LLamasoft Summer Conference on Supply Chain Design
October 11, 2011
LLamasoft CEO Don Hicks giving his keynote presentation at the inaugural LLamasoft Conference on Supply Chain Design.
What does a theory about the loss of technology of Tasmanian Aborigines, the Apollo 11 moon mission, how the brain works to filter our perceptions of reality, and the concept of dynamic supply chains have in common? They were all topics of discussion in the plenary session of the inaugural LLamasoft Conference on Supply Chain Design. LLamasoft Chief Executive Officer Don Hicks used a simulation model to demonstrate how the isolation of the Tasmanian Aborigines could explain the degradation in their use of technology over time. While this happened over thousands of years, this lack of skills transfer and knowledge sharing can also afflict supply chain companies!
Keynote speaker Buzz Aldrin talked about the importance of a clear mission statement, a very visible fixed deadline, and good modeling, elements that helped NASA get men on the moon. Dr. Bruce Hood provided illustrations of how the brain works to filter reality and how, in the face of complex systems, assumptions and gut feelings can get in the way of managers presented with data from mathematical simulation models. Finally, John Gattorna provided a series of conceptual models to help supply chain managers understand their clients and segment them according to characteristics of their service expectations. Constant evaluation of these would better equip supply chains to deal with uncertainty and be more dynamic, and thus responsive, as markets change.
The event, held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, attracted over 100 supply chain experts from the commercial, academic, and consulting world. The USAID | DELIVER PROJECT’s pioneering work with LLamasoft, which began in 2008, was cited by Don Hicks as taking a more scientific approach to address some of the difficult supply chain problems in the public health sector. The work included modeling future capacity constraints as demand and funding for public health commodities expands in Kenya, and assessing the scope of the supply chain in Guatemala to cope with increasing product throughput, as well as inventory modeling in Lesotho and supply chain modeling in the Dominican Republic for the World Bank.
In a panel discussion about issues in supply chain optimization in public health supply chains, a team from the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT, joined by colleagues from the Supply Chain Management System project and USAID, covered the following topics:
Adapting LLamasoft’s Supply Chain Guru software—a supply chain optimization and simulation tool—to allow for greater accessibility for supply chain managers in developing countries.
Creating a database of supply chain performance metrics to help supply chain managers gauge the performance of their own systems.
Discussing what sustainability means in the context of public health supply chains from the perspective of sustaining performance and function, rather than from an environmental perspective.
A common theme throughout the panel discussion was the need to encourage a community of practice and technical resources to support specialists who may be isolated in individual countries. The International Association of Public Health Logisticians does this in terms of practical experience and training opportunities, but building on this collaboration at a more technical level would be a key requirement if supply chain modeling is to become more widely used in public health settings.
Following on from the conference, a USAID | DELIVER PROJECT team with staff from John Snow, Inc., and LLamasoft traveled to Tanzania to undertake some supply chain modeling work; they explored opportunities to work with the Medical Stores Department to reinforce their capacity to use supply chain modeling tools.
LLamasoft is already planning a second supply chain conference to take place next year. While still in the early stages, Don Hicks has promised an even bigger and more diverse program. This year’s program and agenda can be found at www.llamasoft.com/summer.
For more information about supply chain modeling, please see the following resources:
