https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126770 2026-04-06T03:27:49Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127186 Disaster Supply Chains: From Situational Awareness to Actionable Analysis Boutilier, Justin James; Goentzel, Jarrod; Windle, Michael Achieving situational awareness is insufficient when it comes to restoring private sector supply chains. More important than being aware of the current situation is correctly understanding interdependent supply chains, forecasting resources and flows, and knowing where and how to intervene with government assistance. Private sector organizations achieve supply chain visibility with enterprise resource systems. Achieving the same visibility across competing and decentralized private sector organizations will require a shift in how the emergency management community approaches cooperation and data aggregation. Accurate, timely, and representative data feeds are required for explanatory, forecasting, and prescriptive tools that should be used dynamically during disasters, not afterwards. Successful data aggregation strategies will require a mix of connecting to pre-existing data feeds and collecting information directly through creation of voluntary trusted spaces and mandatory reporting requirements. Complex models that leverage optimization and machine learning can provide emergency managers with a better understanding of the causes and remedies of supply chain disruption. Models will take time and effort to develop and employ. Models should support, not replace, current information sources to enable better decision making. Improved communication between government and the private sector is critical for improved disaster response. Collaboration between public and private sector actors will contribute to better information flow and help prioritize recovery efforts. 2019-05-31T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126772 Supply Chain Resilience: Restoring Business Operations After a Hurricane Goentzel, Jarrod; Windle, Michael MIT’s Humanitarian Response Lab at the Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) held a roundtable on supply chain resilience in the face of large-scale disasters. To gather a cross-sectional understanding of the issue, the event convened participants from academia, public sector, and private sector – who brought their respective perspectives to illuminate this crucial intersection of management science, government policy, and business strategy. To ensure candor, this report was prepared under the Chatham House Rule of not identifying the specific speakers or affiliations of the anecdotes, insights, or recommendations. The roundtable used three major hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) during 2017 as a focal point for gathering multiple points of view from the public and private sector and spanning supply chains from manufacturer to retailer. The roundtable and this report are aimed to catalyze more systematic research of the issues and opportunities revealed by shared discussion of how business and government support survivors and restore a disaster-impacted economy. 2017-12-08T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/126737 Actionable Analysis: Simulating and Visualizing Fuel Distribution During Disasters Russell, Timothy Edward; Boutilier, Justin James; Kleinmann, Sarah; Goentzel, Jarrod The aim of this project is to develop analytical concepts and tools that can be employed by FEMA to improve supply chain resiliency and adaptability during crises. Proposed frameworks and models are designed for use by emergency management leaders and private sector collaborators to assist in disaster preparedness planning, guide emergency response and recovery, or both. The key is to develop concepts and tools that enable actionable analysis. Fundamental to our research is the concept of sentinel surveillance developed for application in public health and epidemiology. Sentinel surveillance monitors selected nodes in a health network – sentinel points – to collect data that can be used to identify an impending public health issue. Regular data collection at sentinel points can be used to track trends in public health. Sentinel indicators based on such trend data can be tailored to track different public health issues. Further investigation or intervention can be triggered when the sentinel indicator deviates beyond a threshold. We adapt the idea of sentinel surveillance to monitor the health of supply chains, ranging from upstream supply networks to downstream demand networks that serve communities. The focus of this surveillance is on private sector supply chains that have the most capacity to provide essential commodities. Our analysis aims to identify appropriate sentinel points in private sector networks to diagnose issues, evaluate potential supply chain interventions to accelerate restoration of predisaster business operations, and anticipate where public sector gap-filling support for essential commodities is most needed. 2020-07-15T00:00:00Z