Kamis, 04 Desember 2014

Summary of Humanitarian Logistics



Humanitarian logistics is a branch of logistics which specializes in organizing the delivery and warehousing of supplies during natural disasters or complex emergencies to the affected area and people. Although they have been mostly utilized in commercial supply chain, logistics is one of the most important tools now in disaster relief operations. Type and quantity of the resources, way of procurement and storage of the supplies, tools of tracking and means transportation to the stricken area, specialization of teams participating in the operation and plan of cooperation between these teams, are some important issues that are connected directly to humanitarian logistics.


The main purpose of humanitarian logistics is to provide assistance to people affected by disaster or for organizations that manage disaster response. Provision of assistance must comply with the requirements, appropriate and controlled, to avoid misuse and waste.
 
The basic task of humanitarian logistics comprises acquiring and delivering requested supplies and services, at the places and times they are needed, whilst ensuring best value for money. In the immediate aftermath of any disaster, these supplies include items that are vital for survival, such as food, water, temporary shelter and medicine, among others.


Procurement
Procurement is a key activity in the supply chain. The procurement involves the sourcing, purchasing and covers all activities from identifying potential suppliers of relief items and services that are needed to meet the needs of the beneficiaries. There are three important principles of humanitarian procurement:
  • Transparency: all phases in the procurement process are fair and accurately documented.
  • Accountability: accountability to donors who may require certain rules to be followed when using the fund/money that they have provided.
  • Efficiency and cost effectiveness: meeting the six rights of supply: right price, right time, right quantity, right quality, delivery to the required places and from the most cost effective source.
The procurement function must guard and mitigate against risk, understand the market, build a trust relationship with suppliers, meet the needs in a timely manner, and constantly monitor performance to improve service provision.
Transport
In the humanitarian context, transport can be defined as the physical movement of relief items/goods from suppliers or point of origin to internal customers (in this case mainly is warehouse of humanitarian organization)  or directly to the beneficiaries. The transport component in the supply chain therefore is critical in connecting supply to demand. The aim of transport in humanitarian context is to physically move the relief items/goods in a reliable and safe manner, on time, cost effectively and efficiently to its destination.
Transport mode will depend on several factors including:
  • The type and volume of items/goods to be transported.
  • The urgency that items/goods are required.
  • The availability of different transport routes as well as different types of transport.
  • The destination to which the items/goods to be transported.
  • The cost of transportation.
  • The terrain through which the items/goods need to be transported.
Warehousing and Inventory
The third main component is warehousing and inventory. Recently, some of the experts said that in the perfect supply chain we do not need warehouses in order to reduce costs. In the humanitarian context, clearly there are reasons why items/goods have to be stored and why we need warehouses. In the humanitarian supply chain, there are types of responsibility to manage warehouses, e.g. supplier warehouses, donor warehouses, humanitarian organizations warehouses.


Developing logistics warehousing to store all essential goods is one of the tools utilized in disaster response planning. Warehouses should be designed by taking precautions for contamination or waste of materials and organized in order to facilitate deliveries to the desired area at the desired time and quantities. Successful humanitarian operations also presuppose that distribution centers are located in the correct area, which is obviously near the region that tends to be hit by a disaster and can be indicated through software or mathematical models. The responsible authorities aim at maximization of response and minimization of distribution time, money spent and number of distribution centers. Coordination of the delivery of goods, organization of teams, supplies and equipment movement is realized by mobilization centers, which are located near the affected region. A way of taking precautions before a disaster occurs, is to organize emergency response plans which will help preparation and consequently mobilization in the time of the disaster.

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