Director’s Blog
Foraging for Healthcare Supplies in a Western Economy
Yesterday I spoke with a procurement executive at a major hospital in the Northeast. This is someone that I know and respect, and who is considered a highly proactive and informed individual. He is deploying advanced procurement technology in his […]
Automation in the Meat Packing Industry is on the Horizon
An article in the Wall Street Journal discussed the emerging technology of automation in the meat packing industry. This is no doubt a harbinger of more automation to come not just in this industry, but in all industries where human […]
PPE Shortages Disrupting Hospitals Nationwide: Portrait of a Broken Healthcare Supply Chain
A recent article in the Washington Post highlighted the massive shortages of PPE that are now decimating hospitals nationwide, as the number of new cases of Coronavirus goes through the roof. The Post notes that: “Health-care workers on the front […]
COVID and Touchless Logistics for Home Delivery: Guest Post by Michael Kay PhD
Today’s blog was provided by Professor Michael Kay of the Edwards Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at NC State University. This is a reprint of an article he published in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Work. With so […]
U.S. Government Poised To Award ‘Commercial Platforms’ Contracts That Will Open Online Marketplaces To Federal Purchasers
I was recently involved in a research discussion with Chris Yukins of George Washington University’s Law School’s Government Procurement Program, and Thomas Kull from Arizona State University, exploring the impact of the rise of electronic marketplaces in government procurement. In […]
The PPE Shortage Nightmare is Far From Over — It’s About to Get Worse
Given the lack of discussion in the media on supply chain shortages in healthcare, one would think that this crisis has been averted, and that shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medicines, and hospital supplies is now a history lesson. […]
Government’s Big Move to Electronic Marketplaces
I was recently involved in a research discussion with Chris Yukins of George WAshington University’s Law School’s Government Procurement Program, and Thomas Kull from Arizona State University, exploring the impact of the rise of electronic marketplaces in government procurement. In […]
Integrating “The Edge”, or “The Rise of the Machines”
Flow improvements from the integration of supply chain partners and the elimination of layers of traditional communication can also facilitate movement. Machine to Machine — or more appropriately, App to App — communications, without humans in the loop, are going […]
Tom Linton’s Advice to Students: “Don’t Listen to the Status Quo!”
“If you go to a hospital and a nursing station in a hospital, there may be 2 or 3 nurses, managing 30 or 40 patients. Each patient has a pulse, and the nurses are monitoring all the patients by exception. […]
The Strategic National Stockpile that Failed Us
The COVID-19 crisis arrived in the United States in February and was largely dismissed as a non-threatening issue. In particular, the CDC was convinced that it had contained the virus and retained control of all diagnostic testing, which later produced […]