In 2005, about five months after the Indian Ocean tsunami, I was in Aceh, in northern Indonesia, reporting for a story about that country. Aceh was very badly damaged in that event. What I saw in that case was a striking lack of expertise on the ground among the many international aid organizations that had poured staff into the region. Indeed, many projects failed, and in a few, highly-publicized cases, charities assigned people with good intentions, but no training, to tasks that really called for technicians.
Within a year of the event, the situation had become so bad that the local government was investigating the charities for offenses ranging from simple negligence, to outright graft. The lesson in that case was that wanting to help and being able to help were not only two very different things, but that confusing them could make things worse.
I bring the topic of professionalism up in this space because since the onset of the recent earthquake disaster in Japan, we’ve heard worries about what the chaos might do to the world's economy and, specifically, the electronic supply chain. That's a legitimate concern. But there's also a flip side to the issue. People who know how to run supply lines are enormously important in disaster sites, where clean water, food, and medical supplies must be urgently delivered to places where the usual supply systems are broken.
The people who read this site are in a position to help. Many of the readers here possess the technical skills that many in Aceh lacked six years ago. Getting ships re-routed past damaged ports, and getting things accounted for in a place where whole towns are in pieces, require specific know-how. With that in mind, it’s not a surprise that job boards not only for companies like DHL or FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), but organizations like UNICEF, the Red Cross, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and various health care initiatives are all often in the market for logistics experts.
Along with doctors, heavy equipment operators, and clean water experts, logistics staff are always among the most useful people to have on the ground in the first months after an event like an earthquake or tsunami. Also, they don’t necessarily have to be in the disaster area itself; this avoids putting more strain on already collapsed local infrastructure.
Usually the last thing a disaster area needs is more people arriving, needing food and shelter. Working distantly, but along the humanitarian logistics supply chain, volunteers can provide assistance without creating another mouth to feed at the epicenter.
With that in mind, listed below are a few of the many organizations seeking volunteers to help with logistics in various public assistance programs. The skills represented by the community here are worth a lot in a place like Japan right now.
I think they can handle it both. They just have to be more focus with their goal and have checkpoint for each milestone. They also have to be quick in delivering the supply for food and water to the affected areas in Japan.
MIT professor Yosshi Sheffi's thinking is way ahead of many people. Back in 2006, he had already published the book "The Resilient Enterprise" where he addresses how companies should prepare for an agile supply chain even before disasters hit.
According to Wikipedia, "Dr. Sheffi analyzed how disruptions can adversely affect the operations of corporations and how investments in resilience can give a business a competitive advantage over entities not prepared for various contingencies."
I highly recommend supply chain executives read this excellent book
Well, I suppose working in logistics is no different than working any other day job, insofar as time=money, and everyone has his or her own calculations to make when balancing the two. Certainly people lose themselves to the volunteer world and later regret not looking after their own situations more. And the reverse. Certainly too many volunteers is as big a problem as too few. Perhaps even a bigger problem.
Thanks a lot for those links. No doubt that the demand for logistics experts has gone up in recent times, but how do you think these logistics expert can handle both the electronic supply chain and clean water/food/and medical supplies chain simultaneously ? Can they play dual role simultaneously ?
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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