Improving the design and management of agile supply chains : feedback and application in the context of humanitarian aid

• Main Author: Charles, Aurélie
• Format: Others
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/7017/1/charles.pdf

A push for increased professionalism during disaster relief operations has been reinforced over the last decade. The uncertainties humanitarian organisations have to cope with and the vital importance of their success has incited them to develop their ability to respond quickly and adequately to short-term changes. This agility capability is becoming highly prized by the private sector. Starting from a framework of supply chain agility, this thesis analyses humanitarian methods and defines an agility maturity model aiming to measure and improve the agility capability of a supply chain. As agility often depends on the adequate balance between delivery capacity and needs, our second problemstatement aims to design a logistics network that can operate under high levels of uncertainty so that for a given level of service in terms of agility, efficiency is maximized. Our study quantifies the impact on costs of various decisions, such as network design, supply strategy or level of service.