Insights
Real-Time Supply Chain Analysis: A Critical COVID-19 Response Tool
April 7, 2020As the U.S. addresses the impact of COVID-19 and the associated surge in demand for vital resources, there is a critical need for federal decision-makers to readily understand the real-time supply chain impacts. Reducing the time to insight is critical to making decisions and determining mitigations, such as pre-positioning within the medical supply chain, to most effectively and efficiently respond to the ongoing pandemic.
The Challenge
Currently, industry and government agencies (federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial) are responding to the crisis without improved data sharing, resulting in several mission-critical problems:
- Hospitals serving COVID-19 patients are running out of critical supplies and unable to track supplies being sent to their locations.
- Government agencies and medical treatment facilities are unsure of actual shipment amounts or where shortfalls exist at both the national, state, and county levels.
- Multiple systems of record cannot be viewed concurrently to gain an operational picture, and the systems are not being updated in real-time.
- There is no standard for private sector industry to relay production or inventory availability to the government.
About the Author

Kerry has worked with the Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, NASA, Amtrak, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization to improve the resilience of their supply chains.