Coordination, cooperation and collaboration in relief supply chain management

In recent years, an increasing number of natural and man-made disasters has demonstrated that a working relief supply chain management (RSCM) is crucial in order to alleviate the suffering of the affected population. Coordination, cooperation and collaboration within RSCM is essential for overcoming these destructive incidents. This paper explores the research undertaken in recent years, focusing on coordination, cooperation and collaboration in the field of supply chain management (SCM) and RSCM in order to provide unique definitions of these concepts taking the disaster setting into consideration. A systematic literature review including 202 academic papers published from 1996 onwards in top journals dealing with commercial supply and relief supply chain coordination, cooperation and collaboration is applied. In order to answer the underlying research questions in a proper way, a descriptive analysis and qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the papers are conducted. Descriptive results indicate that RSCM coordination, cooperation and collaboration have increasingly shifted into the focus of scientific research since 2001/2004 (i.e., 9/11 and the Indian Ocean Tsunami). Based on the qualitative content analysis, clear definitions of the terms coordination, cooperation and collaboration in SCM and RSCM were elaborated. The research landscape, as a result of the quantitative content analysis, allowed the identification of three issues that need to be addressed in future research work

Optimal allocation of defibrillator drones in mountainous regions

Responding to emergencies in Alpine terrain is quite challenging as air ambulances and mountain rescue services are often confronted with logistics challenges and adverse weather conditions that extend the response times required to provide life-saving support. Among other medical emergencies, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the most time-sensitive event that requires the quick provision of medical treatment including cardiopulmonary resuscitation and electric shocks by automated external defibrillators (AED). An emerging technology called unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) is regarded to support mountain rescuers in overcoming the time criticality of these emergencies by reducing the time span between SCA and early defibrillation. A drone that is equipped with a portable AED can fly from a base station to the patient's site where a bystander receives it and starts treatment. This paper considers such a response system and proposes an integer linear program to determine the optimal allocation of drone base stations in a given geographical region. In detail, the developed model follows the objectives to minimize the number of used drones and to minimize the average travel times of defibrillator drones responding to SCA patients. In an example of application, under consideration of historical helicopter response times, the authors test the developed model and demonstrate the capability of drones to speed up the delivery of AEDs to SCA patients. Results indicate that time spans between SCA and early defibrillation can be reduced by the optimal allocation of drone base stations in a given geographical region, thus increasing the survival rate of SCA patients

Selecting E-Mobility Transport Solutions for Mountain Rescue Operations

This study introduces e-mobility for humanitarian purposes and presents the first investigation of innovative e-mobility transport solutions (e.g., e-bike, e-stretcher, and drone) for mountain rescue. In practice, it is largely unclear which e-mobility transport solutions might be suitable and what selection attributes are to be considered. The subsequent study supports the technology selection process by identifying and measuring relevant selection attributes to facilitate the adoption of e-mobility in this domain. For the purpose of this study, a multi-method research approach that combines qualitative and quantitative elements was applied. In the first step, results of a systematic search for attributes in literature were combined with inputs gained from unstructured expert interviews and discussions. The perceived importance of the identified selection attributes was then measured by analyzing survey data of 341 rescue workers using the best-worst scaling methodology. Finally, the results were reiterated in another expert discussion to assess their overall validity. Study results indicate that e-mobility transport solutions need to primarily enhance operational performance and support the safety of mountain rescue personnel. Surprisingly, economic and sustainability aspects are less of an issue in the process of technology selection

Enhanced coordination and decision-making for relief items procurement in humanitarian logistics

Natural or man-made disasters of recent years have caused thousands of victims and long-term ecological, social and economic damage to the affected areas. The Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, the Cap of Horn malnutrition crisis in 2011 and the Nepal Earthquake in 2015 are examples for devastating disasters, which put the resilience of society to the prove. In order to reveal the suffering of disaster victims and to provide them with relief items, i.e. medical supplies, water or sanitation equipment, the need of implementing and maintaining an effective and efficient disaster management is given. Disaster management which combines all measures and processes to prepare for and respond to disasters has been recognized as the key to successful disaster relief. Humanitarian logistics, as one essential element of disaster management, includes the efficient and cost-effective flow and storage of relief items and information into a disaster impacted area. This key process enables supply deliveries to those in need, especially in countries that lack logistics experience and knowledge to cope with disaster impacts. As observed in disaster response missions of recent years, the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian logistics are quite often affected by chaotic post-disaster environments, volatile demand patterns and high numbers of different stakeholders on the ground. Current decentralized coordination of decision-making procedures, i.e. representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) take decisions relatively independent from each other at low levels of information sharing, adds additional complexity to relief items procurement, transport and warehousing. Especially the coordination of procurement activities of different NGOs and decision-making in these situations is extremely complex and may result in misleading decisions when critical information is not shared and NGOs do not work together. Incorrect, insufficient or oversupply of relief items to single disaster regions are characteristic for decision failures that could cost additional lives in the wort case. The call for improving the current situation attracted more and more attention by academia and research has been intensified over the last years. In order to learn more about existing research with regard to inefficiencies in humanitarian logistics, especially in the coordination of relief items procurement activities, the authors of the thesis apply a systematic literature review in the first part of the thesis. Quantitative and qualitative results indicate that research focusing on challenges and problems in the coordination of decision-makers in relief items procurement is quite limited. This gap in literature motivate the authors of the thesis to conduct case study research, resulting in the identification of causes for inefficient coordination of procurement activities and innovative coordination concepts that might improve the current situation. The interviewed experts from international NGOs, start-ups and military, describe weak cooperation and low information sharing between organizations and opportunistic behavior of single actors as major impediments in establishing high performance coordination. According to them, current coordination practice lacks regulations within the humanitarian community and is dominated by single decision-makers. The need is given to introduce innovative coordination mechanisms, such as distributed decision-making, in order to improve the quality of decisions and to increase humanitarian logistics performance. Based on these findings, the authors develop an agent-based simulation model for analysing decision-making of procurement agents, i.e. people in charge of relief items procurement in order to give more insights of root causes for decision-making failures. Results indicate, that humanitarian logistics performance is highly dependent on single decision-makers that may negatively impact the demand satisfaction process when following their individual perceptions in the supplier selection process. Selected findings of the case study research, i.e. distributed decision-making as an alternative coordination strategy, encourage the authors to analyze this coordination strategy in the concluding section of the thesis. The focus is put on the development of a model for distributed decision-making in order to learn more about the potentials of this coordination approach to solve the problems of current practice. By means of quantitative modeling, the authors are able to illustrate the positive effects of distributed decision-making on the performance of relief items procurement. The results indicate, that the basic principles of distributed decision-making, i.e. active information sharing and group decision-making, lead to improved demand satisfaction and lower costs in humanitarian logistics.Christian Wankmüller, MSc., Bakk. rer. soc. oec.Dr. rer. soc. oec.Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Dissertation, 2017OeBB(VLID)437721

Die Bedeutung der Resilienz von und in Supply Chains : Ergebnisse einer Zitationsanalyse und Gestaltungsempfehlungen zur Resilienzverbesserung

Christian WankmüllerKlagenfurt, Alpen-Adria-Univ., Master-Arb., 2014(VLID)241318

Identifying Challenges and Improvement Approaches for More Efficient Procurement Coordination in Relief Supply Chains

Coordinating humanitarian organizations in the procurement of urgently needed relief items is complex and characterized by decentralization and isolated decision-making. The decentralized coordination of associated tasks often results in the duplication of efforts and redundant/incorrect relief items supplies into single disaster regions, having negative impacts on the most vulnerable ones. This paper devotes attention to the challenges that exist in the coordination of procurement activities in relief supply chains and asks for improvement approaches to facilitate more efficient demand satisfaction in disaster situations. Therefore, the authors apply multiple case study research including expert interviews with procurement agents and heads of logistics from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian start-ups and military logistics centers. Results indicate that a lack of incentives to cooperate, poor communication, unclear division of competences and noncompliance to standards and regulations constitute substantial challenges in procurement coordination. Moreover, expert interview results show that social media integration, procurement flexibility, cluster and collaborative coordination have potential to support improving the coordination of NGOs’ procurement activities. By presenting several theoretical propositions, this paper complements already existing literature and provides a reference point for future research. Practitioners can benefit from findings as they are provided with a guide that allows redesigning certain processes in procurement coordination

Identifying Challenges and Improvement Approaches for More Efficient Procurement Coordination in Relief Supply Chains

Coordinating humanitarian organizations in the procurement of urgently needed relief items is complex and characterized by decentralization and isolated decision-making. The decentralized coordination of associated tasks often results in the duplication of efforts and redundant/incorrect relief items supplies into single disaster regions, having negative impacts on the most vulnerable ones. This paper devotes attention to the challenges that exist in the coordination of procurement activities in relief supply chains and asks for improvement approaches to facilitate more efficient demand satisfaction in disaster situations. Therefore, the authors apply multiple case study research including expert interviews with procurement agents and heads of logistics from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian start-ups and military logistics centers. Results indicate that a lack of incentives to cooperate, poor communication, unclear division of competences and noncompliance to standards and regulations constitute substantial challenges in procurement coordination. Moreover, expert interview results show that social media integration, procurement flexibility, cluster and collaborative coordination have potential to support improving the coordination of NGOs’ procurement activities. By presenting several theoretical propositions, this paper complements already existing literature and provides a reference point for future research. Practitioners can benefit from findings as they are provided with a guide that allows redesigning certain processes in procurement coordination

Impact of GDC interlayer microstructure on strontium zirconate interphase formation and cell performance

In solid oxide cells (SOCs) exhibiting mixed ionic-electronic conductor air electrode (MIEC AE) (e.g. La$_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$Co$_{0.2}$Fe$_{0.8}$O$_{3–δ}$ LSC(F)), the formation of insulating zirconate interphases at the air electrode/zirconia electrolyte—interface is commonly prevented by an interlayer of doped cerium oxide. This complex interaction has a tremendous influence on cell performance, as the morphology of the interlayer determines the amount and continuity of the zirconate interphases. The performance of fuel electrode supported cells (FESCs) exhibiting gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) interlayers fabricated from different commercially available powders are compared. All of these layers were fabricated according to the same procedure. The cell performance is analyzed by means of current-voltage (CV) characteristics, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and subsequent impedance analysis by the distribution of relaxation times (DRT). Next to the cell testing at application-oriented conditions, impedance spectra are measured over a wide temperature ranging down to 250 °C to resolve polarization phenomena related to bulk, grain boundary and interfacial effects within and in-between the gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) and the 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) electrolyte. Furthermore, symmetrical air electrode (SymAE) cells are analyzed to eliminate impedance contributions from the anode layer (AL) and the substrate. The electrochemical results are correlated to the microstructural features of the GDC/YSZ interface obtained from post-test focused ion beam (FIB)/scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. This comparison revealed significant differences in the cell performance, which could be attributed to the amount and continuity of the residual strontium zirconate (SZO) interphase

Automated external defibrillator delivery by drone in mountainous regions to support basic life support – A simulation study

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is associated with poor survival rates. Factors that may enable survival include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) initiated by bystanders and early use of an automated external defibrillator (AED). This explorative simulation study was conceptualized to test the feasibility of a semi-autonomously operating drone that delivers an AED to a remote emergency location and its bystander-use. Methods: Ten paramedics and nineteen laypersons were confronted with a manikin simulating an OHCA as single bystanders within a field test located in a mountainous region between Austria and Slovenia. The scenario included a mock-call to the local emergency response center that dispatched a drone towards the caller’s GPS coordinates and supported the ongoing CPR. The outcomes were the successful delivery of the AED, the time to the first shock, hands-off times, and the overall performance of the CPR. Results: The AED was delivered by drone and used in all 29 scenarios without serious adverse events. The flight time of the drone was in median 5:20 (range: 1:35–8:19) minutes. The paramedics delivered the first shock after a mean of 12:15 ± 2:03 min and hands-off times were 50 ± 22 s. The laypersons delivered the first shock after 14:04 ± 2:10 min and hands-off times were 2:11 ± 0:39 min. All participants felt confident in the handling of the delivered AED. Conclusion: The delivery and usage of an AED via a semi-autonomously flying drone in a remote region is feasible. This approach can lead to early administration of shocks