sets out to explore and prioritize the coordination barriers in the humanitarian supply chain management (HSCM), particularly in the Indian context to enhance the performance of relief operations. The study is divided into three phases. Initially, barriers to coordination were identified through an extensive literature review, allied to brainstorming sessions with experts. These were then grouped into 5 categories, i.e. management barriers, technological barriers, cultural barriers, people barriers and organizational barriers. Secondly, a survey questionnaire was designed, tested and refined to incorporate the views of the managers involved in the relief operations of the disaster that occurred in the Uttarakhand (a Northern state in India) on June 14, 2013 in order to empirically verify the barriers to coordination. Finally, barriers were prioritized on the basis of their severity using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) which considers the uncertainty of the data and impreciseness rather than crisp value. The results indicate that lack of top management commitment, improper organizational structure to create and share knowledge and lack of policy for coordination are the major barriers. These are the areas that need to be handled first in order to remove coordination barriers. The findings of the study throw some new light on the coordination issues in HSCM and provide a more effective, efficient, robust and systematic way to overcome coordination barriers.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine how kitting, compared to continuous supply, affects the time spent by the assembler fetching parts in manual assembly.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on an experimental setup at the Saab Automobile assembly plant in Trollhättan, Sweden. Experienced assemblers were studied as they performed the same assembly operations in ten different configurations. Each configuration consisted of a different arrangement in terms of how parts were presented. The use of kits to present parts was compared to parts presentation through continuous supply, where each part number was presented in a separate container.
Findings – The time for fetching parts is significantly shorter when parts are presented through kitting instead of through continuous supply. Furthermore, the shorter fetching time is not just related to a shorter distance between assembly object and parts presentation, which can often be achieved through kitting. The reduction of time spent searching for parts is also considerable.
Practical implications – The results of the paper provide valuable input in the design of assembly and materials supply systems, as they enable a better understanding of the relative performance of the materials feeding principles of kitting and continuous supply.
Originality/value – Previous studies of kitting and its impact on assembly are mostly conceptual or qualitative, whereas quantitative studies are scarce. The current paper provides a substantial contribution by quantifying the effects that kitting, compared to continuous supply, has on the time spent fetching parts.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a supply chain process modelling method adapted to the requirements of humanitarian organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical research was conducted to identify the state of practice of supply chain management (SCM) in humanitarian organisations. An established procedure was selected, in order to develop a reference task model which forms the basis of the process modelling method. A literature review, expert interviews and other primary sources were used to identify the SCM activities that are required for the reference task model.
Findings
An empirical survey revealed that process modelling and optimisation are in their infancy at humanitarian organisations. A reference task model identifying over 100 SCM tasks is constructed. The applicability and feasibility of the developed process modelling method is exemplified by means of a case study.
Research limitations/implications
The reference task model provides the basis for further research on process modelling and optimisation in humanitarian supply chains.
Practical implications
The process modelling method supports humanitarian organisations in modelling and optimising their supply chain processes. Standardisation of supply chain processes is promoted which can be a key to improving operational effectiveness and efficiency as well as cooperation and coordination in humanitarian operations.
Originality/value
No rigorous supply chain process modelling technique adapted to the requirements of humanitarian organisations has yet been proposed. Likewise, to date, no comprehensive task model, which enables the construction of supply chain processes for humanitarian organisations, has been developed.
The kitting problem in multi-echelon assembly systems is to allocate on-hand stock and anticipated future deliveries to kits to minimize total cost, consisting of job earliness, job tardiness, and in-process holding costs. This paper describes the kitting problem and compares the performance of three heuristics, two that are commonly used in industry and a new one, to resolve it. Computational experience demonstrates that the new heuristic outperforms the others, finding the optimal solution in 16 of 24 test problems and averaging just 0-6% above the optimum for the 24 problems. It is expected that the new heuristic will find application in large-scale problems encountered in industry. Solutions will facilitate time-managed flow control, prescribing kitting decisions that promote cost-effective performance to schedule.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop a mathematical model for designing the kitting system by determining the optimum values of the related design parameters.
Design/methodology/approach
– Main assembly feeding systems are explained with their advantages and disadvantages. Related literature is reviewed and gaps are determined. To fill the void and to be beneficial for real life lean assembly systems, the elements of the kitting system are explained in detail and a mathematical model minimizing the cost consisting of Work In Process (WIP) and number of workers for the design of a kitting system is developed. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the model.
Findings
– This paper provides a mathematical model that provides the required design parameters for a kitting system such as the tour period, the number of workers and the quantities of the kits by minimizing WIP and labor costs.
Originality/value
– The paper provides a mathematical model for the design of a kitting system.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of agility in the context of supply chains of humanitarian aid (HA) organizations, particularly non‐government organizations (NGOs). This responds to the increasing pressure on NGOs to use their resources more strategically if they are to gain donor trust and long‐term commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature‐based approach that extends the commercial supply chain concept of agility to NGOs is combined with the first exploratory semi‐structured interviews of these concepts with five NGO supply chain directors.
Findings
The commercial concept of agility when responding to disaster relief holds strong potential for increasing efficiency and effectiveness, but this application is restrained by the absence of supporting information technology (IT) and the relegation of supply chain management (SCM) to the “back office” by NGOs. This has potential implications for NGOs and other HA agencies.
Research limitations/implications
This paper represents an exploratory study, and an extended pool of interviewees would reinforce the qualitative findings. Planned future research will address this issue.
Practical implications
Practical guidance on how NGOs can proactively manage their organization's ability to respond with agility in a highly pressured environment is provided.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to offer practical guidance to managers of NGOs on strategies available to improve their organization's flexibility and agility, based on theoretical concepts and initial exploratory data. In addition, evidence of how commercial tools apply in a different arena may prompt commercial managers to be more innovative in utilizing and customizing supply chain principles to their particular context of operation.
European business environment is experiencing major changes. The process of integration in Europe, the GATT agreements, the developments in Eastern Europe, and above all, global competition are pushing European businesses to become more competitive. One area that is receiving increasing attention of managers is logistics. The gradual deregulation of the transport marketplace and the lifting of border controls have added to the efforts to become more efficient in logistics.
During the last 30 years the environments faced by the business
logistics manager have dramatically increased in complexity. The
integration of logistics processes with organizational strategy,
increasing complexities of partnership/channel relationships, and the
increasingly international scope of business logistics processes are
examples of these complexities. The military logistics literature
addresses complex issues of integrating logistics with strategy and
tactics; co-ordinating world wide supply operations; co-ordinating an
industrial base with military needs; and managing cycles of
mobilization, warfare, and demobilization. Summarizes the development of
business logistics thought, reviews the military logistics literature,
and develops insights from the said literature that appear relevant to
business logistics thought.
Identifies the significant role of conceptual research methods in
theory building and contrasts it with the theory-testing research
currently prevalent in operations management. The research stages of
description, explanation and testing are used to distinguish between
theory building and theory testing. Short-circuiting any one of these
stages results in dysfunctional research activities which produce war
stories, black boxes, or ivory-tower prescriptions. Defines some terms
relevant to conceptual research methods and describes different
conceptual classification schemes. Finally, discusses the differences
between conceptual models, frameworks, and theories and illustrates each
method with examples from the literature.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the design and testing procedure of the “Development Indicator Tool” – a tool developed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to guide and monitor the continuous performance improvement of their (regional) logistics unit(s) on a daily basis.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper follows a descriptive approach. It starts with a description of the situational background of the IFRC. In a second step, it briefly portrays the theoretical concepts of continuous improvement and of the Balanced Scorecard and highlights the extension of existing literature on performance measurement in general and humanitarian logistics in particular. Next the paper summarizes the objectives of the tool and describes the four development phases as well as the tool design including the dashboard and the selected indicators. It concludes with indications on key success factors, challenges met along the way, expected impact and the future perspective.
Findings
The process of designing and implementing (tools for) a performance measurement and management system can and should be kept simple. Important for the success of the process is the integration of key stakeholders throughout the entire process as well as the simplicity and user‐friendliness of tools and system.
Practical implications
The provided insights are only a cut‐out of a solution developed for the specific context of one humanitarian organization. But by its simplicity it might encourage other organizations to start or improve their own performance management system.
Originality/value
Since conceptual and empirical research on performance management systems in the context of humanitarian operations in general and disaster relief logistics in particular are still limited, design and testing of a concrete indicator tool might contribute to the further investigation of this topic. The paper aids this process.
Discusses “recurrent approaches” to determining when to
despatch a consolidated load. Unlike a “non-recurrent
approach” (which sets a target time or weight prior to
accumulating orders and despatches when the target is reached),
recurrent approaches re-evaluate the shipment-release decision several
times within an order accumulation cycle. Presents two probabilistic
recurrent models, one assuming private transportation and the other
common carriage. Compares the performance of these models with the
nonrecurrent rules of despatching the “economic shipment
weight” or, in the case of common carriage, the minimum volume
weight. Concludes that with both forms of transportation, the decision
heuristic outperforms despatching the economic shipment weight when that
weight is close to vehicle capacity. Shows that, with common carriage,
the use of the more sophisticated model does not yield better cost
results than the minimum volume weight despatch rule. Discusses the
reasons for, and implications of, these results.
Discusses the question of whether a firm should set up an
own-account physical distribution organization or contract out the
distribution function. Shows how the concepts of transaction cost
economics, particularly asset specificity and performance ambiguity, can
shed light on the division of responsibility for the physical
distribution function between in-house operations and outside
contractors.
Purpose
This paper aims to further the understanding of planning and carrying out logistics operations in disaster relief.
Design/methodology/approach
Topical literature review of academic and practitioner journals.
Findings
Creates a framework distinguishing between actors, phases, and logistical processes of disaster relief. Drawing parallels of humanitarian logistics and business logistics, the paper discovers and describes the unique characteristics of humanitarian logistics while recognizing the need of humanitarian logistics to learn from business logistics.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is conceptual in nature; empirical research is needed to support the framework. The framework sets a research agenda for academics.
Practical implications
Useful discussion of the unique characteristics of humanitarian logistics. The framework provides practitioners with a tool for planning and carrying out humanitarian logistics operations.
Originality/value
No overarching framework for humanitarian logistics exists in the logistics literature so far. The field of humanitarian logistics has so far received limited attention by logistics academics.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse the extent of the integration between manufacturers and third party logistics (TPL) providers at present and how the integration is expected to develop in the near future. The focus is on studying what tasks are part of the cooperation, what information and communications technology (ICT) tools are used for support, and what types of services are supplied and are expected to be supplied by TPL providers in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study of seven manufacturers and TPL providers is conducted. As the basis for the study a literature review is presented focusing on supply chain management and TPL provider integration as well as operationalisation of the integration concept. A framework is chosen for developing a detailed interview guide.
Findings
Cooperation is primarily found in sub‐processes of three out of the eight business processes studied. Further integration in the same processes is expected, based on ICT tools and with a focus on cost. ICT competences are primarily seen as a qualifier not a differentiator. Because the future TPL industry is expected to be characterised by more standardised services, more segmented markets for the various services and more intense competition, the manufacturers do not expect increased dependence on the TPL providers.
Research limitations/implications
Managerial and behavioural components are not part of this study and their effect on integration will require further investigation.
Originality/value
From a supply chain management perspective, the study sheds light on a rarely explored area concerning the integration between manufacturers and TPL providers and its future development.
Traditionally, most funding is made available when a disaster occurs. Disaster response is the implementation of what humanitarian actors did (or didn't do) in preparedness for any intervention. Based on a case study of a logistics change in the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Society, this paper discusses how more funding of preparedness can radically improve the speed and quality of response. Findings contribute to our understanding of how changes in funding can improve and support faster recovery due to increased preparedness in disasterprone areas. Illustrating how postponement/speculation logistics strategies are applied to flows of material, information, and human resources, it is concluded that associated changes of financial flows are required. Donors and NGOs must think of more 'speculative', long-term, and unearmarked funding with particular attention to risk sharing, cost recovery, and measurements. This paper contributes to further understanding of postponement/speculation in project-based settings (temporary supply networks), how funding and logistics (payment and materials flows) are related, as well as the present funding models' implications for efficiency and effectiveness in humanitarian aid. These are all areas that have been underresearched.
Kitting and line stocking systems are common alternatives for component storage in assembly environments. Despite the need for knowledge about when and where each system would be applicable in industry, research on the choice of kitting versus line stocking systems in industry is quite sparse. This paper identifies a number of research issues that might influence this system choice decision based on an analysis of the kitting operations and the potential move to line stocking at an electronics assembly company. Research questions are presented in the areas of product characteristics (volume, variety, and size), storage and material handling, production control, performance impact, and implementation. The issues identified here highlight factors that might influence the choice between kitting and line stocking, and present a rich array of research opportunities in a number of relevant areas.
The connectivity and communication requirements of leading supply chains have created the emergence of a more advanced role for third-party logistics providers 3PLs. They have evolved from providing logistics capabilities to becoming orchestrators of supply chains that create and sustain a competitive advantage. This article uses a theoretical perspective based on resource-based theory, network theory and transaction cost economics, and a thorough literature review, to develop a model with seven propositions. Finally, using structured interviews of industry executives from a leading 3PL, we offer empirical support for the model and propositions that can be used to define the orchestrator role of a 3PL.
Kitting (accumulating components required for an assembly) plays a crucial role in determining the performance of a small-lot, multi-product, multi-level manufacturing system. In this paper, we analyze the kitting process as of a stochastic assembly system by treating it as an assembly-like queue. Specifically, we investigate the dynamics involved in a simple kitting process where two independent input streams feed into an assembly process. Unlike previous studies in this domain, we relax the assumption of finite buffer capacity constraint on the input buffers, and still show that the system remains stable under fairly mild conditions. It is expected that the findings of this study will provide manufacturing system designers with wider variety of control parameters to choose from in evaluating the system performance under a much broader set of control policies, which would lead to minimizing the associated costs.
The component kitting problem in semi-automated printed circuit board (PCB) assembly concerns the allocation of components among various identical assembly stations while taking production time and component magazine capacity constraints into account. Before a component kit can be generated, jobs must be arranged in groups for processing at the same assembly station. Changeover from one kit to another requires considerable setup time. Therefore, the main objective is to minimize total operator time. This problem, although prevalent in industry, has not been researched extensively. In this paper, we describe the component kitting problem faced by an electronics manufacturer. A heuristic solution procedure is developed, which is computationally very efficient even for large-scale problems encountered in industry. Computational experience demonstrates that the heuristic tends to produce solutions which are close to the optimum.
Purpose
Assembly systems require uninterrupted components' availability to feed workstations. This paper aims to propose a methodology to help managers in evaluating and selecting the most suitable policy for materials delivery to the shop floor. The analysis focuses on three basic policies, namely kitting, just in time kanban‐based continuous supply and line storage, even including class‐based hybrid policies.
Design/methodology/approach
Descriptive models are developed to design components' delivery systems and to compute their performances. Empirical criteria are utilized to associate specific policies to components classes in order to implement customized hybrid line feeding policies. A case study is then included to exemplify the method application and to show its capabilities as a decision making tool.
Findings
Hybrid feeding policies may be preferable to a single feeding policy common to all components. This is shown in a representative case study. However, in general there is a priori superior method and only a comparison of alternative feeding policies based on objective performance measures can determine the best approach in specific industrial applications.
Research limitations/implications
The methodology is aimed at preliminary sizing and selection of alternative line feeding systems in deterministic environments. It is not intended for detailed performance analysis of assembly systems.
Practical implications
Production managers are given quantitative decision tools to properly select the components' delivery method at an early decision stage. This allows trade‐offs between alternatives to be explored in order to deploy customized feeding policies differentiated on components basis to better fit specific company requirements.
Originality/value
The paper extends previous descriptive models for line feeding systems and includes the possibility of hybrid policies.
We model a modular assembly system in which a final assembler outsources some of the assembly task to first-tier suppliers (subassemblers), who produce modules made up of multiple components. The assembler sets module prices it will pay to the subassemblers, the subassemblers set component prices they will pay to suppliers, and then all players choose how much capacity to install, with the minimum capacity choice determining system capacity. Finally, stochastic end-product demand is observed and all players produce (and are paid for) the same number of units—the minimum of demand and system capacity.
We characterize equilibrium price and capacity choices, and then use that characterization to derive results regarding higher-level structural choices by the assembler—such as how to group components into modules and which suppliers to choose as subassemblers. We also compare performance of the system to a traditional assembly system with an assembler and suppliers but without subassemblers.
In this paper, we study dynamic supplier alliances in a decentralized assembly system. We examine a supply chain where n suppliers sell complementary components to a downstream assembler, who faces a price-sensitive deterministic demand. We analyze alliance/coalition formation between suppliers, using a two stage approach. In Stage 1, suppliers form coalitions that each agree to sell a kit of products to the assembler. In Stage 2, coalitions make wholesale price decisions, while the assembler buys the components (kits) from the coalitions and sets the selling price of the product. Stage 2 is modeled as a competitive game, in which the primary competition is vertical (i.e., supplier coalitions compete against the downstream assembler), and the secondary competition is horizontal, in that coalitions compete against each other. Here, we consider three cases - Supplier Stackelberg, Vertical Nash, and Assembler Stackelberg models - which correspond to different power structures in the market. In Stage 1, we analyze the stability of coalition structures. We assume that suppliers are farsighted, that is, each coalition considers the possibility that once it acts, another coalition may react, and a third coalition might in turn react, and so on. Using this framework, we predict the structure of possible supplier alliances, as a function of the power structure in the market, the market size, and the structure of the demand.
The United Kingdom uses the Defence Lines of Development (DLOD) framework to analyse and understand the key components and costs of a military capability. Rooted in the Resource Based View (RBV) of a firm, an adapted DLOD approach is employed to explore, analyse and discuss the preparedness, planning and response strategies of two markedly different countries (Australia and Bangladesh) when faced with a major cyclone event of a comparable size. Given the numerous similarities in the challenges facing military forces in a complex emergency and humanitarian agencies in a natural disaster, the paper demonstrates the applicability of the DLOD framework as an analysis and planning tool in the cyclone preparedness planning and response phases, and more broadly within the disaster management area. In addition, the paper highlights the benefit to disaster managers, policymakers and researchers of exploiting comparative cross-learning opportunities from disaster events, drawn from different sectors and countries.
In this paper, based on a number of site visits we performed, we present certain fundamental differences between kitting and line stocking (i.e., no kitting), and we develop definitions which are intended to serve as a framework to study most kitting operations. We also develop a descriptive model which can be used to quantify the trade-offs in material handling, space requirements, and work-in-process between kitting and line stocking at an early decision stage. We present a numerical example to demonstrate the model and some of the insight we gained. Lastly, we discuss new research directions to further explore kitting and its impact on the shop floor. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29734/1/0000070.pdf
A contingency is a randomly occurring crises event such as a
national disaster, civil disorder, or military invasion that creates a
major threat to the safety and security of a population that requires
immediate responsive operations that include the development and
maintenance of supply chains to provide the logistics support functions.
A method for quantifying the reliability of supply chains for
contingency logistics systems is developed based on reliability
interference theory. Supply chain reliability is defined as the
probability of the chain meeting mission requirements to provide the
required supplies to the critical transfer points within the system. The
authors consider a flow of supplies that are deployed to a distribution
center from which allocations are then made to n sites, each being
engaged at a high operational tempo to meet the mission requirements of
the contingency