Pre-Positioning of Emergency Items for CARE International

Abstract

Each year, about 500 natural disasters kill approximately 70,000 people and affect more than 200 million people worldwide. In the aftermath of such events, large quantities of supplies are needed to provide relief aid to the affected. CARE International is one of the largest humanitarian organizations that provide relief aid to disaster survivors. The most vital issues in disaster response are agility in mobilizing supplies and effectiveness in distributing them. To improve disaster response, a research group from Georgia Institute of Technology collaborated with CARE to develop a model to evaluate the effect that pre-positioning relief items would have on CARE's average relief-aid emergency response time. The model's results helped CARE managers to determine a desired configuration for the organization's pre-positioning network. Based on the results of our study and other factors, CARE has pre-positioned relief supplies in three facilities around the world.

Humanitarian supply chain strategies – a review of how actors mitigate supply chain risks

“…Duran et al (2011) is a typical example, which concludes that prepositioning (strategic stock) positively affects how CARE can fulfil demand. McCoy and Brandeu (2011) developed a model that balances a key trade-off between cost and responsiveness through strategic stocks under budget constraints.…”

“…Natural disaster Jahre & Heigh, 2008;McLachlin et al 2009;Charles, 2010;Gatignon et al 2010;Jahre & Jensen, 2010;Oloruntoba, 2010;Duran et al 2011;Pedraza Martinez et al 2011;Cozzolino et al 2012;Pedraza Martinez & Van Wassenhove, 2013;Buddas, 2014;Ergun et al 2014;Scholten et al 2014;Gralla et al 2015;Jahre & Fabbe-Costes, 2015;Stauffer et al 2015;War/terrorism Listou, 2008McLachlin et al 2009;Choi et al 2010;Jahre & Jensen, 2010;McCoy et al 2011;Pedraza Martinez et al 2011;Cozzolino et al 2012;Pedraza Martinez & Van Wassenhove, 2013;Besiou et al 2014;Buddas, 2014;Eftekhar et al 2014;Gralla et al 2015;Kunz et al 2015 Jahre & Heigh, 2008;Listou, 2008;Charles, 2010;Gatignon et al 2010;Duran et al 2011 ;Pedraza Martinez et al 2011;Besiou et al 2014;Buddas, 2014;Gralla et al 2015;Gralla et al 2015;Jahre & Fabbe-Costes, 2015;Stauffer et al 2015;Jahre et al 2016 Manufacturing risk factors Supply ris...…”

Conceptualising Inventory Prepositioning in the Humanitarian Sector

“…Emphasis is in the humanitarian literature is often placed on response to disasters (Barbarosoglu et al 2004, Sheu 2007 however, effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian logistics is improved with focus on preparative activities (Tomasini and Van Wassenhove 2009). Increasing the effectiveness of response is possible through positioning inventory in preparation for disasters, to reduce the procurement and transportation phase in response to disasters (Duran et al 2007). Stocks are strategically placed that when disasters occur the time between getting goods to the disaster area is greatly reduced (Duran et al 2007, Balcik andBeamon 2008).…”

“…Duran et al (2007) argue that IPP consists of facility locations, inventory management and network design decisions, while Balcik and Beamon (2008) consider that IPP consists of facility location and inventory management decisions. Factors considered in IPP decisions are incomplete.…”

“…Factors considered in IPP decisions are incomplete. Reference is often made to quantitative factors such as inventory, transportation and other costs (Barbarosoglu et al 2004), with very little attention being paid to qualitative issues such as difficulty with customs clearance, the impact of collaboration and coordination or unrest (Duran et al 2007). Thus the aim of this paper is to describe IPP which is done in two parts.…”