Humanitarian Logistics, Reverse Logistics, and GIS Integration in Transport Management

There are many contemporary topics when we witness supply chain today and the most important work that can be linked to operations and supply chain today is logistics. With businesses expanding beyond geographies, there has been no limit on profit and on the other hand, has paved the way for new effective operational mechanisms to contribute to the firm's competency and make itself a leader in its segment. And so I wish to address not one but three topics that typically shows us the importance of supply chain and operations in today's context.

Humanitarian Logistics

An uncommon word but an extremely interesting one!! As the word suggests, it's a process used during extremely complex or tough situations such as disasters. With climate change being such an important topic that it is being even discussed on UN summits, humanitarian logistics has become an integral part of the future of operations as a function. With lakhs of deaths happening every year around the globe, the scene is pretty bad for economies and ecologies. With very fixed and often limited time in hand, logistics need to respond quickly at the time of occurrence of such an event. The main difference that humanitarian logistics brings is the help being provided by humans during such situations.

Humanitarian Logistics and Procurement - IFRC

Logistics is all about how much are you prepared and how quickly you can respond to mobilize resources at an optimal level. Humanitarian Logistics is no different as it encompasses the line between how much one is prepared or how quickly the logistics can react to extremely devastating and unknown situations. For any economy/business, this part of operations is the most expensive one and is still a grey area for many. Preparing well before is much more important than a reaction after the event and so initiation to face is one of the most important elements in humanitarian logistics. Let's look at the aspect of humanitarian logistics through a government disaster relief plan, individuals in government for some countries put their self-interest much more ahead than what the whole nation wants and has been predominantly the case with developing nations in the recent history, and with this one stakeholder breaking the chain, all the stakeholders lack the coordination needed and thus the countries end up with poor disaster management. Floods in Kerala are the best example to look into where the state governments were up against each other. So it's not because of the availability of resources or financial constraint that the disaster Management process fails but because of lack of coordination amongst stakeholders which generally is the trend. 

The whole process is divided into mitigation, response, preparedness, restoration and relied on operational support. One must remember that it's not a cost reduction process but a life-saving process, the damage here is much more valuable than anything tangible in this world. If we take the case of India again, National Disaster Response Force has been one of the latest reacting bodies in recent times, as they say, it’s better to be prepared and prevent something than to repent and repair! The best solution to improve the humanitarian logistics challenge is for stakeholders to hire the best available talent on the planet and use their innovative minds in order to save thousands of life which otherwise is a sign of mourning year on year. Various elements in humanitarian Logistics can include, warehousing, fleet management, asset use, security and IT implementation, and purchase management amongst others. 

The main limitations along with coordination issues amongst stakeholders even in a corporate scenario could be how to manage high attrition since the working conditions are averse in such scenarios, and how to rightly use knowledge management. 

Reverse Logistics 

With the 3R's(Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) gaining momentum recently, the reuse part has given birth to reverse logistics. Capturing value has been of utmost importance with making the limited resources more efficient being the focus. So reverse logistics can be defined as ploughing back of raw material, work in progress goods and finished goods back from the point of consumption to the point of origin to capture value.

Reverse Logistics and Inventory Management

The best example of reverse logistics that can be cited from day to day examples could be returning of a product by the customer either due to defect or any other reason. Now, in case of defect the supply chain helps the product go to the manufacturer where testing and rebuild is done and thus a new or modified value is captured by the product. After the product gets refurbished it either goes back to the same customer or is sold to another customer. Though the concept of 3R's is a very old one, reverse logistics is still new in a decade or so and firms also need to understand it's true potential rather than looking it as a mere cost center. 

But now, specifically in India if we see reverse logistics, the first Industry that comes to mind is the e-commerce industry and in fact some offline start-ups too which are doing really good. With the ease with which customers can now book and return items through these e-Commerce giants, reverse Logistics is bound to play an important role. Companies see this as a profit center as it directly provides good customer retention and reduced costs. It is estimated that return costs account for around 7 percent of the total costs of an organization which is humongous as according to this firm's there is no direct benefit for bearing such costs. This is only an average of industry and significantly varies across different industries. A normal flow of reverse logistics will typically involve a different department for collecting return items, recycling or disposing of the item after which it reaches back to the original manufacturer or distributor and then again back to the retail to end-user.

Reverse logistics has its own merits and demerits though if a company is having a very good reverse logistics function than it tends to ease the return policies for consumer which in turn leads to excessive return of goods which sometimes can be costly whereas at the same time using third-party logistics can significantly ease the pressure off handling this part and thus company can focus on its core competency better. Another good way to implement reverse logistics is to have an up to date and proper warehouse management so that one has to not bear any unforeseen costs. Also, a proper feedback channel with customers could prove wonders as it can significantly reduce having the costs associated with reverse logistics. Feedback from customers will help the company know better why is the product being returned consistently and thus can help in efficient manufacturing.

GIS Integration in Transport Management

GIS or geographical information system is a system that manages and analyses all sorts of geographical data and generally captures spatial information. GIS Integration is very important in a country like India where the major transportation is still by road and almost 30 Lakhs odd of total roads in India. Being a versatile country, every state will have its own rules and thus it's very important to manage transport networks on both state and national levels.

GIS in Transportation 

With a significant amount of road still being an informal network, there is a huge scarcity of data and thus the transportation management system is one the most affected components at present. Lack of coordination between the state and center has made the data very inaccessible and thus hinders any effective implementation of GIS in the country, to add on to this government in developed nations are unable to retain or hire talent that can make things possible which clearly shows the lack of understanding of importance of such Integration among most of the developing nations. Though in India, hope has emerged with metro cities using GIS to spot travelers' behavior and managing roads thus acting as a beta test for a hopeful larger implementation. GIS can be much more cost-savvy than any traditional method but the only requirement and which proves to be a disadvantage of India is that GIS needs a structured road network for effective implementation. 

Maintaining and updating database regarding road accidents, traffic data, routes, highways age, etc is a key which sadly, for now, is not obvious in India. More data will allow proving things statistically leading to successful experiments thus creating a better system for highway planning and great spatial networks. The best thing that GIS with proper data can do is to create simulations and thus emulate real-life scenarios in theory which can lead to much better management of highways. Yes, there is a capital cost associated with GIS implementation but the government needs to understand that one-time costs can deliver huge long term benefits. GIS can also accurately predict land disasters such as avalanches as seen in the US with the help of Federal financing the projects. In India, this can be a game-changing scenario specifically for the Indian army soldiers who spend the majority of their lives in extreme conditions and are often prone to such events. GIS is a quant heavy approach and thus the building of statistical models is of huge importance and thus again models will only increase its accuracy when more data is available. GIS is all about integrating different data. I am not going into the technicality of how the system could be effectively developed since this article focuses more on how such supply chain concepts can be efficient for the world and what hinders their implementation if any. 

Just to conclude on GIS, imagine GIS being implemented in India and the army specifically, for example, using it effectively can save many lives. According to a study, more army jawans are killed by landslides and avalanches than being sacrificed on the battlefield which is a very sad reality. GIS can literally turn this stat and save many civilian and army lives!! 

There is always a saying, "Make Hay While the Sun shines!!" and its very apt for all Humanitarian Logistics, Reverse Logistics, and GIS Implementation. If only governments, firms, and individuals see all the above as a potential success and not consider the above as either a cost center or an impossible implementation, the world can become a much better place to survive!!"