Every year, hundreds of requests for humanitarian aid are made around the world, from more than 100 countries, whether due to natural phenomena such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis, or due to refugee crises, or as a result of armed conflicts. As mentioned earlier, these requests are answered by humanitarian organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, Unicef and the Red Cross, who quickly mobilize to ensure supplies reach the affected region as quickly as possible.
Figure 1 – Assembly of pallets at the Unicef DC in Copenhagen
Source – Sam Nuttall – Unicef
In the case of Unicef, these supplies arrive anywhere in the world in a maximum of 72 hours. Aimed at ensuring humanitarian aid to children worldwide, the UN agency has 3 distribution centers, located in Copenhagen (Denmark), Panama and Dubai (United Arab Emirates), with the capacity to guarantee supplies for 250 children for three weeks.
Unicef's main DC is in Copenhagen and is the size of three football fields. It has 8 floors of storage and handles more than 850 SKUs, including oral rehydration kits, vaccines, medical equipment, soaps and food to school supplies, toys and dolls. The largest kit produced by Unicef, in partnership with Doctor without Borders, is also assembled there. The size of a container, the kit includes everything from medicines and medical equipment to water purifiers capable of serving 10 people.
As well as the DCs of large industries, the Unicef one also has stacker cranes, conveyor belts, overhead cranes and robots to carry out the storage, separation and picking of items, 24 hours a day. Everything to ensure that, after 24 hours of initial contact, the supplies are already separated so that, the next day, they can be taken to the plane and two days later they can arrive anywhere on the planet.
Video 1 – Unicef's warehouse operation in Copenhagen
Source – Unicef Canada
Unicef is one of the largest buyers of life-saving products in the world, having spent nearly US$3,5 billion on products and services in 2017. Like the largest retailers, Unicef also needs to plan daily, regardless of whether there is a emergency, and its systems are geared towards managing items according to their expiry date.
However, Unicef's logistical challenges do not end with the storage, separation and dispatch of the CD. Due to the specificities of each region to be served, the distribution of kits can also be challenging. If the region has structure for a plane to land, great. But, if there is no airstrip, the items can be distributed by convoys of trucks, or by local fishermen or even dropped from helicopters, in packages resistant to drops from up to 10 meters high!
Video 2 – The distribution of items in Haiti
Source – Unicef
REFERENCES:
How Unicef sends lifesaving supplies anywhere in the world within 48 hours
Alexandre Lobo
https://ilos.com.brGraduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and in Social Communication from Faculdades Integradas Hélio Alonso (FACHA). Expertise in several projects with emphasis on market analysis for companies such as Unilever, Intertank, Invepar, Aqces, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank.
