Supply Chain Management HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS /HUMLOG

1. HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS
/HUMLOG
Prepared by

2. WHAT IS HUMLOG
• the process of planning, implementing and controlling
the efficient, cost-effective flow of and storage of goods
and materials as well as related information, from point
of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of
meeting the end beneficiary's requirements
• Humanitarian Logistics concepts are still
evolving due recent stress on co-ordination and
collaboration concepts in HL that have been
practiced in business and military Logistics for
many decades now.

3. Constructing a humanitarian Supply
Chain
• What are the difficulties in constructing a
Supply Chain for Humanitarian Operations ?
• Who are the stakeholders ?
• Who controls the flow of inventory in the
supply chain ?
• What are differences between business SC
and Humanitarian SC ?
• What possible complexities can you identify ?

4. CHALLENGES FACED IN HUMLOG
• Operating conditions
• Robust equipment
• Politically volatile climate
• High staff turn-over
• Number of stake holders
• Supplier Uncertainty
• End-user requirements
• Unkown’s

5. DISASTERS
• By 'disaster' we mean 'a disruption that physically affects a system
as a whole and threatens its priorities and goals.' A disaster can be
natural or man-made.
• Natural disaster account for only 3% of disaster relief operations
• an astounding 97% of operations were devoted to the relief of
'man-made disasters' such as sudden onset disasters, for example a
terrorist attack or a coup d'etat or slow onset disasters such as
political or refugee crises.
• US government has spent more than $ 17 trillion dollars since it
started its operations in Afghanistan and Iraq to prevent another
man-made disaster
• Preparedness is equally important for natural disasters but they are
relatively difficult therefore it is difficult to commit financial and
non-financial assets without any assurity.

6. DISASTERS

7. HUMLOG & BUSINESS LOGISTICS
• Humanitarian organisations are about 15 years behind their private sector counterparts.
Why is it ?
 Reports on Humanitarian disasters are given less attention than annual business
reports on Supply chain and Logistics practices
 Due to varying nature of disaster it is difficult to learn from the previous disaster
experience.
• HumLog has been locked into a vicious circle, where lack of understanding for the
function and its importance have meant lesser focus on logistics operations ( FIG.2. ).
Humanitarian aid agencies lack the expertise in Logistics as compared to Military.
Military Logistics is supported by the equipment and will to take the weapons through
difficult terrains.
• Its only in the recent past that organisations like IFRC and WFP have tried to break the
vicious cycle by indicating that logistics and supply chain management as they key to
relief operations

8. Logistics cycle in Hum Log
•Its only in the recent past that organisations like IRC and WFP have tried to
break the vicious cycle by indicating that logistics and supply chain
management as they key to relief operations

9. Phases within Disaster Management
•Preparedness is the most important phase . Well prepared communities
can significantly prevent the loss of lives

10. PRINCIPLE FOLLOWED BY HUMINTARIAN RELIEF
ORGANISATIONS
Humanitarian aid agencies will help everyone in need wherever found;
will not influence the outcome of a conflict with their intervention; and
will not favor one group of beneficiaries over another. These principles
define the 'space', both physically and virtually, in which they need to be
able to operate to do their job effectively.
Humanitarian space represents a zone of tranquility where civilians,
non-combatants and aid workers are protected from gun fire and can
move and operate freely.

11. Supplier’s in HumLog
• Various number of players

12. Role of Government in HumLog.
• Governments hold the main power with the control
they have over political and economical conditions
and directly affect supply chain processes with their
decisions.
• After the 2004 tsunami, for instance, the Indian
government did not invite international aid agencies
to participate at all in the first 60 days of the relief
effort, and functioned during that period with the
local sources of supplies

13. Warehousing and Communication
• Sorting , storing and dispatching relief goods is the key
for successful execution of relief operations
• Warehouses have to be established in short time
period which ensure fast processing
• Communication is important for coordinating among
several players
• It should avoid bottleneck , identification of worst
effected areas , reduced redundancy

14. Warehouse Layout for handling relief
Goods

15. Sorting and labeling by priority
• The organization in charge of handling the supplies
should establish priorities for the different kinds of
items based on the most urgent needs.
• For instance, in the event of an earthquake, medical
supplies and equipment for treating injuries and
fractures may be a priority.
• Sorting by priority makes it possible to expedite the
processing of the most urgently needed supplies.
• All boxes and packages should be labeled clearly,
indicating their priority.

16. Coloring based on priority
• Priority 1: Urgent—for immediate distribution.
Identified by a red label.
• Priority 2: Non-urgent distribution. goods that are
not immediately required but will be useful at a
later stage. Identified by a blue label.
• Priority 3: Non-priority goods—non-urgent
distribution. Items that have been damaged, have
expired, are unknown, useless, or of doubtful
value. Identified by a black label.

17. Communication
• During a disaster, communication is as important as food and water.
A disaster can damage telecommunication infrastructure.
• If an event happens in a densely populated area, thousands of
people can try to make calls at the same time overloading the
system.
• For example, the American Red Cross, has created mobile communication
trucks. The telecom trucks, once positioned, provide “48 phone lines,
high-speed internet access, e-mail and satellite-enabled communication
with national headquarters”

18. The most practical communication
options

19. The most practical communication
options

22. Technology
• Information systems is the single most important
element in determining the success or failure of
disaster relief operations.
• Accurate information is needed by regional actors
upon which they can develop evacuation plans .
• Hospitals is disaster prone regions need
technology to track their particular needs.

23. Technology
 Co-ordination among many different organisations in the disaster effected
area is quite crucial.
 Lack of co-ordination leads to last mile challenges.
 Collaborative platforms include United Nations Joint Logistics centre (
UNJLC ) , Disaster relief Network
( DRN ) by World economic forum .
 Also many traditional logistics companies such as DHL or TNT are
collaborating with UN in forming a disaster relief information system.
 TNTs collaboration with WFP in India has been a success where TNT
provided WFP its local infrastructure for relief operations
 Various issues related to Hum business organisations ?

24. Technology
• Problem
• Information system depends on the pre-determined
scenario and existence of known input data such as
known nodes of demand for particular goods.
• Humanitarian aid agencies at times lack the capability
to manage a software provided to them by some
software manufacturing company e.g. one software
company complaint of lack of computer processing
powers owned by HumLog organisation to process the
data.
• Few of them deal with immediate response and
dynamic situation of emergencies.

25. Inventory tracking through technology
• Bar Codes
• Radio Frequency Identification(RFID)
What are the various issues related with
implementation of technology in Hum Aid
operations ?
 Developing of information system is not
easy for humanitarian aid agencies
 Incremental learning is complicated

26. Comparison between Business Logistics and
Humanitarian Logistics
Business Supply Chain Humanitarian Supply
Chain
Demand Pattern Relatively Stable Estimated
Lead Time determined by Supplier-manufacturer-
distribution
Zero Lead Time
Distribution Network Well define number of distribution centers and
locations
Challenging due to
nature of disaster
Inventory Control Well defined Hard to control
inventory level
Information System Well defined Hard to rely on
information gathered
Strategic Goal value creation , high quality product at low cost Minimize loss of life
Performance Measurement
System
focused on resource
performance measures, such as
maximizing profit or minimizing
costs.
time required to
respond to a or
ability to meet the
needs of the disaster
What is “Demand”? Products Supplies and People